Building an AR

1

1911Fencer

New member
Well, I'm thinking about selling my bolt action .223 and building up an AR. I'd like to start with a stripped lower, then get a kit for the rest. I've checked out the Olympic Arms kits, and they don't seem too bad. I'm wondering, how much would a decent stripped lower go for? I will be trying to obtain one locally, and I don't want to pay too much! (if anyone has a good one in Central TX that they'd like to sell, let me know!!)

Also, for the upper, suggestions would be accepted. I'm on a little of a budget. I'll probably get about $500 for my bolt gun, so I could only go a little more for the upper. As for the upper, I'd prefer a 20" bbl, so I can have the full radius on the sights, a milspec chamber, a detachable carry handle/rear sight would be cool, but not neccessary. Chrome lining is not neccessary either, but I wouldn't turn it down. I don't care if it's an HBAR or slender profile bbl, but the HBAR would be preferable (the range I go to, you can only shoot off the bench, so a heavy bbl won't bother me much). The finish on the bbl is not important either. Fluting is a frill that would be neat, but I don't need.

All suggestions are welcome!

M@
 
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Check out the 'For Sale' forums over at AR15.com There have been quite a few good deals lately. Someone sold a complete lower with A2 stock for $170 the other day.

Stripped lowers are in the 100-125 range.

If your able, get complete assemblies instead of a stripped lower, upper, etc. Unless your trying to piece it together over time, you'll usually do better on the total cost.


Can't go wrong with Bushmaster components.

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Building an AR is fun. You probably won't save much, but I'm going to do it again anyway. I have another stripped lower (Oly, good lowers and underrated, IMHO) that I got for $115 including tax.

Chrome chambers and bores are easier to clean and some will tell you extraction is better. I think that's "iffy" but I got a Bushy barrel on my FN upper anyway (gunsmithing is free if you send the upper to Bushmaster and buy thier barrel). It adds approximately $50 to the cost. Fluting adds another $50 or so.

Fulton Armory used to carry mil-surplus A1 barrels with a 1/12 twist for a good price. They were unissued as memory serves. The A1 barrel has the slender profile and you can still find the triangular handguards that go with them. The more I mess around with my A2, the more I'm thinking A1 may actually be a better option.
 
For whatever my $.02 is worth, I'd start with a completed lower instead of a stripped one. Neither of the manuals I bought thoroughly explained the assembly of the parts in the trigger group very well. I started out with a Bushmaster lower on the recommendation from the Fulton Armory website and finished with a DPMS upper (after a 10 month wait). I haven't shot it yet, though. I'm still trying to get around to finishing my AR gas tube assembly. If it's anywhere near as much fun to shoot as my AK74 I'm going to love it, though...
 
Fulton Armory http://www.fulton-armory.com/ has a lower with their logo for 149.95. I have had some dealings with Mr. McKee over the years and am a very loyal customer. There is no reason in the world for a person who has some hand eye coordination and knows right from left not to be able to assemble an AR15 lower properly. You can do a search in this forum and even find out the various ways some of us have assembled AR uppers :rolleyes: Be quiet Gunny :) Main thing about the barrel is deciding what twist you want in it. For a starter barrel you will most likley end up with a chrome lined anyway. It will be a fun project, you most likely will spend a bit more money but you will have the satisfaction of knowing your rifle well! Besides that, you know that if you should have a question during the building process you have all of us to fall back on. :)

HTH
 
Assembling a lower is pretty easy. I printed the instructions from http://www.ar15.com. I picked up a stripped lower and buttstock pieces at a gun show. The lower required the form and the nics phone call. Then I got a bag of parts to complete the lower from the armalite company (I got their 2-stage trigger with the part kit). I bought 1 tool: a spanner looking thing that I put on my torque wrench and used to tighten the receiver extension (aka buffer tube) to the receiver.
Those instructions were written for dummies like me, even describing when to put masking tape on the receiver to avoid marring when driving a pin.

I bought a complete upper. That looked like a tougher task, so I left it to the experts. Or a couple of guys in a a garage. However Rock River Arms is described.

Regards.
 
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