Middy and optic advice?

I didn't know that you needed to be talked out of it!

Dannus,
Have you considered peeling $200 off of the stack of spare cash you have at the moment for a tax stamp? E-Forms is up and running and I've had 8 Form 1s go through without a hitch this year. Either for a suppressor to aid you in keeping what you have left of your hearing (says the man with ringing in his ears), or for building an SBR. Just a thought.

To answer your question, yes.













Okay, now that the urge to strangle me has passed....

There are two ways you can legally go about getting an SBR in your hands:

1-
Using a Form 1 to Manufacture an NFA firearm (in this case your SBR).     When using a Form 1 you need to provide the serial number, model number, ect., when you fill out the form. 
First option....In theory if you had the skills and equipment to turn a block of aluminum into an AR15 lower receiver (for example) you could simply chose how you will name the model (Maximus Nuntii -15 ??), pick a serial number that you will mark (engrave) on the receiver, and so forth for all the form fields.  Then be sure you put precisely that information on the receiver when you whittle it from the block of aluminum.
Second option (and the way I did it), was to buy a lower receiver, fill out the paperwork for an SBR using the receivers serial number, and submit via e-form....then wait. While waiting I had the receiver engraved with the name of my trust (the name of the manufacturer of the NFA item must be engraved on the item, and as the Trust was "making" the SBR  it's name has to go on the receiver.


2- Use a Form 4 to Transfer an NFA firearm (in this case your SBR).
One option only.....find and SBR for sale and arrange to buy it through a licensed dealer in your state, pay for it, then fill out the Form 4 and submit, wait for approval, and then with tax stamp in hand go to the dealer and he can finally transfer the item to you.   

This applies for suppressors as well.  
My personal recommendation would be to go the Form 1 route for an SBR using an existing lower receiver, either one you buy stripped or the lower of a rifle you already own.
For a suppressor it's a toss up between the Form 1 route and the Form 4.    Basic suppressors aren't that difficult to make, but unless you have a background in machining you're unlikely to have the skills to make one that approaches the sound reduction levels of commercially produced suppressors.   
If you go Form 4 buy one that is durable, repairable, and user serviceable (the last in nice in center-fire suppressors, vital in rimfire suppressors or if you plan on shooting cast lead). 
IIRC you should be close enough to Huntertown Arms, about which I've heard good things.  'Course I could have heard wrong

No, but at this point I'm leaning towards just pulling the 511 off my existing Bushy and mounting it on the new upper, or selling the 511 (I've got a buddy who's already agreed to buy it for $150) and saying fuck it and getting a 512.  Not as cool as the XPS, but still a rock solid optic with better battery life and more common batteries than my current EOTech.  Plus, it would only set me back a couple of hundred after the sale of the 511 instead of $400.  Significant difference to a working man.  

More likely, I'll save up my fun money for the XPS, sell the 511 to help fund it, put the new optic on my new rifle, then convert the Bushy back to a carry handle iron sights carbine.  Saving my pennies would let me do that after the first of the year and I like the idea of irons only option.  I really do love my Bushy, and don't anticipate selling it to buy parts for the new rifle.

And thanks for the info, LowKey... I think.  I would love a suppressor or SBR, but that will likely be a far in the future purchase.

My only experience in owning/using an EOTech has been a solitary 512. Rock solid, but it is big/somewhat heavy.

I researched them as a carbine optic for a lightweight AR at one point and was actually going to try an RMR in that role, lost my funding and the money went for something else. Never got back to it.

The reviews and everything I read and saw was positive. That's as far as I got with it (research). Never even shot a single gun equipped with one.