Hello the camp!  I'm still alive and feeling retro.  My NDS601 SP1Carbine clone is still my main go=to rifle, and my Hungarian AKM underfolder is a close second.  The 602 was sold to help fund my renewed passion in Cowboy Action Shooting- which I did 1994 to 2013, and was even a staff writer for the Cowboy Chronicle.  

I missed it badly and started back again in February. I leaned the herd a little to fund my Cowboy armory (you think retro is expensive... My Uberti 1860 Henry was $1200 at dealer and DROS!: Two 1872 Open Tops in 45 Colt, two Uberti 44-40 SAA revolvers, an 1860 Henry, a Rossi 1892 in 44-40, and a trapdoor Springfield in 45-70.

What I am really here for is to announce my latest Retro project:  Taking my original Costa Mesa mfg. ArmaLite AR180 (which has been languishing at my buddy's house in Elko NV since I moved back to CA in 2011, because Californication won't let me have it), and mating the top half of it to a NDS18S lower from Mike and Harlan, and then thanks to Big Rix and Stormwerks, I am finishing it out as a California legal, featureless, AR180.  Top half is my Costa Mesa, and the bottom will have an AR180B fixed stock and LBK from Rix, and the adapter (and the replaced charging handle which is MIA)

Pics soon.

My first AR180 was a Sterling that I used as a trunk gun as an LEO in Washington State in the 1980s....

Good to see you back, post pics when you get that AR180 finished up!

Glad to see you around, Rangemaster!  Sounds like a good project.

Thanks.  Funny how things change.  I had my second Sterling when I was living in Mississippi, and sold that when I knew I was moving back.  I got this one at about that same time from a good friend, for a price I could not say no to, just as I was leaving Mississippi.  It went to Elko on the way back to CA, and I really haven't shot it more than a couple times.  For a long time, I was content to leave it in Elko, and just shoot it when I went to the desert.  I wanted to leave it original.  

As I approach 65, however, I realize I want to enjoy it without being a Californication felon.  I finally pulled the pin, and had my buddy send me the upper half.  The heck with it.  The upper will have more wear than the lower, but I really don't care. I am going to have fun!  Everything else for the featureless build is "in the mail" so I can't wait.  I plan on enjoying the hell out of it.

BTW, when I got it, it was virtually like new, including the two 20 round (AR18 marked baseplate) mags and two 30 round steel AR18/AR15 mags.

Sounds like a great project, I was actually looking at getting into cowboy action this summer and know what you mean about the expense. I guess I'll just pretend this retro AR stuff is saving me money for now.

It is a great sport.  It doesn't have to be expensive, but I have expensive tastes, like my Gus MCCrae Lonesome Dove 1860 Henry! LOL.  You can get a used cheapo double for a couple hundred, My used Rossi 44-40 was $400, and about $800 for a pair of pistols.  I just got sort of stupid and decided I needed two full sets of guns, and three side match guns LOL!

I sure wish I still had the 2.75X Armalite scope I had in the 80s!

I'm glad you'll be able to make that thing CA-legal...but it breaks my American heart to know that you have to. 

Looking forward to photos, though!

Thanks. when I go to my buddy's in Nevada, I will take the upper with me, and it will be re-united with the lower.  We will shoot it some more in all its original Costa Mesa glory, including the 180 slotted 20 and 30 round mags.  In the mean time, I'll still have fun with it in its Californication configuration.  Pics coming soon.  The NDS18S lower is on the way to my dealer for 10 day jail.

Wow, got to visit my NDS18S lower at the LGS where it is languishing in Californication jail.  That is one stout forged hunk of aluminum!  Very cool, though I am going to give it the grey Rustoleum primer treatment, because my Costa Mesa is unpainted grey parkerized.  This is going to be one cool puppy.  I'll post some pics tomorrow.

I was also considering that my AR180 has a 1/12 twist barrel, so I am limited to 55 grain M193.  That's not a bad thing.  I happen to prefer M193 over every other 5.56 except the 77 grain MK262 MOD1 SMK OTM.  Oh well, I'll shoot that from my 1/7 SP1 carbine clone (6420 pencil barrel) or my Kel-Tec SU-16B.  The Kel=Tec with a red dot and the MK262 is a real coyote buster...

Uploaded some pictures of my Costa Mesa AR-180, before the divorce of upper and lower!

Here's everything except the stripped NDS lower.  AR180B LPK completion set and butt stock from Big Rix, and the stock adapters from Stormwerkz.  I already had a standard AR LPK and the assorted grips for the non-180B stuff for the lower. I get my lower out of Jail on the 10th.  

To be featureless to comply with the communist edicts of Californication, I got a CAV brake to replace the three prong, and will use either a MMG or a Monkieboi grip wrap, depending on which feels best.  I have an MMG on my SPi Carbine clone, and it actually works great. On My under-folder AK I have a grip wrap, and on my Flat top 20" HBAR, I have a Magpul MIAD grip with the Exile machine slip in fin.

At least featureless, I can still use a standard magazine button.

Here are some pictures of the lower, which is in jail until 6-10-17.  The nice thing is that it uses standard AR15 magazines - (of which I have plenty), instead of the slotted AR18/180 mags - (of which I only have four!).  Also uses standard AR FCG and mag catch - with longer hammer and trigger pins.

Nice. In for the resulting pics.

Picked up my NDS18S lower yesterday. Wow, that is one nice piece of forged aluminum.  VERY sturdy lower.  May get time to put it together and hang it on the upper today or tomorrow.  PICS forthcoming..

Sweet!  Everything went together perfect.  With the AR180B and NDS18S lower, the bolt hold open is set for AR15 magazines.  The AR180B upper has clearance for it, but the original AR180s do not.  Their BHO is contained below the level of the upper, and a spring detent acts against the bottom of the upper to keep it from engaging until the mag is empty.  WELL, I refused to cut a mint Costa Mesa upper to make a notch.

The armorer/tinkerer in me kicked in: I modified the AR180B BHO by flattening it out straight, then bending the end up at a 45 degree angle.  I filed the rear edge of the mag follower at a corresponding angle.  The result is that it feeds the last round from the AR15 magazine (with modified follower), without a hiccup, and actuates the BHO when the mag is empty...ALL without screwing with the original upper.  

The bonus is, that by using this angle instead of the AR180 low step, the mags still actuate the AR15 BHO when empty.  That was actually the plan.  Now I can modify the rear of all my Magpul followers in ALL of my 30s so all will work in either my AR180 or my AR15 SP1 Carbine!

Pics tomorrow, including the modification.

NOTE to Mike and Harlan... Check it out.  It is better than having original AR180 owners cut the slot on their uppers.

I like what you did with the bolt hold open.

I would love to see some pics of the mod you did.

You got it, RIX. I'll use my wife's Nikon D90 tomorrow.  By the way, how do you do a rear sling on the AR180B?  I was thinking of drilling and tapping the 180B adapter plate for a swivel.  The stock will not support it, except maybe a screw with nut on a washer on the stock.

I was able to snag a couple of the Armalite Ergo pistol grips when they still made them in black.



They do still have them in green and for the money I am going to get some to see how well they hold paint.

Ergo Pistol Grip Green

Thanks, RIX.  I'll order one.  Right now (since I am making it Californication "Featureless") a Magpul MIAD grip with an Exile Machine back fin inserted instead of the backstrap.  Also have a CAV brake instead of the evil flash hider.

Mike, I will be posting detailed photos today, and will send you and RIX the information.  It would be easier to manufacture, and won't need the upper modified.  You guys (NDS and BigRix) have free license to use it and exploit it.  Consider it "Freeware" - my contribution to AR180 owners.

Teaser:

HAWT

More:  The BHO tab was originally a stair step affair that rose up 1/8", then over 90 degrees to be the actuator that engages the square edge of the BHO activator on the magazine.  I flattened it in a vise, then marking then, bent the last 1/4" or so upward at a 45 degree angle.  With the BHO all the way up, only the tab that engages the mag follower extends up above the level of the bottom of the upper receiver.  Before, it needed a 1/4" notch cut in the bottom of the upper to move upward.  As you can see, only the small back rectangular area on the rear of the mag follower, needed to be filed at a 45 degree angle to match the angle of the BHO actuator tab.  Because of the design of the standard AR15 BHO ( a long tab extending forward) it still hits the follower on the front of the 45 degree slope, and activates the BHO.

Very inventive, I like it!

Thanks!  Unfortunately, in Californication, any new builds have to either have fixed magazine (no more bullet buttons) or be "Featureless" (without pistol grip, flash hider, or collapsable/folding stocks.  The up side of featureless is that you can use standard magazine buttons. I replaced the Armalite three prong with a CAV brake (that allows bayonet, and is a decent muzzle brake also), a AR180B fixed stock, and a Magpul MIAD grip with Exile Machine "Backfin" with thumb rest.  Actually, it gives a VERY comfortable grip - but is not a evil "pistol grip" according to Penis Code (oops, Penal code).


Since I am LEO (retired) I can keep my high cap mags, unlike every other person behind enemy lines in Californistan, who are now stuck with 10 rounders.  While I feel this high cap ban is unconstitutional and unfair, I don't plan on using ten rounders in solidarity (not that ANYONE has turned any in, LOL)!

I dig it.

Awesome work.

Thank you sir!  That is indeed a compliment coming from an AR180 Guru!  Seriously.  You might think of offering it as an option.  The dimensions are the same, just flattened out, then bend the last 1/4" or so upwards.

My Magpul Gen 3 30s are full of MK262 MOD1 77 grainers for my 1/7 twist SP1 Carbine clone, so I won't bother with those followers right now (as the Costa Mesa upper is 1/12" twist and need M193 55 grainers).  All of my Aluminum USGI 30s, though, I will modify to work in both platforms...