Difficutly of buiding ar upper?

[jclayto]

I apologize in advance if this is a dumb question. I have a RRA TASC rifle that I bought in the A2 configuration years ago. Lately, I've been wanting a flattop a4 style upper. Instead of buying a completed upper for ~$400 how much work would be required to just buy the stripped flat top upper receive and transfer my existing parts on to it?

I would enjoy learning more about the assembly and inner working of my rifle, but is this a task that should be reserved for a gun smith?

Also, when looking at uppers some are with or without t-marks.. which would I need for a Tasc?

 

[CTS]

I just did this about a week ago. It is pretty simple, took me about an hour, (would have been faster but I am running a gas piston setup and had a hard time removing the hardened steel roll pin in the gas block. Normal DI guns won't give you that problem. You will need an AR armorers wrench (19.00) a vise and a receiver vice block. A hammer and a couple of pin punches. And a torque wrench (You can probably rent one from your auto parts store if you don't have one). Actually, if you are going to keep your front sight setup, you will only need to remove one roll pin that holds the gas tube in the front sight base/gas block so that you can remove the gas tube in order to remove the barrel nut. Just leave the sight mounted. There is also one roll pin that holds the forward assist in place. There are several you tube videos to tell you how to do it. I can highly recommend the Aero Precision stripped uppers. They are $59.00 and are the same people who supply many of the military contractors with uppers from what I understand. This one has the T marks but, they are not necessary.

http://www.surplusammo.com/products/Aero-Precision--AR15-Stripped-Flat-Top-Upper-Receiver.html

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=22385/Product/AR-15-M16-UPPER-RECEIVER-ACTION-BLOCK

http://www.combathunting.com/AR_15_M16_M4-AR_15_Combination_Armorer_s_Wrench_New_Style.html

 

[CTS]

Here is the finished product. I also put a low profile gas block with rail so that I can add buis later. Added the short rail to the bottom of the Magpul Moe handquards to attach the sling swivel but, not really happy with that. Think I'm going to go with a single point sling attachment at the rear of the receiver.

 

[jclayto]

Looks good! I'll pick up that upper, great price!

 

[madcratebuilder]

i would just buy a dust cover and FA for the new stripped upper. Your old lower is more valuable with those parts attached. More so than the sum of the individual parts. Under $20 for both those parts kits.