Recently I had to replace the barrel on my AR15, but didn’t think that I had to mess with my dust cover at all.  At some point in the removal of the handguard or barrel the tiny 1/8″ c-clip that holds the ejection port cover pin came off, and was inevitably lost forever.  That is when you find out really quickly the expense of ordering small parts that you do not have on hand.  The part is cheap enough, most of the time much less then $1, but what ends up killing the reasonable price is shipping.

At some point, in my search for another option I came across the Strike Industries site and found a great solution.  They are making a dust cover that doesn’t have a pin and more importantly doesn’t have a tiny c-clip to lose.  They are also very easy to change out if the need arises, or when taking them off for maintenance they are all captive parts.

There are also one reminder noted on Strike Industries’ site that the cover may not properly on an upper that is not MIL-SPEC, but notes that because the cover is polymer, it can easily be modified to fit if needed.  Personally any part for an AR I look at with the same caveat that it will probably not fit if the rifle is not MIL-SPEC, which is why I tend to make sure that what I am buying is MIL-SPEC.

All in all, the dust cover is well made, light weight and has some good designs including the DTOM, American Flag, capsule and plain and come in both FDE and black.  One great touch is that the inside of the cover does say “WARNING CONTAINS LEAD.”  Strike Industries makes it a point in the instructions that they dust cover does not actually contain lead, but is meant to be humorous.  Whom ever actually thought that a small polymer cover might contain lead is thinking a little too literally.

Being that the covers are as easy as they are to use and install, I plan to upgrade all of my AR’s in the near future.  One project on my list is to do a color fill of the DTOM text, and maybe in the text on the inside of the cover as well to make the lettering stand out a bit more.  I definitely give these a thumbs up as they really are a great addition to your rifle.  Belowe is a Strike Industries video that shows the installation and function of the dust cover.

If you are interested in more information, you can find it here Strike Industries Ultimate Dust Cover

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