koorbloh

GixxerPete

Sweet! Now all you need is a charging handle and you can "assemble" the upper receiver!

FatFugg

Yep! That there is a start!

James

Who's upper did you use?

koorbloh

Mic's

he thinks it was a CMMG

reppinthe509

nice nice. mine shipped out today. hoping to see it next week sometime.

chameleon

Definitely a good start. Have you thought about using a spike's tactical lower?

FatFugg

Whats the benefit of a Spike's Tactical lower as compared to other manufacturers?

koorbloh

yes.

as well as dpms, plum crazy, bush master, colt, "whatever's on sale", noveske, s&w, daniel defense, aero precision, and pretty much every other brand I've ran across.


I'm building my upper first because I've got a line on a borrowable lower.



why spikes vs others?

reppinthe509

they have a really cool spider engraved in it!

koorbloh

reppinthe509

that took a while...lol

koorbloh

lol, indeed. I'm in no hurry.

this will give me something to play with tonight though.

I'm pretty much down to needing a barrel before I can do anything else to the top half.

philster

I'm not a black gun guy... Yet. Unless you count pistols and shotguns... But I am possibly thinking of looking into one, instead of getting another Mini14 tactical.

What's the appeal or advantage of building one up over buying a full gun? Is it just a cool fun hobby thing? Or do you end up with a substantially better than stock gun?

I've been down that road more times than I can count with Ruger 10/22s, and I can almost guarantee you I will again

I love the M1ness of mini14s, and the cost of the ammo. And if you think they aren't accurate you need to shoot a heavier barrel model. But getting a type of gun you've never had before is fun too, and all the hep kids dig these...

koorbloh

well, I'm not a black gun guy either, but an AR is a good semi-auto, fairly accurate, customizable, cheaper to shoot, easy on the recoil, platform. and while there are others, I chose the AR because I can build it up over time rather than drop the money all at once.

also, I'm a nerd. I work on my own bikes, computers, cars, and guns. I poke at stuff more than I should.

I've always wanted to build something awesome from parts like this, and an AR fits the bill.

better gun? if you put the money into parts, you can have a very good gun, but you can also buy a very good ar.

cheaper? if you shop the sales, yeah, you can make it cheaper, but you can also buy a cheap ar.

"a fun hobby", you might say. today, I bought the part because I needed to take a time-out from work....very frustrated, so I went to the gun store, lol

I've only got 1 more high dollar piece on the upper.

philster

Cool. As I said, I do that with 22s, and the only electric guitars I've ever owned have been built up telecasters with parts I've bought for Pennies on the dollar on guitar forums. And some have been monsters! And some have been "meh"

So this is quite interesting to me. I may go and find some articles on costs for building one up. Sounds like a great project for next winter!

koorbloh

do it!

I don't think mine is going to be any cheaper than buying an AR whole would have been, but I'm sure I'll get over it.


also, i put it all together today when I got home...it fits and seems to work as I'd expect it to.

reppinthe509

once you go black, you never go back.

Metonymy

Barrel? Free-floating handguard?

Knowing you, you'll go with a standard handguard and the expensive part will be the barrel.

You'll probably have yours finished by the time I get my JAE though...

Metonymy

If someone doesn't want to do the build themselves, they can buy a complete upper and a complete lower (separately of course) and save themselves the federal firearms tax for complete guns. Saves a good 10% or so.

koorbloh

I'm gonna go with a cheap free floating hand guard (lol, ya right)

but the barrel is looking to be more than that will be.

sunofnun

phil, the black guns are a sickness..

for all intents and purposes they're mainly gonna be used as plinkers.

Buying vs. Building?

It goes both ways.. I bought one, then changed a bunch of shit on it over the years. Got real familiar with how they work.. then built another one with a completely different setup. I still shoot tin cans and oreo's with both of them (till the zombies show up).

They're SUPER easy to build.. and make fairly accurate w/very little serious knowledge and a little tinkering.. I've helped a bunch of guys build them.. nothing special, just fun.

I bought the top one (it didn't look like that when I bought it), and built the bottom one.

philster

They're all a sickness. I'm sorry I hijacked the thread, but I'm paying attention to everything everyone is saying! I dig modular systems. Definitely going to be putting one together to fight off the shack-nasties this winter! A new gun and a light therapy lamp... The perfect PNW cocktail!

68shooter

I often wondered why people built AR's. Thinking cost effective. Or people where pulling the best pieces from different sources. Sounds more like a "Hobby" type thing to build them.

deadshot2

A great number of "purchased" AR's are then promptly "customized". The end result is a complete rifle and a box full of parts. I've been there. After finishing the customization of my first purchased rifle I then ordered enough parts to complete a second rifle.

For my third, I built it from the ground up. Spent less than the "customized" and had exactly what I wanted without any leftover parts.

Another good argument for building your own is that you have a complete knowledge of where everything is, how it fits, and should repairs be necessary you can be your own gunsmith.

It is definitely possible to build a very good AR for less money than purchasing one new. Building your own also allows one to have an EXCELLENT rifle for far less than some of the overpriced "Big Named" offerings out there. Carefully selecting the parts, from the best sources, and putting it all together yourself can leave more money left over for ammo.

RCJIM

So just wondering, I have heard a few people say "AR's are FAIRLY accurate" what is your guys definition of fairly acurate?

koorbloh

when I say fairly accurate, I'm talking "more accurate than me". typically 50-200 yards for me.


knowing your shooting background...it's not a comparison

sunofnun

Basically trying to build as badass a gun for as little as possible. I probably have 14-1500 into my cqb gun, if i were to buy something similar I'd probably be in the 1800-2200 range.


Truth.


My longer range gun is a 20" with a jard trigger kit. It will shoot clay birds on a bank from 250-300 yrds pretty easy.

My 16" will hit milk jugs with no magnification at 350+yrds pretty easy.

I've also got shitty results with various ammo. I tend to shoot 55 gr to plink 100yrds and 60+ when I'm shooting a bit further.

I haven't done any paperwork recently to see what they're really shooting, at a range, but most of the ranges around here aren't that much fun. I'd rather be up in the hills... lol

deadshot2

For me, accurate is a group that is less than the diameter of the cartridge base.

My Remington 5-R Milspec, gives me groups of .202-.230 on a regular basis @ 100 yards.

For an AR I would consider a group of 1" fairly accurate at the same distance. Much smaller if a .223 Bolt action.

That's my criteria "You Mileage May Vary".

RCJIM

Yea I have seen some pretty beat up m16-a4's while in the service and we all had to shoot from 200-300-500 yard lines with VERY sub par rifles, so I was just curious, most people just dont have the training and sell there bad ass AR's short.

koorbloh

teehee.

I know the rifle that I'm building will be more accurate than me, but I want to leave nothing to chance.

my hunting rifle will waaaay out shoot me, so will my .22, but this way, I can't blame the equipment ;)


*I can blame the reloader guy though....

68shooter

And that's why I'm still a newb. I would have never looked at it like that.....