Another couple questions for you guys if you would be so kind...

When I get to drilling the gas port, whats the best way to make sure there are no burrs left in the bore when the bit pokes through? Can you ram a bullet down to the spot where the hole will be and drill into the bullet? If so, I assume a .308 FMJ bullet will fit, right? Any tips/tricks here? I'm afraid when I break through the barrel I'll ram the bit into the bottom of the bore by accident.

I'm kind of confused as to the best order to do things in. I've seen people do things in different order but they aren't in the exact situation I am (most already have original barrels). Since I'm starting with a virgin barrel (has handguard retainer notch only) and assuming I've drilled out all the old rivets, the order of the build will be:

1. Rivet front trunnion into receiver, rivet trigger guard onto receiver, rivet rear trunnion into receiver.
2. Press barrel into front trunnion; headspace.
3. Drill barrel pin hole; press in barrel pin.
4. Press rear sight base on, then handguard retainer, then press gas block on.
5. Drill gas port.
6. Press front sight on; double check everything is aligned.
7. Drill rear sight base pin, gas block pins, front sight pins; press in appropriate pins.
8. Assemble the rest...

Does this look correct? I hope I'm not forgetting something...

I got my front trunnion riveted into the receiver! I'm finally making some progress instead of just talking . I used a cheap junky $10 bolt cutters (12") and grinded them quite a bit to make a rivet squeezer. Worked good enough for the front trunnion rivets. The heads are kinda ugly and marred up but I'll punch them smooth.

I plan to use a hammer & punch with a steel block on the inside of the receiver to get the trigger guard rivets. Not sure how well that'll work but that's all I have to work with at the moment. Hopefully will get that done tomorrow. For the rear trunnion I plan to use a C-clamp to squeeze those rivets. Again, not sure if that's going to work but I'll give it a shot.

My main concern is how I'm going to get the barrel components on without a press. My plan is to freeze the barrel/heat the components, use some lubricant and then just use a block of wood and a heavy hammer and pound them on. I'm hoping the combo of heat/lube will make this feasible.

Anyone ever done this without a press? Any tips/tricks? Thanks!

Got the trigger guard riveted on now.. Man that is one pain in the ass to rivet. Took me like an hour of screwing around. There's just no room to work with those rivet tails up against the side of the receiver. Couldn't really get my steel plate to cover the tail completely so the rivets are ugly as fuck.. all marred up and just terrible looking, but it's solid. I see people made a bucking bar with a railroad spike and I bet that would fit so nice, but I don't even know where you'd get a railroad spike...

Anyways, barrel's in the freezer right now. I'm gonna try to press it in tomorrow with the allthread method.

You can use the all thread method or this one:

I made a lot of progress but had a bunch of hiccups along the way.

Got the rear trunnion riveted in (pretty easy) with my air hammer modified to do rivets.

Got the barrel pin drilled with some trouble. Got the barrel pin in with a lot of cursing and a broken vice. Rear sight base went on quite easily with a hammer and block of wood. Drilled and pressed pin in easy enough with a 2nd vice.

Gas block went on easily enough with a hammer. Gas port was a pain in the ass to drill. Ended up breaking my bit off way down in there. I thought I was fucked. After an hour or 2 I finally managed to break the bit up with a small punch and drilled it the rest of the way out. What a relief. Drilled the pin holes (not so smooth) and then bent a pin trying to press it in . Front sight pounded on easy enough, haven't drilled it yet. Gonna have to order a 3mm bit (rather than trying to make due with a #32 and ream it out by hand which doesn't work worth a shit. Then I'll pin the other (non bent) hole in the gas block and the front sight too.

Went to assemble the trigger group with my Tapco G2 but realized that the hammer/trigger pin retaining pin from my kit wont work. Wish I woulda known that ahead of time I think I can cut or modify the spring I have but I just decided to order a retaining plate instead. So I'll just have to wait a few more days to test fire. I'll post pics when it's all done.

Insert spring

Insert notched pin, this ribs parallel to the barrel in the fsb and will end up retaining the muzzle brake

Press fsb pins. The notch in the pin will ride over the front fsb pin.

Just spend a few minutes playing with it and you'll figure it out.

Edit: OK I think I get it now. The brake doesn't actually sit horizontal, its slightly tilted. Thats what was confusing me. I think I have it figured out now.

Edit 2: wow sorry, meant to "Edit" my first post not post another. Not trying to be a post whore