The Stages of AR addiction... my trip down the rabbit hole.

[Mygrainman]

ha I've bent and broke two so far.

Do you just hold the end of the casing to the bit as the drill is turning? I'm pretty green with the reloading stuff.

Yes... They are made so they can't go too deep, but you have to be careful to keep it straight. A swedging die or bench tool would be a lot better if funds allow, because it's faster, more uniform and you aren't removing and metal from the casing. The lyman uniforming tool is less than $10, the die is $30+ and a bench mounted is near $100. That extra $90 will buy a lot of powder, primers, and projo's... or AR parts.
As far as decapping... They bend and brake even on comercial .223 brass... It's likely because it's coming loose inside. It only took me 3 rods to figure it out. If you're using a RCBS die, take the rod out and put some locktite on the threads that attach the decap pin... being that the rod will bend and brake long before the pin does anyway you will likely never be taking it apart anyway.. They really should make it a single piece of hardened steel for .22 caliber dies. If only I were handy with a lathe I'd make my own. When I run across one that doesn't go easy I'll check to make sure everything is tight and straight then set the tough ones aside for later so I don't break stuff and throw off my rhythm.

 

[Caveman Jim]

ha I've bent and broke two so far.

Do you just hold the end of the casing to the bit as the drill is turning? I'm pretty green with the reloading stuff.

I used a Lyman case prep express for my .223/5.56 cases. With the primer cutter you definitely need to keep the case straight up to prevent loose primer pockets. Plus I clean all primer pockets to get the crap out so proper ignition is achieved.

 

[Mygrainman]

Well now you need a small lathe to cut your crimps. I have one come on brother step it up! I should just light 100 dollar bills in fire.

actually what I use is pretty close. It's an invention I came up with back when I took up building fishing rods to speed up tying on the eyes. the other hose clamp holds an old rotisserie motor I found at goodwill for slowly turning the rod while the epoxy on the threads cures. I made a couple more T shaped blocks and notched the tops and lined them with felt to cradle the work. Luckily Rod building isn't as addicting as AR building. I built a few several years ago and moved on to the next hobby... But it's another skill in the resume. They had fancy expensive purpose built machines to do it with in the catalog, but why buy a fancy machine when you can make one out of stuff in the junk drawer? I even used it to turn sand and polish a rusty pitted barrel on a buddies mk77 that I reblued for him a couple months ago too. he is from alaska and put it away wet and it sat in the case for years. I didn't even take it off the action... I just made a jig out of a 12" long 1/2 hole saw..notched an empty case and attached it to the end then taped it up to fit the bore and it worked perfectly.(patent pending jk)
It's basically a mini- lathe, just not very precise. I just C clamp it to the bench, true it up best I can with a torpedo level and go to town. I can adjust the speed and put a velcro strap on the trigger to keep it going.

 

[Mygrainman]

I used a Lyman case prep express for my .223/5.56 cases. With the primer cutter you definitely need to keep the case straight up to prevent loose primer pockets. Plus I clean all primer pockets to get the crap out so proper ignition is achieved.

Those are on sale at sportsman's right now or they were anyway... It would speed things up but I have plenty of time. I find it therapeutic to carefully manicure each case by hand one at a time. It makes me a little more frugal with the amount of projos I send down range when I think about all the work that went into making it too. besides that $100 would buy a lot of other things on my list luckily you only have to cut crimps once.

 

[Mygrainman]

not that I mind.... but this has gone from an AR addiction thread to a reloading thread.. also addicting, and feeding your ars is part of feeding the addiction so I guess we're ok

 

[ageingstudent]

View attachment 361777
actually what I use is pretty close. It's an invention I came up with back when I took up building fishing rods to speed up tying on the eyes. the other hose clamp holds an old rotisserie motor I found at goodwill for slowly turning the rod while the epoxy on the threads cures. I made a couple more T shaped blocks and notched the tops and lined them with felt to cradle the work. Luckily Rod building isn't as addicting as AR building. I built a few several years ago and moved on to the next hobby... But it's another skill in the resume. They had fancy expensive purpose built machines to do it with in the catalog, but why buy a fancy machine when you can make one out of stuff in the junk drawer? I even used it to turn sand and polish a rusty pitted barrel on a buddies mk77 that I reblued for him a couple months ago too. he is from alaska and put it away wet and it sat in the case for years. I didn't even take it off the action... I just made a jig out of a 12" long 1/2 hole saw..notched an empty case and attached it to the end then taped it up to fit the bore and it worked perfectly.(patent pending jk)View attachment 361779
It's basically a mini- lathe, just not very precise. I just C clamp it to the bench, true it up best I can with a torpedo level and go to town. I can adjust the speed and put a velcro strap on the trigger to keep it going.

It's a fine peice of engineering there. I used to have something similar. I didn't mean to drift your thread with the reloading but besides the $699.00 AR and $450 worth of accessories I have a $400 lathe AND a swaging unit. Like I said I'm not complaining, but the rabbit hole runs right through my shop. I lost a few of my prepped LC cases last time out and almost had a conniption.

 

[Mygrainman]

It's a fine peice of engineering there. I used to have something similar. I didn't mean to drift your thread with the reloading but besides the $699.00 AR and $450 worth of accessories I have a $400 lathe AND a swaging unit. Like I said I'm not complaining, but the rabbit hole runs right through my shop. I lost a few of my prepped LC cases last time out and almost had a conniption.

Its all good.. Reloading is a worthy tangent, and one of my favorite subjects. I'm the same way with my brass... You'd think they were made of gold as protective as I am of them. Drop a quarter in the parking lot and it rolls under a car... oh well... but I'll spend 20 min on my hands and knees sifting through the grass for a single $.05 piece of 9mm brass. After you inspect, tumble, size/decap, inspect, trim, debur, tumble again, inspect, prime, charge, seat, measure, and inspect one last time, you get attached. We humans like our shiny things. I usally sit on the far right (bench) at the range so my brass hits the wall before going too far. if you sit to far to the left your hard earned brass gets spread out amongst all the other people there(pun intended)... I still end up a few pieces short most of the time though. they must end up in the land of lost socks, and takedown pin and safety springs/detents.

 

[galvweld]

Avoided the black plague for a long time. Took my wife of forty years to Sportsman's Warehouse just before a Christmas. She was shoe shopping. I drifted back towards the gun counter where she found me standing in front of the black rifle section. Being she is a wonderful person she asked what I was looking at. I began an explanation of why I didn't have an interest in those non-traditional, louder than necessary, ammo consuming, of no value for hunting black things. Told her I could only see one I liked the look of. That germ carrying seductive rifle from Bushmaster had a long slender stainless barrel stretching 24 inches, coupled with an upgraded trigger, had caught my eye. We asked to handle the svelte lines of a "Varmint Special." Since she accompanied me in past pursuits of Wiley coyote she said a simple statement which changed my forever. Those infamous words, "Why don't we buy that black thing for ourselves for Christmas?" Thus, I have yielded to this gateway drug. Subsequently, another AR was required to feed the habit. Factory gun. Wasn't satisfied , so met a pusher in a parking lot and got a new supply of built gun. Most recent near overdose is a Noveske barrel (surrounded by a keymod foregrip) aided with a Next Generation upper working with a two stage Geissele trigger and Magpul grip and CRT stock. Of course this required free basing a Vortex Viper 2.5-10. Bought tools and assembled my first lower. Habit so bad am trembling with anticipation of sneaking parts for building an upper. I now lie to my wife when she asks if I am buying new guns. I tell her just buying little doses of gun parts for recreational use. It is so bad I cook my own stuff using RCBS competition dies, RCBS Chargemaster to handle the thousands pieces of brass, special powders, primers and a hand held priming tool. Not willing to post images as my physical appearance has declined and I don't want to go through rehab. I am not ready to admit I have a problem. Looking for a bipod mount to support my keymod. New drug of choice. All this might cause problems with my marriage and my family?

 

[Mygrainman]

fear not galvweld you are among friends. When you started throwing around words like Noveske, and Geissele, I immidatly began to feel empathetic... Dabbeling into optics is dangerous and not for the average weekend warrior. I just railed a Vortex Spark AR red dot, and it was even a bit much for me... Yet I am jonesing hard to line up a 3x magnifier right behind it, and for a 6-18x44 for my SPR. 3-12x40 just doesn't do it for me anymore.
And then there's the mounts, Diamondhead or Magpul Pro 45* offset buis, or an offset mounted mini reflex... It's a slippery slope.
And of course the toolage... It doesn't take long before pulling the tab off a soda can becomes busch league. I built my first one with little more, and now my bench is covered with parifinillia and the residue of late night binge building. And once you get the good green tools mounted to the bench there isn't enough gunpowder, primers, and projos in town to satisfy. And green tools are only a gateway drug to the Blue ones... I have avoided Dillon so far, only having tried the case lube, but I fear a 650 is just a few single stage press strokes away, and at that point God help me.

 

[harrisonhomestead1]

Luckily you have not experienced the late stages of the addiction, yet... One day, after struggling to close your safe, you walk past the massive, ever growing pile of AR components in your spare parts and future build drawer. After attributing your collection of AR's for the reason you can only fit 26 rifles in your 64 long gun safe you do the rough math on how much it would cost to finish the AR15's you already have parts for. Your eyes widen at the total, you start counting the AR's you already own and decide it's sufficient. Hell, its probably time to purge a bit and pursue a different platform. Maybe an MP5 clone or maybe its time to tackle that AK47 build you have always toyed with. You post your pile of parts and they start selling like hot cakes. 24 hours later you have a fist full of cash accompanied by this dull, distant feeling of regret you cant seem to escape. You convince yourself "its just stuff and can be replaced". 3 weeks later you are at your LGS picking up your newest "non AR15" Acquisition and see a M16A1 built from a kit, you cant help but want to hold it. You inquire about the price of said kit and swallow hard at the answer when you realize you just sold one for a fraction of the price not knowing surplus kits had all but dried up a few years ago. The regret grows but you convince yourself you have plenty AR's.... You go shooting with a buddy and he brings his new tricked out suppressed AR15 300BO SBR. You shoot it, you need one...... Bad, You instantly start taking mental inventory of parts owned and ones to be procured to make it all happen. You sigh in frustration as you realize you have screwed yourself again. You sold a monolithic upper that would have been ideal. Its at this point that you dive back in head first, convincing yourself you didnt fully experience ever facet of the AR platform and definitely need an SBR in 300 BO, and it probably wouldnt hurt to build an SBR barrel for 5.56 because its cheaper to shoot. While you are at it, might as well try building an AR pistol and, Oh, one of those AR9's everyone has been talking about.

 

[fredball]

I don't know what stage of the addiction I'm at but I have 7 AR-15's in 223 / 5.56 caliber / 5 are assembled in various config's 2 are in boxes for that rainy day I keep telling myself , then comes the Ar-10's 3 in the safe 2 Armalites and 1 Adams Arms various other 308 platforms , and I can't seem to pass by the buffet

 

[bsa1917hunter]

Lol that's awesome but you my friend need a intervention JUST SAYING

That's funny. That's also what I've been warned about. Supposedly they mate like jackrabbits...




That's 10 shots...

 

[EPS]

That's funny. That's also what I've been warned about. Supposedly they mate like jackrabbits...

View attachment 362084

View attachment 362085
That's 10 shots...

That one looks like one of mine

 

[EPS]

Except now my FDE gun I changed the grip because I put a crimson trace linq light and laser on it and my FDE is 300 black out I just have to take a new picture

 

[Ura-Ki]

Addicts!!! I'm a Professional, addicts go to meetings! LOL It all started as a kid growing up at the knee of two gun nut grandparents who loved nothing more then to sit at the work bench and build/customize some of the nicest long guns I have ever seen. For me, growing up with them, I couldn't just settle for store bought, not when there was so much cool that a feller could do with a hand full of tools and good folks to pass on the knowledge, and so it begin with a single Mauser 98, Then the FN/FAL, and then the BM-59, then a nice kit PSG-1, and many, many, MANY rifles later, it finally came round to my first AR build. I still only have that one, but the bug is there for sure. I could have worse hobbies I guess, I could be into fishing, ( whoops, I got that one too) or hot cars and trucks ( damn, another one) or any number of cool things. I think the point is, you have to have something to do with your free time and disposable income!

 

[techieguy]

I am not addicted to firearms, especially the AR platform, just don't speak to my wife or kids as the truth is not in them! OK it's my story and I'm sticking with it!

 

[billstaf]

ARs are a gateway gun. You'll know you're truly addicted when you start collecting ARs AND AKs.

 

[Mygrainman]

Addicts!!! I'm a Professional, addicts go to meetings! LOL It all started as a kid growing up at the knee of two gun nut grandparents who loved nothing more then to sit at the work bench and build/customize some of the nicest long guns I have ever seen. For me, growing up with them, I couldn't just settle for store bought, not when there was so much cool that a feller could do with a hand full of tools and good folks to pass on the knowledge, and so it begin with a single Mauser 98, Then the FN/FAL, and then the BM-59, then a nice kit PSG-1, and many, many, MANY rifles later, it finally came round to my first AR build. I still only have that one, but the bug is there for sure. I could have worse hobbies I guess, I could be into fishing, ( whoops, I got that one too) or hot cars and trucks ( damn, another one) or any number of cool things. I think the point is, you have to have something to do with your free time and disposable income!

Disposable income... What's that like? You have good taste in guns my friend... I could see ARs might seem just a little superfluous after some of the builds you have done. FN FAL(israelí HB with the bottle opener of course), and a BM-59 are both high on my list, along with a 91/G3.. and a PSG-1 Or an MSG90 would be my fav G3 variants. Do you have the Hensoldt illum. scope on that bad boy? I've always been drawn to the precision variants of all rifles. Fav M14 is the EBR, Fav AR is the MK12 mod0, favorite Kalishnikov is the PSL... One day if I ever strike it rich I'll have one of each.

 

[Mygrainman]

ARs are a gateway gun. You'll know you're truly addicted when you start collecting ARs AND AKs.

I always thought that 10/22 was the gateway gun. For customization anyway... People were customizing them in mass years before the ARs... of course it isn't as potent, and it's easy enough to stop after just one 10/22. I had a stock 10/22 for years and didn't change a thing. Killed a lot of ground squirrel with that gun. I didn't even get my first AR home from the Pawn shop I bought it from before buying $100 worth of Magpul and extra mags at the GS.

 

[EPS]

I always thought that 10/22 was the gateway gun. For customization anyway... People were customizing them in mass years before the ARs... of course it isn't as potent, and it's easy enough to stop after just one 10/22. I had a stock 10/22 for years and didn't change a thing. Killed a lot of ground squirrel with that gun. I didn't even get my first AR home from the Pawn shop I bought it from before buying $100 worth of Magpul and extra mags at the GS.

I had spent a extra $100 or $150 bucks before I cleared the background check LOL