AR15 build, what brand?

[JRuby]

Respectfully. Plug and play. 80% lowers are doable. Head space not a concern. Proper barrel installation not a concern. Nothing ever can go wrong. Nothing has ever gone wrong. Every part is perfect in every way. Every home build is perfect. Every home builder is an expert. Everything is cool. Is that what I am hearing? What I am NOT hearing here is the naggy reality that NOT all 100% of home made AR15 rifles are perfect. Respectfully.

And a lack of specific information as to why they may not be perfect. Just general fuzzy statements.

My job here as I see it is to let home builders understand that lots of times still dark water runs deep. It is based upon past and present build experience. Uncounted thousands. Probably not as much as yours, but enough. Safety first. Lots of comments here seem to ignore this important fact. One would almost think that some comments come from manufactures who just desire to sell stuff to the kitchen table guy. The more you sell, the better you do.

Corrective Action: This might be difficult for some here to understand, but so be it. It is important to grok that home building your AR15 rifle is doable if one understands the potential areas of concern with the build. Let us just touch on two areas. Proper understanding of head space and why it is vital that the barrel torquing be conducted in a specific fashion. AND WHY. We will leave out others lessor areas of needful insight. Perhaps I will need to do this.

Respectfully. Great Forum.

I am new to ar 15s. My question is "it sounds like you know a great deal about ar 15s are you a gunsmith or an armorer?" I know you know much more than I do on the subject.

 

[HB of CJ]

LONG POST: Also a bit choppy. Little time. Sorry.

Some knowledge. A lot. More than 95% of folks. But ... less than 5% of folks. As far as the competent gunsmith who torqued up somebodies home build, did that include making sure the barrel was properly torqued up and the barrel on straight?

(If the shooter is not running OEM irons, then this MAY not apply THAT much. Most nowadays run optics. But this is still important.) Here is why. See the difference here? Others just attack. I instead EXPLAIN the correct way. Refreshing.

This means the OEM back site aperture, (if applicable) is within 2 to 4 clicks of being exactly centered with the bullets hitting the 100 test target exactly centered right to left. Again, if the owner is running optics without OEM front and rear irons ....

...then this MAY not apply ...THAT MUCH. But .... a good gunsmith would at least run a laser bore sighter down the bore and determine how well the barrel is, (indexed) pointed. When the owner mounts his optic, the scope adjustments should be very close. (skip down please)

(Indexed in this case simply meaning the barrel is not canted or twisted right or left, but is exactly centered.)
(Also means the upper receiver flat is exactly square to the receiver and barrel extension)

Also means not running the scope adjustments way off center to get the gun to shoot straight. This also assumes the scope mount is aligned properly. All of this takes time and money. The gunsmith should have test fired the build at 100 yards ...

... ... (ADDED NOTE: The barrel must be on straight. If it is not on straight, then the chamber is not quite straight to the bolt head either. Consider the consequences.) ...

...with either the irons or optic to see how close the barrel indexing is. If all he did was torque up the barrel (CORRECTLY?) and left out the testing, then the job may have been only half done. Or less. This is just an example of knowing what one ...

... is doing and not doing. Just one example of several points of interest building an AR15 correctly. My job here is too bring all of this to the attention of the casual AR15 builder. Not to scare off anybody. If done with some understand WHY, ...

... most can build their own. This is not rocket science. The AR15 is a simple platform. Also quite mature tech. My focus here, (again) is to let folks understand the rocks and shoals of certain parts of the home build. Hope this helps.

An example; ...
This will fetch them out! Barrel torquing: The barrel gets locked down TIGHT and the upper receiver FLOATS. Forty to 42 pounds of adjusted torque only. Do not go to the next OEM barrel nut opening. Do not go to a maximum of 60-80 pounds.

(You support the upper with your other hand while torquing.)

CORRECTIVE ACTION:
INSTEAD: Remove the barrel and dress off a tiny tiny bit of that upper receiver front flat. Again, this applies only with the OEM barrel nut design. Re torque to 40 pounds. The nut goes on dry. No lube. You see ... now everybody knows a little bit more.

Adjusted torque means you add the length of the barrel wrench to the length of the good certified CLICK torque wrench and you subtract some torque. In my case about 35-36 pounds. Most anybody can build a good AR15. Just passing it forward.

Excellent Forum and thank you.

 

[slimmer13]

I just put all the pieces in a garbage bag and shake it until something resembling a gun comes out

 

[JRuby]

I have never assembled an ar15
To me if it hits where I want it to and cycles reliably the rifle is done right. Pretty is another layer but it has to be accurate and reliable how it gets there and the number of tools used to me is immaterial.

 

[Pandaz3]

My first AR build was/is a Delton stripped lower (well it had the dust cover and forward assist installed) I got a Palmetto Armory lower parts kit and followed the Guide I printed off AR15.com (I can't find it anymore, but this one looks good) I put a CMC modular trigger in instead of the supplied fire control group in the kit (Trigger and hammer) I got a 4.5 pound pull as most ranges want 4 pounds or better. Later I did change the stock and grip to some Magpul items but I started with the A2 and GI style furniture. Other than the trigger it was all Palmetto and Delton for the lower. I bought a Complete Upper to include the BGG and stock Charging Handle from <broken link removed> . I got the one in the link, they only had a half dozen choices at the time. (I liked that it had been lapped, double lapped even better and chrome lined.) I still have this AR and am very fond of it, I went thru a four day course and learned a few problems with the builder, The first was I did not tighten the front sight and it fell off. Oops! Put it back and tightened it...no problem. The second was the CMC supplied trigger pins ... they had little C-clamps to go over the grooved ends of the pins to hold them in place. They did not work and so I installed a KNS Precision pin kit. Problem sorted! It now has Magpul stock and Grip and a BCM Ambi CH, but still has the plastic GI handgaurd (Suits me). I have since built others my next was a Spikes lower and Complete Noveske Upper to include BCG and CH 18" SS barrel with JP Muzzle brake. I then did everything myself with several Aero Precision builds good quality at a reasonable price point. The first one seem daunting...like riding a bike when a kid, the second one is more 'Look ma .. No Hands!'

 

[Diamondback]

Stupid question: If I'm not staking my castle-nut, do I spread Loctite on only before tightening down the castle nut, or on the receiver threads before screwing the BT in too, and how much goes where?

 

[Pandaz3]

I personally do not stake my Castle Nuts nor Loctite them. I do retighten them after first use though. The receiver threads are aluminum and the Nut's threads are steel so the receiver's threads will stretch after a bit. That is why you need to retorque or tighten your barrel nut and castle nut along with your Grip screw. Put the rifle together shoot three or four Magazines through it and then go back and re-visit those items.
If you are taking the rifle to war then the extra reliability steps make sense. It won't bother you in a Home defense situation as these malfunctions take time and are gradual in nature. You will notice it long before it becomes critical

 

[HB of CJ]

Locking compound on the pistol grip screw. Also on the Rifle barrel extension. Also on Rifle butt stock screw. Also on the CAR barrel extension tube and locking nut; also known as the Castle Nut. Also high temp locking compound on the gas key screws or nuts. No staking anywhere on the build.

Particularly you want to do the key and screw installation yourself. There are two reasons for this. The first is you do not want to stake the key screws. Weakens both the key and screws. Also doing it yourself gives you a little more lee way installing that pesky OEM gas tube. Hope this helps.

 

[NIevo]

I usually say "It's got an abc lower and an xyz upper with a lmnop barrel." Easy for people to figure out and it states all the important stuff on the rifle, sometimes throw in trigger to if it's upgraded. I don't care what brand lower you have, if you have a crap barrel it's a crap rifle. Throw a Noveske lower under a Vltor upper and attach a $50 POS barrel and guess what, you have a rifle that is a POS and will get outshot by that guy next to you with an Anderson Upper/Lower and Kreiger barrel that cost 1/4 as much.

Most guns that you build yourself aren't going to be as valuable as a factory gun of similar parts simply because a lot of people aren't going to trust, want or need your collection of parts which work for you.

 

[Koda]

I usually say "It's got an abc lower and an xyz upper with a lmnop barrel." Easy for people to figure out and it states all the important stuff on the rifle, sometimes throw in trigger to if it's upgraded. I don't care what brand lower you have, if you have a crap barrel it's a crap rifle. Throw a Noveske lower under a Vltor upper and attach a $50 POS barrel and guess what, you have a rifle that is a POS and will get outshot by that guy next to you with an Anderson Upper/Lower and Kreiger barrel that cost 1/4 as much.

Most guns that you build yourself aren't going to be as valuable as a factory gun of similar parts simply because a lot of people aren't going to trust, want or need your collection of parts which work for you.

agree with this, thats why I started this thread to see opinions.... the lower is not the most critical part of the rifle, yet it often gets all the credit for a custom build.

 

[Jnarowe]

Your question was what brand do I consider my AR Build? AR-15 = MEGA. AR-10 = MEGA.

MEGA MEGA MEGA!

 

[Joe Link]

In my opinion AR's are either factory-built or not. My Colt 6920 came from Colt as a complete rifle, so I call it a Colt. If I had purchased a Colt upper and Colt lower separately, even if the sum of the parts equaled those of a 6920, I still wouldn't call it a Colt rifle because it wasn't factory-built.

I wouldn't call the rifles I built by any specific brand, I'd just call them AR15's and describe their components.

 

[Brutus57]

Its worth whatever a colt upper minus depreciation is worth. The 80% lower is essentially value -less.

Except when it comes to registration.... then the EPL becomes "priceless"!

Brutus Out

 

[don lamance]

so you built your own AR15, what brand do you refer to it as when asked what kind of AR do you own? Is it the lower receiver, or the upper? What if you built everything else but bought a complete upper receiver?

Which part of the rifle defines the build, not from the legal standpoint?

I call it my Johnny Cash, one piece at a time.