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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

Thinking About Building An Ar


Dr.Hess

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I've been thinking about buying a stripped lower, then building an AR. For an upper, I want a 16" bbl, because shorter with a permanent extension just seem silly to me. If you have to have 16", then you may as well be using it all. Anyway, 16" heavy bbl with threaded end for flash thingie and a free floated forearm with quad rails, flat top upper receiver with removable handle and forward assist. I haven't been able to find any pre-built uppers like this. Prices seem all over the map, from <$400 to >%1000. I'd like the lower end of that, and I'd like to keep it at around five bills for the upper. For the lower, I think I want all GI parts, civilianized, of course, but no fancy trigger stuff, just a basic (reliable) trigger set and a collapsible stock. 5.56. I think I want a 1:7 or 1:8 twist. I want it for the heavier bullets, but I still want it to be accurate with the 52gr as well. My past experience shows that a 1:10 twist sucks for the heavier bullets.

 

I've never built an AR before. I totally stripped one with my armorer neighbor's assistance about 30 years ago. I'm sure I could do that again with a book or teh intr4w3bz, y0. Seems like the only other thing you need to do to an upper is torque the barrel nut, which I could do.

 

Any suggestions on where I might look? I really kinda would like to find an upper pre-assembled, as that would be the easy way, and it seems a bit cheaper than piecing together all the bits.

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An AR can be built that functions to an acceptable Military Accuracy from a box of parts and no more information than what you find on the Internet. For Tools you need at the least an AR Wrench, a small common screwdriver, an assortment of small punches, and a medium sized hammer. Nice to have, but not always needed is a bench vice, action blocks, and a Torque Wrench. Now for a Tack Driver you need all of the above and more detailed instructions. You will always need a little bit of Moly grease.

To keep cost down do you really need a Free float barrel and a quad rail? You can change that over at another time. E. Stoner designed the AR platform to be worked on by your Common Soldier working as an Armorer, so it really is simple to assemble a good rifle.

To get the best out of your AR you need a Good barrel and consistant ammo. When I held my Armorer MOS I could assemble a M16 from a box of Mil-spec parts and shoot an inch and a quarter groups at 100 meters using the Colt 3X scope and Ball ammo. That was with the Military Chrome lined barrel that is rumored to not be as accurate as the Chrome moly barrel.

In the World of AR parts you get what you pay for; get the best you can afford without going crazy as you can pay too much.

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I have a SP1 that I bought a long time ago. Triangle foregrip and all. I qualified for my DCM Garand with it, and I'm quite familiar with the platform. I'm kinda thinking about one "tarted up" as my friend says, so I do want a quad rail free floated. This one is real tempting:

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=263671647

 

I dunno about the 1:7 bbl, though Will that still shoot 52gr bullets OK, or is that too fast of a twist? And my "perfect" rifle, in my mind, doesn't have the cutout on the barrel.

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I have a SP1 that I bought a long time ago. Triangle foregrip and all. I qualified for my DCM Garand with it, and I'm quite familiar with the platform. I'm kinda thinking about one "tarted up" as my friend says, so I do want a quad rail free floated. This one is real tempting:

 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=263671647

 

I dunno about the 1:7 bbl, though Will that still shoot 52gr bullets OK, or is that too fast of a twist? And my "perfect" rifle, in my mind, doesn't have the cutout on the barrel.

 

Have you checked midway and brownells? Everyone is selling this stuff now.

Google ar-15 uppers. (and lowers)

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I've been thinking about buying a stripped lower, then building an AR. For an upper, I want a 16" bbl, because shorter with a permanent extension just seem silly to me. If you have to have 16", then you may as well be using it all. Anyway, 16" heavy bbl with threaded end for flash thingie and a free floated forearm with quad rails, flat top upper receiver with removable handle and forward assist. I haven't been able to find any pre-built uppers like this. Prices seem all over the map, from <$400 to >%1000. I'd like the lower end of that, and I'd like to keep it at around five bills for the upper. For the lower, I think I want all GI parts, civilianized, of course, but no fancy trigger stuff, just a basic (reliable) trigger set and a collapsible stock. 5.56. I think I want a 1:7 or 1:8 twist. I want it for the heavier bullets, but I still want it to be accurate with the 52gr as well. My past experience shows that a 1:10 twist sucks for the heavier bullets.

 

I've never built an AR before. I totally stripped one with my armorer neighbor's assistance about 30 years ago. I'm sure I could do that again with a book or teh intr4w3bz, y0. Seems like the only other thing you need to do to an upper is torque the barrel nut, which I could do.

 

Any suggestions on where I might look? I really kinda would like to find an upper pre-assembled, as that would be the easy way, and it seems a bit cheaper than piecing together all the bits.

google Del-Ton

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