A customer asked us to build him a pistol upper in our .338 Spectre cartridge.  He originally requested the Ameetec side charging upper with the PRI Gen III hand gaurd, but instead later opted for a Bushmaster Carbon 15 hand gaurd with the rail that is meant for those uppers and hand gaurds.  So we started on it and this is the current project status

The parts have been machined, here they are all layed out.  Standard AR parts for the most part, just a few odd ones.  The hand gaurd is very light, the barrel nut (on the receiver) an odd pattern but workable.  The side charger, we have used it before, we like them, just that darn side piece falls out at inopportune moments.  Bolt is standard 6.8 SPC.



These are the two parts that had us scratching our heads.  The rail is not meant to go on a 1913 rail or normal AR upper.  And then it needs to mate up with the hand gaurd to make the system work.  So with some luck, some skill and some crossed fingers, we milled out part of the bottom of the rail.  Also, we milled away a few areas on the upper so that the rail would sit at the appropriate height and location to mate up with the hand guard.  We also drilled and tapped the upper for the screws that hold the rail in place



All assembled, it is a really nice light rig, the hand gaurd free floats the barrel and is surprisingly sturdy.  We are going to coat the barrel, underside of the rail and upper receiver with KG GunKote Flat Black to cover the bare metal and any small scratches from the machining operations



Once all pretty and everything, I will take a better picture of the final result.

You never cease to amaze me with what you can do.

Quoted: You never cease to amaze me with what you can do.

ALL the credit goes to Derek and Thomas, my machinists, I am just management, they cringe at the thought of me on the lathe, but I am learning ...

Quoted: Quoted: You never cease to amaze me with what you can do. ALL the credit goes to Derek and Thomas, my machinists, I am just management, they cringe at the thought of me on the lathe, but I am learning ...

Well then here's to Derek and Thomas.
They definitely have talent.
I can't wait to see the finished project.

Is that like a 7.5-8" barrel?

Nice looking upper!

Quoted: Is that like a 7.5-8" barrel? Nice looking upper!

Thanks!

It's a 10.5" barrel ....

Quoted: ALL the credit goes to Derek and Thomas, my machinists, I am just management, they cringe at the thought of me on the lathe, but I am learning ...

Oh man, that must be awesome to just be the manager.
I come from the opposite end of the spectrum, 17 years running a lathe and now I have to learn to be the manager too.
I need to quit my day job and go at this fulltime!

Randall Rausch
www.ar15barrels.com

That looks awesome even though it's not finished.
So what is the price going to be for the group buy on these??
j/k
I know, you vowed no more group buys.

No More Group Buys!

Quoted: No More Group Buys!

I agree.
I have done 2 group buys.
The first was an absolute disaster.
I lost my machine shop (company shut down) right in the middle of making parts.
Took 6 months longer than expected to finally finish the work.

My second group buy was just in the last few months.
Mike Rock took 10 weeks to deliver barrel blanks that were first quoted at 2 weeks.
I quoted 5-6 weeks delivery time at the open of the group buy.
Turned into more like 12 weeks,  but it's all done now.
I'm losing my workshop AGAIN (dad is selling the property where my current shop is).
Every time I do a group buy, I move shops!!!

I could live the rest of my life without another group buy, but I did get a lot of exposure from the last one, so maybe it's not all bad...

Randall

That is a very nice looking upper. Thanks for the pics, and nice work.