The end of this build is approaching. I can almost hear the future hypothetical space force calling for it. But there are a few things left to dial in.
The main thing remaining is fixing the rear end of the front sight. Both the bolts that secure the front sight and the handguard to the gun are in the front of the front sight. As you can see in the image below, when these are tight, the back end of the front sight lifts up from the handguard. Not good.
To fix this, I drilled a small hole through the hanguard in the Picatinny ridge right against the back of the front sight. In it, I put a button head bolt that attaches to a jam nut on the underside of the rail. The head of the bolt catches the back of the front sight, holding it down. It also secures the fiber optic cable in place as it bends up to illuminate the white jade bead.
P.S. I painted the front sight with some Black Brownell's Aluma-Hyde II. I've used aluma-hyde on other gun projects and have liked both the color and protection it provides.
Below are a couple pics of the front set up in its final glory. Both with the lights on so you can see how the fiber optic cable doesn't block the view of the front sight bead and with the lights off to show it illuminated by the Scout Light.
I am very pleased with how easy the bead is to pick up in daylight and how clearly it is illuminated at night - but not so much that it's hard to see the point of aim or the bead itself.
All that's left now is final sanding and cleaning, then paint and this future gat is ready for action.