AR build

[NSP64]

Thinking of building one and was wondering if some of you have built yours. Are there better people to buy from or anything to look out for? You can get a complete ( except for lower frame ) on GB now for $500.00. All the parts for the lower, just not the lower. Stripped lowers can be had for $75.00 to FFL. Not looking for competition set up just a good gun, cheap. I know there used to be different size takedown pins on some of them.

[StarMetal]

Go with the name brand stuff and try to get both upper and lower from same brand. That is Stag (which is CMT), Bushmaster, Rock River, ArmaLite. The pins are all standardized now. Colt was the major culprit in different pins sizes. After you get your parts go to AR15.COM and look up the sticky there on how to put them together, it's very good. Or you could get a DVD from Brownells. You'll need some tools like a barrel nut wrench, action vice block, torque wrench, punches, and of course hand tools like a screw driver, hammer, etc.. You'll need some moly grease for the barrel nut and you'll need a barrel clamp that fits in a vice to clamp the barrel so you can tighten the flash hider.

[NSP64]

I was a Unit armorer in the Army, but havent touched an AR since '86.[smilie=l: I was looking at a kit that had the upper completely assembled with bolt, carrier and headspaced. It includes all the parts for the lower, just not a lower (SN part).

I didn't know if anyone has gone this route before. With everyone and their brother making parts for them now it has cut the cost.

[StarMetal]

Yes you can go that route, and many have. It's quite the fad right now. Many of the companies have completed uppers. You just need to get on their websites and check them out. You will have to weigh whether getting a complete rifle over build is cheaper especially if you have a license.

[cheese1566]

Before the election I was able to order a lower kit. I asked the dealer about ordeing a DPMS lower receiver from Brownells and I would get the rest of the parts on my own. He had another source and was able to get a DPMS lower receiver, internals, and the Pardus stock far cheaper than where I was looking. He passed the savings to me.

I quickly assembled it using the AR15.com resources. No trouble.

I then ordered a complete 16" A2 upper from Del-Ton through the net directly. Functions OK, but the finish had some cosmetic blotches on one side. The election fiasco hit and I decided to retain it rather than ship back and wait months to get a replacement. At that time they did LE discounts so I did OK.

At the time I priced out parts vs completed uppers. I found them to be about the same for a basic 16"A2 upper. I would buy parts if doing a custom upper with special barrel, floating handguards, and "tactical" stuff. DPMS makes reasonable specialized uppers already completed.

Have fun! They are easy to build and the tooling isn't expensive.

Take a close look at the Brownell's website for series of short assembly videos on the AR.

[trickyasafox]

i've assembled a few- not built as I ordered the uppers all spec'd. I've had great luck with Del-ton kits, and own a bushmaster upper that is also good.

[dk17hmr]

I put all of mine together....normally I put the lowers together build the upper everything that can be done with the AR15 handtools I ussally do. I did however just buy 2 "PlumCrazy" lower, complete with butt stock and internals. I bought mine for $99 each. They are however a poly lower, much like a Glock. Everything about them is poly except the springs. Alot of guys are dogging them but everyone I see on other forums that has one loves it. I really really like mine. With the upper and bolt/carrier group I have $499 into my "truck gun". I did a 15 minute trigger job on the springs and put a touch of high temp lube on the sear, it break at abut 4.5 pounds but is smoother than any other AR15 I have ever shot.

If I was in the market for another blaster grade (not a match rifle) I would pick up another PlumCrazy lower...I think they bumped the price up to $130 now

One of these COMPLETE uppers

http://www.jsesurplus.com/custom16hbarmidlength1x9flattopuppercompletestanda rd-2.aspx

Pick up a couple mags at a gun show...$10 each

Cheap Red Dot for $100 or so.

And be into some real fun for around $600.

[milsurp mike]

I have built 2 AR 15's and they are a piece of cake to build.An 8th grader could do it.I have built them on a Model 1 sales kits and they go together great.They have several calibers to choose from and several styles also.Most uppers are already assembled and you can go to AR 15 .com and get the directions on putting the lower together.They are much easier to build than the AK's.I have built several of those also by drilling and tapping instead of the Rivets.Get yourself a Kit and build it.You will enjoy it alot more since you built it yourself.Mike

[NSP64]

O.K. I think I'll do it.

Anyone have one in 6.8?

[dk17hmr]

Yep got a 6.8 in my safe. Great close range (350 and in) hunting rifle. I have pushed it out to 675 yards on steel with good hits on target. More recoil than a 223, but not enough to notice. Uses a bit more powder 28.5grs and a heavier bullet 110gr V-max for my rifle. I killed a really nice 9 point in Michigan with it a few years ago at 42 yards when I opened him up to get the guts out his heart came out in three chunks.

The 6.5 grendel guys dog the 6.8, both are great calibers 6.8 is better suited in my opinion for hunting.

[nicholst55]

I've been working on and shooting M16s and AR-15s since 1973. If I was going to build just one (you won't), I would simply buy a complete upper and assemble the lower the way I wanted it. If I wanted a truly 'custom' or one-off upper, I'd buy the necessary tools and parts and assemble it.

They are very simple to assemble, and tolerances are generally close enough that a parts gun will run just fine. My advice is to NOT buy the cheapest parts that you can find, because there is some real junk out there masquerading as AR-15 parts. Do a little research, and if brand A parts are 1/3 the price of brand B parts, figure that there is a reason for this and avoid brand A.

[Combat Diver]

I have built all three of mine starting in 87' to my last one in 08'. I built these to my specs and my last I've only have $150 for a complete lower, $50 for long flash hinder and to permently afix to the 14.5" 1:7 twist. That's all I have in the gun as I traded for the other quality parts. Another savings on building your own is that you do not pay the federal gun tax that is included on new guns.

CD

[Montana Slim]

No assembled uppers, lowers, etc for me....The true joy for me is building from a pile of parts.. This way I know exactly what is in there and that it is assembled correctly from the start..but then, I know more about building an AR than some of the manufacturers :smile:

Only drawback to them things is they ain't a cast bullet gun:p

Regards,
Slim

[rockrat]

Depends on the caliber, iffn you want to shoot cast. My 450 Bushmaster and 50 Beowulf do well with cast boolits

[dk17hmr]

300 Whisper is a good cast caliber. I have shot cast out of the 223 and 6.8 also with good results.

[MJR007]

Brownells has free vids on Ar15 builds. My son at 10 help with one. I am thinking of a 458 upper and using some hard cast. I may be selling off some tin to pay for this project. Bill Springfleid will do a great trigger job for $50. It is almost as good as my $200 timney trigger. Good luck

[RugerFan]

I was a Unit armorer in the Army, but havent touched an AR since '86.[smilie=l: I was looking at a kit that had the upper completely assembled with bolt, carrier and headspaced. It includes all the parts for the lower, just not a lower (SN part).

I didn't know if anyone has gone this route before. With everyone and their brother making parts for them now it has cut the cost.

I put one of my ARs together with a complete kit from Del-ton. The upper was already assembled and headspaced. I have also put other ARs together piece meal. It just depends on what you want to end up with. I think its often cheaper to get a kit, but you'll have to check around.

[mroliver77]

I have a Frankengun AR The upper came assembled and A lower I picked up I put the parts in. It runs well with 20" flat top upper or 16" standard upper. Got all my parts from Sherluk and have been very happy.
http://www.sherluk.com/
Jay

[c3d4b2]

Here are some links that might be of interest

http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/assembly/lower/

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=12&t=318113

[Lloyd Smale]

Dont worry about missmatching parts. If you buy quality parts they will work together. A lower is a lower so unless you want to have a gun that may fool someone into thinking its a brand named gun dont spend extra for a brand named lower. The upper is the heart of it. Most any of them anymore are decent. If you want things like a chrome bore or chamber or an upgraded bolt and carrier then thats were the extra money will come in. Most of the brand named company buy the material to put them together just like you want to do anyway. They just have them stamp there name on them.

[klcarroll]

I know that this is technically the wrong forum to post this in, but this thread directly relates to my project.

I have finally decided to build up a weapon using a legal FA lower that I have had since the days when I had a Manufacturer’s License. This guy is going to be nothing more than a “Range Plinker/Beer Can Killer”; ….So I have NO interest in laying out Top Dollar for new components.

I am looking for:

1) A used and cosmetically abused barreled upper with a half-way decent bore. Any barrel length/Any upper configuration. (Even one of the old non-forward assist uppers would be OK if it was cheap enough!)

2) A used FA bolt carrier. (Even one with the “step” welded up would be fine if the job was done properly.)

3) A used stock, tube, spring and buffer group. (Even an old “fixed” stock!)

CHEAP is the operative word here! I’m putting this weapon together mainly for the amusement of my college age daughter: …..And she already costs me plenty just in ammo!

……So look through your Junk Boxes and see if you have anything I could use!

Thanks!

Kent

[StarMetal]

Dont worry about missmatching parts. If you buy quality parts they will work together. A lower is a lower so unless you want to have a gun that may fool someone into thinking its a brand named gun dont spend extra for a brand named lower. The upper is the heart of it. Most any of them anymore are decent. If you want things like a chrome bore or chamber or an upgraded bolt and carrier then thats were the extra money will come in. Most of the brand named company buy the material to put them together just like you want to do anyway. They just have them stamp there name on them.

LLoyd,

That's simply not true. Also depends on what name brand you're talking. Continental Tool & Machine (CMT, alias STAG) is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, AR15/M16 manufacturers there is. They done most early Colts and possibly more. They have it down to a "T". Then there are billet receivers and forged receivers. A lot of stuff out there is really junk. Remember when Bullshop got that Olympia AR15 and the bolt was in 180 degrees out because it was a *** part from Oly that allowed the bolt cam pin to enter the bolt from either side? That's some of the difference and yes I know that's not a receiver. Although they aren't a bad rifle, I get a kick out of how many think Rock River Arms are the holy grail of AR's. They are just kids on the block. The ones that have been around the longest are Colt, CMT, Bushmaster, and Arma-Lite.

[wonderwolf]

I just put together a m4 using a BCM upper and a superior arms lower. had to put the lower together and that was it. I could do a kit that didn't have the front sight installed etc but why bother?

Don't go with any companies that have had documented QC issues. don't opt out of a Co. just because the guys on AR15.com don't like them....


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e220/wonderwolf223/DSC01830.jpg

[Russel Nash]

I think it was the spring of 2008 when me and my competition shooting buddy first started buying parts for our AR builds. he has a dealer discount through brownells, and from the SHOT show til April 15th every year brownell's has a SHOT show discount which if I recall correctly was another ten percent off.

we were both looking for something very specific AR-wise for 3 gun competitions. for the longest time I was looking for an eighteen inch stainless barrel that had been fluted and threaded for a flaSh hider/muzzle brake/compensator. back then I think I could find only three places that had anything like that. one was white oak armament...they wanted four hudred dollars plus for their barrel like that. then there was sabre defense....they probably wanted about six hundred dollars for their barrel. and then there was e.r. shaw...I think. I can't remember how much they wanted.

by that time some of our parts were starting to trickle in from brownells. a lot of stuff was on back
order. we both bought our Stag stripped lowers from a gunstore in st. louis. after waiting the required 24 hours because we are illinois residents we were able to pick them up. I think they were $121 out the door...each.

we both went with jard triggers....also from brownell's.

so I also got a stripped upper in...and a bolt/bolt carrier group...a lower kit and an upper kit. those are mainly springs and pins. there was one of those kits where I used just two pins out of it because I had bought that jard trigger.

so then one day a gunshow came to town. one of those outfits like model one sAles or m and a parts had set up a booth. they had all these racks with complete and semi complete upperssitting in them. I spied one that had a twenty inch stainless barrel and a free float tube/handguard. it waS made by rock river arms. I think they wanted $400 or $450 for it. at the time I was looking at that amount just for the barrel. it was just a semi-complete upper since it was without a bolt and BCG. but I already the bolt/BCG waiting for me back at the house.

so that is what I have now.

I still have plenty of spares (like a stripped upper) just laying around waiting to get used on the next build. I'm thinking that for around here at our ranges/distaces a 20 inch barrel is a bit much. the next build I am going with is going to be a 16 inch barreled collapsible stocked carbine.

I don't need the extra velocity from a twenty inch barrel. I also don't need all that extra weight up near the nose of the gun making it so front heavy.

just off the top of my head about the only way you could really booger up the lower is if you broke off that "eaR" that encloses the end of the trigger guard when you go to pin that in place...but there is suppopsedly a fix for that.

my shooting/gunsmithing buddy pretty much held my hand when I built mine. he haD printed out some hard copies off the net that covered each step in painstaking detail.

i'm in illinois where basically all our hunting is done either with a bow or a shotgiun. abou the only thing you are allowed to hunt with a centerfire rifle is coyote....which the .223 would be perfect for.

so the 6.8 or the 6.5 don't really Appeal to me. the mult-gun or 3 gun competitions are set up rules-wise to favor the AR...or the .223 . said another way...there is no advantage to shooting a bigger caliber.

[Russel Nash]

oh just to put this bug into your ear...there is an outfit called CMMG over in Missouri. they used to sell these so called "bargain bin" AR's for $550 on up to about $650...just google CMMG and their website should come up.
if they are back to selling them, chances are good it would be way cheaper than for you to piece a gun together.

[StarMetal]

I think it was the spring of 2008 when me and my competition shooting buddy first started buying parts for our AR builds. he has a dealer discount through brownells, and from the SHOT show til April 15th every year brownell's has a SHOT show discount which if I recall correctly was another ten percent off.

we were both looking for something very specific AR-wise for 3 gun competitions. for the longest time I was looking for an eighteen inch stainless barrel that had been fluted and threaded for a flaSh hider/muzzle brake/compensator. back then I think I could find only three places that had anything like that. one was white oak armament...they wanted four hudred dollars plus for their barrel like that. then there was sabre defense....they probably wanted about six hundred dollars for their barrel. and then there was e.r. shaw...I think. I can't remember how much they wanted.

by that time some of our parts were starting to trickle in from brownells. a lot of stuff was on back
order. we both bought our Stag stripped lowers from a gunstore in st. louis. after waiting the required 24 hours because we are illinois residents we were able to pick them up. I think they were $121 out the door...each.

we both went with jard triggers....also from brownell's.

so I also got a stripped upper in...and a bolt/bolt carrier group...a lower kit and an upper kit. those are mainly springs and pins. there was one of those kits where I used just two pins out of it because I had bought that jard trigger.

so then one day a gunshow came to town. one of those outfits like model one sAles or m and a parts had set up a booth. they had all these racks with complete and semi complete upperssitting in them. I spied one that had a twenty inch stainless barrel and a free float tube/handguard. it waS made by rock river arms. I think they wanted $400 or $450 for it. at the time I was looking at that amount just for the barrel. it was just a semi-complete upper since it was without a bolt and BCG. but I already the bolt/BCG waiting for me back at the house.

so that is what I have now.

I still have plenty of spares (like a stripped upper) just laying around waiting to get used on the next build. I'm thinking that for around here at our ranges/distaces a 20 inch barrel is a bit much. the next build I am going with is going to be a 16 inch barreled collapsible stocked carbine.

I don't need the extra velocity from a twenty inch barrel. I also don't need all that extra weight up near the nose of the gun making it so front heavy.

just off the top of my head about the only way you could really booger up the lower is if you broke off that "eaR" that encloses the end of the trigger guard when you go to pin that in place...but there is suppopsedly a fix for that.

my shooting/gunsmithing buddy pretty much held my hand when I built mine. he haD printed out some hard copies off the net that covered each step in painstaking detail.

i'm in illinois where basically all our hunting is done either with a bow or a shotgiun. abou the only thing you are allowed to hunt with a centerfire rifle is coyote....which the .223 would be perfect for.

so the 6.8 or the 6.5 don't really Appeal to me. the mult-gun or 3 gun competitions are set up rules-wise to favor the AR...or the .223 . said another way...there is no advantage to shooting a bigger caliber.

The two rounds you mentioned blow the 223 away for coyote hunting. Another round that out does the 223 is the 6x45 which is about the simplest conversion. The 6.5 Grendel shoots flatter, with more retained energy and velocity then anything you can load into a 223 in AR.

[mike in co]

Dont worry about missmatching parts. If you buy quality parts they will work together. A lower is a lower so unless you want to have a gun that may fool someone into thinking its a brand named gun dont spend extra for a brand named lower. The upper is the heart of it. Most any of them anymore are decent. If you want things like a chrome bore or chamber or an upgraded bolt and carrier then thats were the extra money will come in. Most of the brand named company buy the material to put them together just like you want to do anyway. They just have them stamp there name on them.

i'm gonna jump on starmetals band wagon and agree with him.
there parts and there are quality parts.
i would not pay extra for any wilson part.( several others).its just a marketing name .

i would not buy parts from..del ton, m&a,most of sarco's bargin price ar stuff,nor model 1.
i would not buy an upper nor lower from anyone that showed in the last 2 years.
i would buy from armalite, bushmaster, rockriver, stag..stag is my current preference.

cost on most parts is determined by how much inspection and how CLOSE to the true milspec for the part.

with the massive turn down in the ar market in the last couple of months there are some bargins to be had in quality parts.....but allso easy to get burned by a low price on an out of spec part.
i did not say that any of the above parts will not work, i said "I" will not buy them.

[Ickisrulz]

I would suggest doing some research on m4carbine.net. These guys are serious about shooting ARs and can provide information on various manufacturer's products. I put together my first build six months ago using a stripped S&W lower and then pretty much all Bravo Company USA parts including a complete upper. It was easy. No it wasn't a $600 rifle when I finished, but is comparable in quality to a Colt at a cheaper price. You save a lot by not paying sales tax on most of the items and avoid an excise tax.

One other thing check out the"Chart." This provides informaion on various AR15 options, why they're needed and who has them. Not all AR15s or parts are equal. I'm not an expert, but lots of the guys on m4carbine.net are.

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=6642