Randy,
I'm moving away from DI altogether. One niece and one nephew just returned from Army Basic. We asked them to document the number of failures their issue M16A2s experienced. One had 9 difficult to clear and the other stop counting.

Granted these are worn out basic training rifles that get disassembled by newbs, but the rifles loosening up should actually INCREASE reliability. The AK is sloppy and Works as a result. It is designed to be loose, but the point stands.

If I were going to chose a DI rifle it would be a Colt 16" lightweight (like the 6520 with fixed sights or 6720 ...preferred...with "flattop" so I could mount an Aimpoint T-1...4oz RDS) or a BCM MidLength with Aimpiont CompM4S.

The BCM would be my preferred choice.

IIRC you have a 16" heavy barrel without flash suppressor. The weight of the HBAR is a waste, and sans FH is a no go for me.

It would be easy to have your department armour to swap out the barrel for a Colt LW or BCM ML. You'd be go-to-go (for a DI) then.

BTW - your Colt has non mil standard FCG parts (pin diameter is larger as is the corresponding hammer, Disconnector and trigger). If a replacement is needed you'll have to find old Colt parts. Colt started using standard around serial number LE63000 on their LE marked guns and now uses them in all.