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I've had a stripped lower sitting on the shelf since last year. Finally got around to getting an LPK and getting to work on the build on Monday - assembled it Monday night when I got home from work. Dumped my bag of parts onto a cookie sheet in my work room and in about half an hour (because I dropped the bolt release spring, the hammer retaining pin, and a detent on the ground at different times) I had an assembled lower, sans receiver extension/stock/buffer assembly. I slapped the upper from a complete rifle on it to test trigger function and pull. Trigger felt fine, but there was a hitch in the giddyup - the hammer was following the bolt, except when I let pressure off the trigger. Pulled the upper off, and compared the build-a-bear lower to the factory Bushmaster lower - I *thought* the disconnector was out of spec, as it wasn't engaging the the hammer, and didn't appear to be protruding as far forward as the factory disconnector.

I was ready to take the lower by Oregon Arms where I bought everything, and see about swapping disconnectors on Tuesday. But I woke up Tuesday morning and something was bugging me. I pulled up a schematic of the trigger assembly before I got dressed for work, took the trigger apart, and realized I had forgotted one little, but majorly important part - the disconnector spring!

Installed the spring, re-test trigger, everything works A-OK and no more "following" of the hammer. One pull one click. Reset feels just like my Bushy now.

I am a bit disappointed in the selector though - it isn't as crisp and has more "wiggle room" than my factory gun. With the hammer down, I can move the selector about 10 degrees or so toward "safe" on my franken-lower, the factory gun barely wiggles. I'm wondering if I should replace that spring, the detent, or the selector itself, or if that wiggle room is within tolerances? When on "safe" the pressure to deactivate seems normal, it's just when on fire that there's a bit of slop.

I'm at least a lot closer to having a functional rifle than I was a week ago. Got to figure out which direction to take the build. I was originally going to build an AR-pistol with a Sig brace, but now not so much. Not sure if I want to fork over $200 and 9 months of waiting to SBR it either, probably will wind up with a vanilla carbine and be done with it. Or maybe I'll make an A2 style rifle. Too many decisions.
 
You said you had not installed the buffer tube and buttstock assembly yet right???

Without the end plate in place and the stock assembly tightened down the safety selector detent is not doing it's job yet. The safety selector lever will be sloppy without the detent in place.

If you have the stock all tightened up on the tube/lower and the safety selector detent in place then the lever should be fairly crisp in its function. Also sometimes how "sharp" or "pointy" the safety detent is affects how much "slop" you get in that control.
 
You said you had not installed the buffer tube and buttstock assembly yet right???

Without the end plate in place and the stock assembly tightened down the safety selector detent is not doing it's job yet. The safety selector lever will be sloppy without the detent in place.

If you have the stock all tightened up on the tube/lower and the safety selector detent in place then the lever should be fairly crisp in its function. Also sometimes how "sharp" or "pointy" the safety detent is affects how much "slop" you get in that control.

I think y0u're confusing the grip with the stock/end plate - the spring & detent held in by the receiver end plate or stock is for the takedown pin. The pistol grip houses the spring for the selector - and it's in and cranked down tight. The other spring and detent the receiver extension holds in is the buffer retainer. I can't see how either of these would effect the selector in any way, since none of those parts come in contact with it.

As for the detent itself - it was a pretty sharp and pointy - I have a sneaking suspicion that the selector itself might be the culprit. You can see casting lines on it, unlike the selector on my factory rifle, without taking both selectors out for a comparison though, this is just supposition.
 
I would pull off the grip, and check to see if you accidentally crimped the spring, that puts tension on the detent. It is easy to do. If it got caught between the grip, and the lower, it could be only giving you partial spring pressure.
 
I think y0u're confusing the grip with the stock/end plate - the spring & detent held in by the receiver end plate or stock is for the takedown pin. The pistol grip houses the spring for the selector - and it's in and cranked down tight. The other spring and detent the receiver extension holds in is the buffer retainer. I can't see how either of these would effect the selector in any way, since none of those parts come in contact with it.

As for the detent itself - it was a pretty sharp and pointy - I have a sneaking suspicion that the selector itself might be the culprit. You can see casting lines on it, unlike the selector on my factory rifle, without taking both selectors out for a comparison though, this is just supposition.

You sir are correct, when I wrote that I had not had a cup of coffee yet.:confused:

My bad, carry on...:D
 

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