Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: SilkWWU on December 24, 2009, 03:04:19 PM

Title: Building an AR-15
Post by: SilkWWU on December 24, 2009, 03:04:19 PM: Has anyone had experience building an AR-15? Have any advice? I'm selling my pistol and going to start my little project. Looks like it's a lot of fun, and significantly cheaper then buying a new one.
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: ADAMS on December 24, 2009, 04:08:48 PM: Check out www.ar15.com (http://www.ar15.com) Lots of folks there who are uber knowledgeable about all things AR.

:twocents: Beware of folks who talk crap about brands / manufacturers that are not considered top notch mil spec. Your hamburger will taste just as good without mil spec pickles.
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: SilkWWU on December 24, 2009, 11:15:59 PM: Also, are parts interchangable for the most part or do you need to buy the same brand across the board?
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: batch on December 24, 2009, 11:24:55 PM: i am in the middle of building my own. i think alot of parts are interchangible there are some differences in pin diameters for the trigger assembly. i am not too far along in my build just have the lower done so far.
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: Jburke on December 25, 2009, 12:38:29 AM: I believe that the parts are mostly universal, with the exception of the trigger assembly. The pin diameters are different from different manufacturers. That is the one part I know for a fact is not universal, but I believe most of them are. Take a look at brownells video on how to build an ar. Should be a good help in getting started I would assume. It shouldn't run you more than 15-20 for the video I think.
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: SilkWWU on December 25, 2009, 08:17:51 AM: Quote from: Jburke on December 25, 2009, 12:38:29 AM
I believe that the parts are mostly universal, with the exception of the trigger assembly. The pin diameters are different from different manufacturers. That is the one part I know for a fact is not universal, but I believe most of them are. Take a look at brownells video on how to build an ar. Should be a good help in getting started I would assume. It shouldn't run you more than 15-20 for the video I think.

Awesome, will do that. I've been getting pretty pumped up as I got lots of christmas money :)
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: FALFire on December 25, 2009, 10:50:38 AM: Some civilian model Colt's used larger pins in their lower fire control groups, all others use small pin which is what 99.9 percent of everything you find out there today. I would suggest you stay with a DPMS, Stag, Mega, Bushmaster, or any of the standard lowers. Colt would be a great choice too if you happen to find a small pin model.

Just pay attention when purchasing a fire control group. Everything else is interchangeable. On some calibers you will need to be concerned with bolt face diameter, ie: 223 v 7.62x39 or 6.8 or 450 Bushmaster, etc. I would recommend you get the barrel and bolt from the same supplier.

The only bolt and barrel you cannot purchase from a supplier is the WSSM line of calibers, the reciever requires extra maching and can only be pruchased as a complete upper. Most all other calibers are exempt from this issue that I am aware of.

It may be less expensive to purchase a complete AR rather than build one because of speacial tools needed, however, if you build it, you will have exactly what you want. Then you will build another, then another.
Title: Re: Building an AR-15
Post by: actionshooter on December 25, 2009, 10:58:01 AM: and another :chuckle: