I just got a deal on a stripped lower and would like to build a A2 style AR. I have built AK's and have forgotten more about AK's than most know LOL, but no nothing about AR's other than operation, and stripping them down. There are so many venders and mfg. of AR parts my head spins. So who or what do I avoid ? I just want a complete upper and or lower kit with fixed sights, or maybe a removable A2 style rear sight. This is just a range toy , so super accurate and expensive are not needed, just want to build a plain jane AR in 20" ( or 16" if it's cheaper) A2 style. So where a good place to get what I need ? Also will any 5.56 upper fit any AR lower, as far as pin size ? -Thanks

tools are very helpful, armorers wrench, hammer, roll pin punches, starter punches, vice blocks

palmetto state armory has everything your looking for but their slow to ship stuff out.

A few more question, do I want 1:7 or 1: 9 twist barrel ? What is the "M4 feed ramp " I see metioned on some kits ? -Thanks

For tools I use a pair of pliers with electrical tape on the jaws, a hammer implement, a buffer tube wrench and barrel nut wrench...

Will I need all that with a complete and assembled upper ?

With a complete upper, you just need to know how to push two pins in

Or better yet, 1:8.  It depends on what type of ammo you plan to shoot.  But 1:8 will give you a good "all around" barrel that should stabilize just about anything.

1:7" twist was introduced on the M16A2 to stabilize the M856 tracer round.  1:9" twist will stabilize most 40-62 grn bullets; if you plan to shoot the very heavy for .223" 75 & 77 grn bullets, you'll want 1:7".

The M4 feed ramps are additional cuts on the barrel extension (locking lugs) and upper receiver made when the Army discovered the M4 had problems feeding in 3 round burst mode.  For a semi-auto, you don't need them, but many parts come with 'em.  The only combination you need worry about is a upper receiver w/ M4 ramps, and a bbl extension without, b/c the tip of the bullet can get trapped and jam.

I think Blackthrone is a company you should stay away from. Same goes for Hulda. They're both by the same person at different times and just give serious problems to their customers.

There are a lot of good companies out there making quality parts for the AR.

Bravo Company
Black Rain Ordnance
Rock River Arms
Palmetto State Armory should have almost everything you'll need to complete the build
Stag Arms
Spike's Tactical
Daniel Defense
Windham Weaponry (came to be when Bushmaster was bought by another company... the employees from Bushmaster went there)
Wilson Combat
LaRue Tactical
Ranier Arms
Brownell's should have all kinds of stuff that could work for you
So many others...

Complete uppers are just that... complete. Buy it, eagerly await the brown truck, open the box, slap it on, insert mag, slap bolt catch, flick off safe and BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! etc. If you buy one, make sure that it includes the bolt carrier group... some item descriptions don't list them along with the upper... those are nice to have if you don't want to have a heavy club. And don't make the mistake I did when ordering a complete upper and misread the description and not see it listed bolt carrier group and order one as well... then you'll have a spare bolt carrier assembly and will have to build another rifle.

Any 5.56mm upper will fit any AR-15 lower... unless! It's a large hole Colt upper... those aren't too common unless you're specifically looking for one though... they're only compatible with Colt large hole lowers... it refers to the forward retaining pin on a certain model of older AR-15 lower receiver that Colt made. Those lowers had different sized retaining pins that aren't compatible with anything else... but you won't have to worry about that unless you're doing a retro build for a Colt rifle made in the 80's or before.

Along with 5.56mm you can get other calibers that will also fit on an AR-15 lower... like 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 6.8 SPC II, 7.62x39, .22LR, 9mm, 45ACP, 40S&W, and I think 300 Blackout. The only thing you will need besides the upper receiver is a different magazine. AR-15 magazines won't fit most of the calibers I listed... You can use AR-15 mags for I think the 6.5 and 6.8 and 7.62x39 but the others need different magazines. Believe it or not you can get an AR-15 chambered in 300 WSM... as well as one chambered in 308 or 7.62x54... or 458 SOCOM, or 50 Beowulf... some of them will require a different lower receiver though that has a longer magazine well... those are referred to normally as AR-10 lowers...

You'll find that some parts are coming available but there's still a lack of a lot of stuff or everything is still backordered due to last years Sandy Hook panic... but the supplies are coming back.

As for twist rate, I'm not 100% sure... I think it's lower twist rate for heavier bullets... as confirmed by BackBencher above this post... so blame them if it's wrong.

Welcom to Black Rifle Disease... the only cure is to buy and build more.

If I were in your situation, I'd go over to the Specialized Armament website and just do some looking around and price checking. The majority of the parts found there are Colt and the price is right there with the part.



After browsing you can determine the quality / cost of the unit you want to build. In many cases, with the Christmas promotions, a complete Colt weapon can be found at a reasonable price.



If you want to go low budget then there are lots of "generic" parts out there also.



What kind of dependability are you looking to get?

http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=XSTU5035MOE

Best price on a quality complete upper I've seen lately.

Thanks for all the info guys, I'm looking at a Del-Ton upper with complete lower kit minus the rear sight . I'm going slow on this I'm in no hurry and plan to read up and shop around before I drop the coin.

you'll be waiting for fucking ever

+1

But he wants an A2 style build..