Warning

 

Close

Confirm Action

Are you sure you wish to do this?

Confirm Cancel
BCM
User Panel

Page AR-15 » Build It Yourself
AR Sponsor: bravocompany
Site Notices
Posted: 3/29/2007 6:02:34 PM EST
Not the recent thread about the bronze lowers. My dad and I would love to build a few AR-15 rifles from the 80% lowers. He wants an A2 while I want an M-4. He has a nice drill press and it would be a fun project. We thought about buying stripped lowers but decided to build our own. I have never seen one of these and have no idea as to the quality of the lowers. We are going to buy 3 lowers and a jig from KC Ordnance & Supply. How do the lowers compare in quality to Stag, DPMS, Bushy, etc. Thanks for any help and tips.
Link Posted: 3/29/2007 8:41:26 PM EST
[#1]
Anyone?
Link Posted: 3/30/2007 5:33:35 AM EST
[#2]
It can be done.  Go carefully and slow.  You should check out Homegunsmith.com for more info.  There are several people there that have built their own.  Most are done with either full sized milling machines, or home smithy type machines.  It is not easy, but can be done with a good drill press. You should also check out The BUILDERS SQUAD Project to see what can be done with simple tools.

Advantages of building your own:

Pride in final product - being able to say ... "I built that."
No serial #
Extremely fun --- beats collecting stamps by a long shot
customize it exactly to your liking

Disadvantages :
Easy to screw up
It costs alot more than just buying a stripped lower
Hours of machining
You are not done with just machining.... you still have to anodize the lower

I would recommend buying a factory lower and assemble one. Once you have the bug, and want another one, then get a 80%er.  Good luck, and don't forget to post pics of your builds if you decide to go that route.

A final note, if you think that you will be able to build one, and no one will know... wow are you naive, unless you have made all your purchases with cash and have no credit card ties for ammo or guns.  If you have never bought a gun on a 4473, or have never made a post in a gun forum on the internet; you are going to be on some one's list somewhere. When the JBT's start shooting dogs in your neighborhood, they will be kicking down all doors, not just those that show up on the master confiscation list.

HTH

Mack
Link Posted: 3/30/2007 7:44:49 PM EST
[#3]
I have been working on a couple of these for the past 2 weeks.You have to be patient and able to put in some time. I just test fired my first lower and it runs like a champ. The link that I will give you is a great place to buy. I would put my lower up against any as far as fit and function. I am not going to get it anodized. I am going to use Gun-Kote and use KNS non rotating pins to eliminate any wear problems. I see no other benefit of anodizing except to harden the area of the pins. I used nothing but an old Craftsman 13 inch drill press. I bought the big cross slide vise from Harbor Freight and used it for milling out the fire control , rear lug area, and around the rear take down pin. Once you get comfortable drilling holes in expensive items, get the milling part down, its a piece of cake if you are fairly good mechanically speaking. Some machinist answered some other post and said it was hard?? I don't know what kind of machinist he is ,but can't be a very good one. I am just a field engineer with no machining background. Just fix a lot of things and drilled and tapped plenty of holes. It definately is expensive. The milling bit was $30 bucks, the 1 inch drill bit for lining up the buffer hole was 30 the cross slide vise was 70, the jig and receiver was 400  cutting oil, 1/4 X28 tap kit 30,  Gun kote and cleaner $40, oxide blast gun and aluminum oxide abrasive was $50 .....on and on. Thank God the I had a compressor and drill press already. I will post some pictures on this thread real soon. Ask any questions you would like . Oh, and its a hell of a lot of fun.
https://www.vbd.com/noc/shop/products_detail.asp?CategoryID=104&ProductID=242
Link Posted: 3/30/2007 9:58:07 PM EST
[#4]

How do the lowers compare in quality to Stag, DPMS, Bushy, etc.


Because the finished quality of the 80% lowers depends on how they are finished, and I am really not trying to be a smart ass here, how do your machine skills compare to the workers in the Stag, DPMS, Bushy etc., factories?  JMHO, but if quality is your #1 goal, buy from one of them.  If the fun, pride and experience of doing this with your dad is what you are after, by all means, go for it!  
Link Posted: 3/31/2007 10:11:45 AM EST
[#5]
Thanks for all the replies. I do have a Bushmaster lower that I will be putting together soon. I just think building my own would be a nice project. Dad has all the tools we need to do the job and I will post pics when they are completed.


Scooter
Link Posted: 4/2/2007 9:06:29 AM EST
[#6]
I built one from a Tannery Shop cast lower a couple of years ago.  I used his drill jig and tool set (mostly the big tap for the lower receiver extension).  The metal of the casting is a little soft compared to the typical forged & anodized lower.  But, it hasn't shown any problems in several thousand rounds.  I finished it with K-Mart barbecue black paint & it looks pretty good. It's built up into a 16" plinker/noisemaker with a big red dot sight on top of an A3 upper and it's one of the favorites at our range's family day/open house.  Thinking about a fake suppressor can to hide the outer half of the 16"+ barrel.

The build itself went pretty well.  I did screw up the hole for the lower receiver extension and had to re-do it.  That left the hole a little wobbly so I epoxied the  lower receiver extension to the lower itself.  It's held up well, but I won't be taking it apart without some destruction occurring.  If the lower does wear out, I might replace it with a KT lower, they look interesting.  The lazy way would be to just buy a "real" lower.  That's starting to look good to me.
Link Posted: 4/6/2007 11:56:39 AM EST
[#7]
I have found those from KAD Engineering to be better than the AR15plus 80% lowers.
Link Posted: 4/23/2007 11:13:06 AM EST
[#8]
I have a few of Kevin's and they look excellent.  Hope to start working on them this fall.


Quoted:
I have found those from KAD Engineering to be better than the AR15plus 80% lowers.
Page AR-15 » Build It Yourself
AR Sponsor: bravocompany
Close Join Our Mail List to Stay Up To Date! Win a FREE Membership!

Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!

You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.


By signing up you agree to our User Agreement. *Must have a registered ARFCOM account to win.
Top Top