It seems so simple I am thinking of trying to do this. Was wondering if anyone else here has done it and can offer up some tips.

What receiver would you use?

Making the receiver is what I'm talking about. It is just a tube basically. I have the drawings with measurements.

Why when you can just get one for $50-80?

Gotcha. Sounds like an interesting project.

Making things yourself is fun to some people.

A guy out of NH used to sell an 80% receiver tube for the Ruger (and others) but the BATF crushed him back in 2007 or so.

Just saw this link for various blueprints:
K.L.Stottlemyer & Co.

Oddly, I was thinking of redoing the frame so that I could move the grip back and get a lower bore axis.  The overall design would look exactly like a Walther GSP.  The long term goal was to also chamber it in .32 acp or .32 s&w long for ISSF/Bullseye matches.

The release of the newer MKIV from Ruger actually makes this idea more plausible.  Maybe...

That was Kristi tool.  He was in NH, but fled for someplace out west ( maybe Montana?).  He was an honest guy, and a little odd; he refused to use the word "dollars" but instead called them "FRN" (federal reserve notes).  You could also pay by "gold or silver bullion" (??).

All was well for a while.  Then atf showed up with (iirc) some pissed off Canadian LEO "guests " - who of course had no authority in the USA at all (which is why they were "guests").  

the best guess was that a few 80% recievers somehow ended up north, and they wanted KT shut down. Everyone knows the drill: they confiscate everything and hold it for an "investigation."

That tends to put small business out of business.

Anyway, the MK2 upper IS the serialized part - ie it IS the receiver.  It's simple to copy, though I've never tried one.

Try here:

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi

80% receiver...I mean, barrel thread protector

I bought one of these to play with.

I thought about getting one of those myself. Have you received it yet? If so, how is it? Do you have any other parts yet, and the blueprints? I can hook anyone up with blueprints I have.

I've got it a few weeks ago.  The threads are a bit tight for the 2 barrels I have but they went it.  Haven't started to machine the tube but I hope to do it soon.  I have had the drawings for a long while.  I was going to make one from scratch but the tube saved me some time.  Still haven't decided on a barrel, light or heavy, or if I want to machine up the body some too.  One day.

I started one a few months ago, but picked up a side project that ended up killing my lathe.

with the conventional threads you need to "time" the barrel to the receiver. (either torque and mark the receiver for zero or mark an unfinished barrel for zero)

Think outside the box, it is a proven design but nothing says it cant be improved upon. What features would you like to see incorporated into the design?

I have a few more weeks before I can get my lathe up and running, but when I do this is on the top of my list to finish.

I bought a piece of fuel rail housing a few years ago with the intent of using it for an asymmetrical 22 suppressor but haven't used it yet.  Measuring it, you could do an integral picatinny rail on a body with it if you made one out of it.

I think it is this stuff here
Ebay fuel rail extrusion
the OD is 1".  Bore it out to .750" and thread it for the barrel.