I want to get started doing some more involved work on my ARs.  I want to refinish some flat black uppers to preban Colt gray.  I want to be able to pull barrels and interchange them.  Want to be able to swap out front sight towers.  And more.  And I want to do it with the right set of tools for the job.  Having the right tools makes the job easier and better and there is less chance of damage.

Here is a list that I have started (in no particular order) :

Roll pin punches and roll pin starters
Gas tube wrench
1/2 and 3/8 torque wrenches
Plastic/brass hammer
Snap ring pliers
Headspace guage
Taper pin starters
Combo wrench
Barrel vise jaws
Multi tool
Receiver action vice block
Lower receiver vice block
Bolt disassembly took

Any additions or deletions or substitutions recommended?

Also, planning to make one big purchase, probably from Brownell's to save on shipping and hassles - good choice there?

OK

Brownell's or Bushmaster

I concur with the above post. The only thing I noticed from your post was you said "and more". I have R&R'd barrel extensions and cut and crowned/threaded barrels. This may be further than you want to go, but if you are interested, Brownell's has a crown tool (for a lathe) and they also sell the barrel extension tool and the die for threading the barrel.

I don't have experience with anodizing (yet), but I do have a parkerizing setup that has given me great results. For the gray finish (on steel) I use Shooter's Solutions www.shooterssolutions.com parkerizing concentrate and for blach finish, I use their HD Manganese solution. I have a SS tank I bought from www.parkerizingtanks.com

These solutions give a beautiful finish to a correctly prepared steel surface. Better than factory, IMO.

Hope you enjoy!!

Thanks notack,

Just to clarify...

Scratch gas tube wrench because they will go in and out without too much hassle.

Don't need the 3/8 torque wrench to put bolt assembly together with precise presure,  just use ratchet.

Delta ring goes on and off easily without snap ring pliers so no tool needed.

Just use regular punch to get taper pins out of sight assembly.

Speaking of that front sight assembly, just block it underneath and pound out the taper pins from the correct side since we scratch the barrel vise, right?

Scratch lower vise block as unneeded.


Thanks for all the help.

keck,

Thanks for your input as well.  I am planning to use DuraCoat in preban gray to refinish some uppers.  I don't really want to refinish the preban Colt lowers since they are all in very nice shape.

I am interested in being able to thread barrels for flash hiders.  You have had good success in threading your own?

A friend of mine just bought this machine the other day [url]http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G0517[/url]. For the money, it is a real nice little machine -- It would be a good starter mill/drill, can handle any drilling task you will have and most light milling.

It uses the MT3 spindle and has a round column, but all in all a good deal for the money... if you find you really enjoy this type of work, you can always move up to a better mill and retire this to drilling only?

As for a good small lathe choice... the field is sort of weak -- There are lots of mixed results on the asian 9X20s, some say they are fine... others say they are crap?

edited to add: This may be more than you want to spend right now, but I had a chance to use the dedicated lathe and mill from Smithy [url]www.smithy.com[/url] -- their numbers BZ-239 and BX-288, they seemed very nice... I can think of better choices for a mill in that price range, but Smithy has financing?

Also, I remember hearing that the little machines sold on [url]www.lathemaster.com[/url] are supposed to be pretty good for the price?

edited again to add: I am not at all a fan of "3-in-1" machines, but I saw this at a trade show a few months ago [url]http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G0516[/url] and must say that for the price it was a nice looking machine... I really like the way they did the mill head, you can actually get the head down to the work. Can not say how it runs or how tight it is, but for the money it certainly seems like a good little machine... not at all big, if room is a concern.

The 3-in-1 machines are a copromise, think of them as a lathe that can "sort of" do milling. Shoptask makes a nice bridge mill multi machine, but it is pretty big and not at all cheap.

HIH

keck553, why would you be r&ring barrel extensions? If replacing them for headspace, etc, how do you get the new extension to index with the old gas port? Why buy a die for threading the barrel, if you're set up in the lathe anyway, when single pointing it works just fine?

I was wondering more about the Crowning Tool [b]for a lathe[/b]... sounds like a parting tool, designed to seperate the buyer from their money!