Gunplummer;
"Do you buy 80% beer kits and just finish the last little bit?"
Uh, yes, that's basically what an extract kit is. It's also very commonly used by homebrewers because you don't need a 10-gallon mash pot and propane burner, or extremely expensive kegging apparatus.
Pretty much the exact same motivation behind builders wishing to complete an 80% with its much more modest tooling & facility requirements than a billet or forging project. People can still get their hands dirty running drill presses or routers, still make a project who's success still rests on their skill and attention to detail. Believe it or not, this can be a pretty steep and fulfilling project for a generation that has never had to learn to use calipers or tools. Most high schools haven't had a shop class for decades.
I know 80% skeptics have this vision of all builders tossing their lowers into a CNC as an affront to the man, but the truth is they either A) never get built, B) get ruined a time or two before success, or C) are completed with a lot of handwork and measurement which is still required when jigs are employed. CNC mills simply aren't that common, and even then, getting the thing set up, trammed, indicated, and running properly through the toolpath (expect to scrap at least twice as many lowers doing CNC the first time as manual) is just about as big a project as a crummy router build. Budget rat-rodders vs Porsche tuners.
Frankenmauser;
"I have picked up finished lowers for as little as $34 apiece."
Not directed at you but rather the skeptics, but it's like people have no memory at all, isn't it? 80%'s took off when
there were no lowers at all, and factories found they could sort of satisfy market demand by punching out product that skipped some of the most critical and red-tape-laden steps. Years back, 0% forgings went for a handful of dollars, yet today they have appreciated greatly; all the more if the owner was able to process them further along, or even build them out into complete guns for himself (saving him from needing to buy complete firearms going forward). The reason 80%'s have lost their cost edge, is simply because the shortage is over; another panic (like next year
) and companies will once again omit the whole ATF/Firearm side of the process to increase production and hold prices down.
"I just wanted something to 'play' with; and wanted to see if a ratty, cheap, bench-top Chinese drill press and a nearly-dead (probably counterfeit) "Dremel" could get the job done with no jig."
Precisely. It's a very instructive exercise all around. Sort of like those black-pipe shotguns that seem to be all the rage, only less stupid/dangerous.
"Pride. Satisfaction. Knowledge of the equipment. ...
And no one to blame, but yourself, if something goes wrong."
This guy gets it. BTW, how often do we hear of factory AR's being 'off spec' or whatever, and blamed for bad performance..?
"There is absolutely NOTHING illegal about building your own gun.
Where do you guys get this stuff?"
Up North, it seems.
Gunplummer;
"If you want to "make" your own lower, buy a block of 7075 and have at it. Don't try to make completing an 80% AR lower more than it is. I don't doubt a lot of people on this forum could start with a block of wood and make one. I just saw the post above. No, it is not illegal. But it is a long way from "Building" anything. Makes one wonder why people don't start with a black powder revolver kit. A little much , I guess."
Well, it's darn sure not merely 'assembling' a lower/gun, so what would you call it? I see you're from PA, home to America's industrial machining might at one point (often still is), so I can see why you'd look down on amateurs if you are a professional machinist, or something, but your comment is snobbish. Milling the FCG pocket requires indicating, measuring, cutting straight, drilling straight, and inspecting the final product for the project to complete successfully; how is that not machinework/building? Would you consider starting from a 0% forging a 'build,' seeing as you need a jig/fixture to hold the funky-shaped thing? Ironically, there's a "Gunplumber" out there who's a veritable champion of the amateur gun building hobby you look down upon.
"If someone is buying a 80% lower off the internet, I think the government is not going to think you're using it as a paperweight."
Ironically, that's exactly what most become. Either the buyer never gets around to it, or botches the job because they are learning.
The other flip side to this whole issue are the "80%'s" out there for other firearms. Notably, 1911's which enable one to build a competitor to Wilson for pennies on the dollar should you exhibit the skill required, and STEN type tube guns, whose "80%" is literally a section of conduit cut to length. As vibrant and well-served as the AR market is anymore, there no real
need for the homebrew niche, like there was as recently as last year (and next year), but guess what? Some people who were reduced to such desperate measures found they actually liked the hobby
TCB
