Install Novelty Ejection Port Cover on AR-15

Around 2 years ago, I purchased a novelty ejection port cover for my Rock River Arms AR-15.  There are lots of these floating around, with various emblems / sayings on them like "Infidel", "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" (Greek: Come and Take), "Get Some", and other more colorful sayings.  Mine is pretty simple and has "Zombie Hunter" etched onto the metal.

The other day, while cleaning my rifle, inside my cleaning tote I came across the port cover that I had completely forgotten about, and decided it was time to install it.  Here is what is needed to complete the task.

• Novelty Ejection Port Cover
• Small Needle-nose Pliers
• Small Roll Punch Pin
• Tape of some kind

Here is a quick diagram that shows the parts that we will be dealing with:

There are 2 ways to go about replacing the port cover, and I am going to show the easier of the two.  The "correct" method is to remove the the entire barrel assembly (Delta Ring and all) from the Upper Receiver, and slide the ejection port pin out towards the barrel.  But that is way too much of a pain for this simple upgrade.  The method that I will show here took all but 5 minutes to complete.

Start by placing a tape on the Forward Assist so we don't scratch the pretty gun metal while extracting the pin.  The pin will be extracted towards the stock of the rifle.

But first you will have to remove the Pin Retaining Ring.  This can be a challenge as it is extremely tiny, and a tad difficult to remove.  I simply put my small Roll Pin Punch on one side of the ring's opening, and the small Needle-nose pliers on the other and pushed them in the same direction (away from the ring's opening).  BE CAREFUL!!  The ring can shoot off in any direction, and can be hard to locate because of its size.  You have been warned.

With the ring off, we can now gently slide the Ejection Port Cover Pin out towards the stock.  Make sure to secure the Ejection Port Cover Spring before fully extracting the pin being that it can fly off as well.  With the pin fully extracted, replace the old cover with the new one, and line the spring back up where it was previously found.  You will have to bend the longer arm of the spring back a tad so that it will "push" open the Ejection Port Cover when activated.  With everything in place, slide the pin back in towards the barrel.  Once fully inserted, you can now snap the ring back onto the pin.  Easiest way I found was to simply grab the back of the ring with the pliers and push it onto the pin.  Here we have the new cover installed.

That was pretty simple with the right tools, and after 2 years of sitting in the bottom of my cleaning tote, it is finally installed.  Here is a Before and After to compare. 

 Thanks for visiting!