Rekraps Posted January 1 Report Share Posted January 1 As you all know, if you own one of these guns and have tried to acquire a stock of key spare parts, good luck. Even though the gun is super robust, parts do wear and all it takes is one to put your M79 out of action. The market for spare parts is very lean, with just one (that I can find) still stocking almost a complete replacement catalogue. Recon Ordnance. Jerry sells a complete set of internals for $1K. Well worth it. Tons of small springs and pins to include the firing pin, pin spring and pin retainer. What Jerry does not sell however, and what almost killed my gun today are the two M79 hand guard specific 7mm machine screws that hold the fore-end grip to the retaining band (sight) and hand guard tang. These machine screws are specific to this gun and they cannot be found anywhere. Until.... So of course I stripped one of the 7mm machine screws and searched everywhere on the internet. Nada. Plenty of grips, but no mounting screws. UGH. As I packed up the gun I glanced at the composite stocks that I had in my stash. The rear mounting bracket and screws looked identical, and when I removed the part, they were identical! Problem solved. For those of you who own a M79, invest the $50 or so for the replacement composite stock and you'll not only have a great spare stock, but two irreplaceable hand guard machine screws to boot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 2 Author Report Share Posted January 2 22 hours ago, Rekraps said: As you all know, if you own one of these guns and have tried to acquire a stock of key spare parts, good luck. Even though the gun is super robust, parts do wear and all it takes is one to put your M79 out of action. The market for spare parts is very lean, with just one (that I can find) still stocking almost a complete replacement catalogue. Recon Ordnance. Jerry sells a complete set of internals for $1K. Well worth it. Tons of small springs and pins to include the firing pin, pin spring and pin retainer. What Jerry does not sell however, and what almost killed my gun today are the two M79 hand guard specific 7mm machine screws that hold the fore-end grip to the retaining band (sight) and hand guard tang. These machine screws are specific to this gun and they cannot be found anywhere. Until.... So of course I stripped one of the 7mm machine screws and searched everywhere on the internet. Nada. Plenty of grips, but no mounting screws. UGH. As I packed up the gun I glanced at the composite stocks that I had in my stash. The rear mounting bracket and screws looked identical, and when I removed the part, they were identical! Problem solved. For those of you who own a M79, invest the $50 or so for the replacement composite stock and you'll not only have a great spare stock, but two irreplaceable hand guard machine screws to boot! What's so lucky is that on the wood stocks, the rear sling mount is held with wood screws, but the composite stocks use the OEM 7MM machine screws to hold the rear sling mount. Talk about fortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeinekenArfcom Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 (edited) Really good info on those screws thank you. There is a well kown vender who still has new in wrap fiberglass stocks for 25 bucks ...well worth it to buy 1 or 3. Edit: Now I'm confused, the screws on my composite stock hardware do not match my handguard hardware. Got any pics? Maybe I'm confused on what screws you mean. Edited January 5 by HeinekenArfcom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 5 Author Report Share Posted January 5 12 hours ago, HeinekenArfcom said: Really good info on those screws thank you. There is a well kown vender who still has new in wrap fiberglass stocks for 25 bucks ...well worth it to buy 1 or 3. Edit: Now I'm confused, the screws on my composite stock hardware do not match my handguard hardware. Got any pics? Maybe I'm confused on what screws you mean. Thanks for the post. The machine screws holding the rear sling mount on the fiber glass, are the exact same 7mm machine screws that hold the front sling mount onto the sight base and grip tang. Wood screws (like the ones that hold the rear sling mount on the wood stock) are not used in the front grip (except one internally that is not visible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeinekenArfcom Posted January 5 Report Share Posted January 5 (edited) Mine is a recon ordnance build, they do not fit. My fiberglass stock screws are Phillips head, the handguard screws are flat head, but the real issue is they have a slightly different thread. When I try use the stock screws up front they go in a turn or two, and then tighten up because they are a different thread pitch/pattern. Edited January 5 by HeinekenArfcom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrangeRanger Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 Thread pitch gauges, both metric and imperial, are cheap and readily available at either Lowe's or the Home Despot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 6 Author Report Share Posted January 6 18 hours ago, HeinekenArfcom said: Mine is a recon ordnance build, they do not fit. My fiberglass stock screws are Phillips head, the handguard screws are flat head, but the real issue is they have a slightly different thread. When I try use the stock screws up front they go in a turn or two, and then tighten up because they are a different thread pitch/pattern. How odd as the fit mine perfect. My 79 is from Prasser also but came with Phillips gear threaded 7mm machine screws in the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeinekenArfcom Posted January 8 Report Share Posted January 8 (edited) Interesting. I wonder if your trigger guard was done incorrectly like this one that came from him, built on a pace receiver. I would have loved a real deal usgi, but they are thousands more then this one, and I won't mind shooting this one a lot other then the trigger guard, everything on this one is done pretty well, and it locks up smooth and nice and tight. Edited January 8 by HeinekenArfcom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekraps Posted January 9 Author Report Share Posted January 9 On 1/7/2026 at 7:57 PM, HeinekenArfcom said: Interesting. I wonder if your trigger guard was done incorrectly like this one that came from him, built on a pace receiver. I would have loved a real deal usgi, but they are thousands more then this one, and I won't mind shooting this one a lot other then the trigger guard, everything on this one is done pretty well, and it locks up smooth and nice and tight. No, mine is a C&R Kanarr (USGI) all parts. Well, I guess there are variations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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