Anyone else dabbling in AR building?

Ed T

Ed T

Joined
Apr 23, 2002
Messages
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I live in Washington State and we are trying to compete with California in stupid gun control legislation. Most recently, they added extra hoops and waits for purchasing semi automatic firearms. The Ruger 10/22 is now an assault rifle in Washington.

I learned this because I was going to buy a new gun and was annoyed by the new garbage. I then learned to my complete shock, that I could buy all the parts to assemble and AR and leave with them that day. Now, I had not planned to buy an AR. But the chance to completely defeat the spirit and intent of the new rules was too inviting. I bought the parts for an inexpensive build.

Now I am hooked. After visiting a website for a South Carolina store, I became obsessed with building a pistol build. So next it was a 10.5 inch build.

I took the kids out recently to enforce some social distancing and finally had a good field function test session. I am happy but for one odd thing. One of the pins in the fire control group of the long gun backed out a little and caused a malfunction. Easily fixed, but I had never had that happen before in shooting A2s in the army.

If you want to know what knives went with this activity, I had a large Sebenza in the left pocket and a Case peanut in the watch pocket.
 
PSA CHF barreled uppers are really nice for the money. :)

Personally, now that I own a KAC SR-15 LPR, my other rifles aren't getting much love!
 
They are a lot of fun. You can build and tinker to your heart's content, and make one unlike anybody else's. All of the add-on stuff can get expensive and doesn't always improve on the function, but humans have this thing about customizing their gadgets.
 
Ed T said:
I live in Washington State and we are trying to compete with California in stupid gun control legislation. Most recently, they added extra hoops and waits for purchasing semi automatic firearms. The Ruger 10/22 is now an assault rifle in Washington.

I learned this because I was going to buy a new gun and was annoyed by the new garbage. I then learned to my complete shock, that I could buy all the parts to assemble and AR and leave with them that day. Now, I had not planned to buy an AR. But the chance to completely defeat the spirit and intent of the new rules was too inviting. I bought the parts for an inexpensive build.

Now I am hooked. After visiting a website for a South Carolina store, I became obsessed with building a pistol build. So next it was a 10.5 inch build.

I took the kids out recently to enforce some social distancing and finally had a good field function test session. I am happy but for one odd thing. One of the pins in the fire control group of the long gun backed out a little and caused a malfunction. Easily fixed, but I had never had that happen before in shooting A2s in the army.

If you want to know what knives went with this activity, I had a large Sebenza in the left pocket and a Case peanut in the watch pocket.
Click to expand...

Check out AR15 dot com. There is tons of info out there.

it’s been a few years since I built one but if memory serves there is a spring that can be inserted incorrectly. This spring has a secondary function to hold the pins in place. Check that out first.
 
Get yourself a Geissele reaction rod for assembling uppers, really the easiest way to do it. I've been dabbling for about a decade and have parts all over the place. Remember the old AR adage, uppers grow lowers and lowers grow uppers......in no time you'll have more AR's than you can shae a stick at.... Look into 300 Blackout and 6.5 Grendel as well.
 
Thank you, I will have a
darsk20 said:
Check out AR15 dot com. There is tons of info out there.

it’s been a few years since I built one but if memory serves there is a spring that can be inserted incorrectly. This spring has a secondary function to hold the pins in place. Check that out first.
Click to expand...
look.
 
Ed T said:
Thank you, I will have a

look.
Click to expand...
The pin could possibly be in backwards. Some have a channel around the pin for the spring leg to fit in, keeping it in place.
I’m not positive. It’s been awhile since I’ve put one together.
 
If the spring leg from the hammer doesn’t get it check out the Anti-Walk pins from KNS Precision. Kind of expensive for what they are but you’ll never have the problem again. They have the added benefit of making the trigger group more rigid in the lower which can make the trigger “ feel “ a little better.
It’d obviously be less expensive to get a couple new pins first, in case that one is out of spec. There are also pins available that are 1/100 over sized if it ends up being the pin hole in your lower that’s out of spec.
Either way, good luck.
 
1AbominAble1 said:
If the spring leg from the hammer doesn’t get it check out the Anti-Walk pins from KNS Precision. Kind of expensive for what they are but you’ll never have the problem again. They have the added benefit of making the trigger group more rigid in the lower which can make the trigger “ feel “ a little better.
It’d obviously be less expensive to get a couple new pins first, in case that one is out of spec. There are also pins available that are 1/100 over sized if it ends up being the pin hole in your lower that’s out of spec.
Either way, good luck.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
I was considering going to a one piece FTG and will compare the costs.


Ed T
 
I have the KNS pins on a build, I like the set up a lot. I have Wilson Combat TTU drop in triggers on 3 others and I’ll warn you now, if you buy one, you’ll end up buying one for every AR that you ever build- they’re that nice!
With those TTU’s my AR’s have triggers that’ll make most bolt guns jealous.
 
I started with a blem lower for christmas one year and slowly built that rifle out. Then I swapped all the mil spec parts out for nitride and enhanced parts, then decided to build a lightweight rig. Next came the long range 6.5 grendel and most recently I converted a heavier 5.56 rig to an 18" SPR.

They're like legos for adults, you can tinker with them and fine tune them all you want. Just this weekend I added a Karve handstop to my railscales set up.

Congrats and welcome to the club, they're certainly addicting and fun to shoot. I sold a few off and now I have only 3 remaining; quality over quantity is my mantra now. I am looking at pistol build next and then perhaps an AR10, I have a ruger precision already though so it's not anything urgent.

My stepdad had the same pin walk out and start doing double taps. antiwalk pin kits are cheap or as mentioned above you can buy a drop ion trigger kit. I use Larue MBT2 triggers but the Timney, ELF, Geisselle and many others are great. just play with a few at the store and see what you like.

Here is my 18" SPR and my 16" lightweight rig, the other one is just a basic BLM desert rig:

ATWfhPZh.jpg
 
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Very nice!
ErocSD said:
I started with a blem lower for christmas one year and slowly built that rifle out. Then I swapped all the mil spec parts out for nitride and enhanced parts, then decided to build a lightweight rig. Next came the long range 6.5 grendel and most recently I converted a heavier 5.56 rig to an 18" SPR.

They're like legos for adults, you can tinker with them and fine tune them all you want. Just this weekend I added a Karve handstop to my railscales set up.

Congrats and welcome to the club, they're certainly addicting and fun to shoot. I sold a few off and now I have only 3 remaining; quality over quantity is my mantra now. I am looking at pistol build next and then perhaps an AR10, I have a ruger precision already though so it's not anything urgent.

My stepdad had the same pin walk out and start doing double taps. antiwalk pin kits are cheap or as mentioned above you can buy a drop ion trigger kit. I use Larue MBT2 triggers but the Timney, ELF, Geisselle and many others are great. just play with a few at the store and see what you like.

Here is my 18" SPR and my 16" lightweight rig, the other one is just a basic BLM desert rig:

ATWfhPZh.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I'm finishing my second AR(Palmetto upper on an Aero lower) right now. Just waiting on a replacement stock, grip, and an ASAP plate. Its currently completed, just not exactly how I want.

I fired the upper on my other lower last week. 60 flawless rounds sighting in the irons and red dot. I see a pistol next in my future. Only question for me, do I go .300BO or 5.56?
 
jkwithawave said:
I'm finishing my second AR(Palmetto upper on an Aero lower) right now. Just waiting on a replacement stock, grip, and an ASAP plate. Its currently completed, just not exactly how I want.

I fired the upper on my other lower last week. 60 flawless rounds sighting in the irons and red dot. I see a pistol next in my future. Only question for me, do I go .300BO or 5.56?
Click to expand...
I am pondering the same question for the next one. Do I really want to add another caliber to stock up on, lol.
 
Ed T said:
I am pondering the same question for the next one. Do I really want to add another caliber to stock up on, lol.
Click to expand...

Ill probably get a pistol for both. My first AR is a .300, so I've already got both calibers on hand. The real question is, which one do I get first?
 
Ed T said:
I am pondering the same question for the next one. Do I really want to add another caliber to stock up on, lol.
Click to expand...

I have a 5.56 & .223 wylde (same thing) and I love having a shorter and longer rig for more versatility.

300 is great for shorter barrels due to powder burn in a shorter barrel, it is also kind of nice to run subsonic in a pistol since they're so loud to begin with.
 
Ed T said:
I took the kids out recently to enforce some social distancing and finally had a good field function test session. I am happy but for one odd thing. One of the pins in the fire control group of the long gun backed out a little and caused a malfunction. Easily fixed, but I had never had that happen before in shooting A2s in the army.
Click to expand...

the hammer spring has two long legs that sit in groves on the FCG pin, if their not in the groves just right the pin can walk out, I've had it happen on a friends build
get your self some KNS antiwalk pins and that is a worry no longer! Ive done 4, 9mm in the past year and several 556 previous to that. Its an addiction !
 
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Cyclops_hammer said:
the hammer spring has two long legs that sit in groves on the FCG pin, if their not in the groves just right the pin can walk out, I've had it happen on a friends build
get your self some KNS antiwalk pins and that is a worry no longer! Ive done 4, 9mm in the past year and several 556 previous to that. Its an addiction !
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tip!
 
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