AR-15 builds

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Stockli

TJ Enthusiast
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Jun 12, 2016
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Location
Fort Collins,CO
Any builders out there? I’m moving into finishing 80% lowers and building ARs for my family.

Anyone have any tips or links they would like to share or topics to talk about?
 
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I have the jigs, files, fixtures and countersinks if you want to use them, I also modified them to be a little more accurate. I used a buffalo.us frame, smith and wesson slide, Kart barrel, Ed Brown and evolution gun works products for the innards. I can shoot 185 hollow points and 230 round nose, only 1 malfunction in over 100 rounds. heini figure 8 sights too
 
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Stockli said:
I will be building a glock next.
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I built this one a couple months ago.
83329
 
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This was my first build. Overall the process is pretty simple, it just takes some time filling/sanding material on the frame to get the slide to operate smoothly. I have a 43 and 26/27 frame that I still need to build.
 
If you’re building with 100% completed AR lowers, it’s a piece of cake to put all of the pieces into place. 80% lowers take practice IMO. My first couple were choppy and needed filing in certain places. After that I had a feel for what I was doing. I think my biggest obstacle was learning how the press responded since it didn’t belong to me. I got the feel for it though.

Here’s an LR308 (AR10) that I built in 2016.
022169E2-80C9-4D41-A087-6EFBDEA5B2A6.jpeg
 
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Jamison C said:
If you’re building with 100% completed AR lowers, it’s a piece of cake to put all of the pieces into place. 80% lowers take practice IMO. My first couple were choppy and needed filing in certain places. After that I had a feel for what I was doing. I think my biggest obstacle was learning how the press responded since it didn’t belong to me. I got the feel for it though.

Here’s an LR308 (AR10) that I built in 2016.
View attachment 83335
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Nice!

It looks like it takes some feel even with the “idiot proof” router jigs out there.
 
astjp2 said:
I have the jigs, files, fixtures and countersinks if you want to use them, I also modified them to be a little more accurate. I used a buffalo.us frame, smith and wesson slide, Kart barrel, Ed Brown and evolution gun works products for the innards. I can shoot 185 hollow points and 230 round nose, only 1 malfunction in over 100 rounds. heini figure 8 sights too
Click to expand...
I'd be interested in the jigs..I have a frame and slide that I started from billet. We were learning how our new wire EDM worked. Got busy in the tool room though, and never finished them. I'd really like to.
i absolutely love my Springfield 1911, and would like to try to build something better!
 
https://www.matrixprecisionparts.com/19112011-tools-and-jigs

I added a dial indicator to the mix to improve accuracy when broaching the slide and these jigs are within .0004 for position when you drill the holes. The proper files for doing stainless cost me $135 alone to deck the frame to the correct height. Just in parts you will be about $1k, if you want real good quality parts. Evolution Gun Works and Ed Brown for fire control and safeties, wolf springs, Kart barrels are all top of the line. I used a Smith slide because one of the companies jacked me around on shipping a slide. Tools are not cheap either, I bought the true radius sear jig, the special stone for truing up the hammer and sear, lapping compound, the special tools for ftting a barrel, the manuals on proper building ate up about 3 months and $2k to build a pistol that works. I just followed what others have done to get a good firing pistol. I may be willing to loan the tools out, but I have to figure out how to ensure that nothing gets broke and everything gets returned as shipped.

The 1911 is not like building an AR, it requires way more attention to detail to fit every part. I spent 2 hours just fitting the thumb safety alone. An AR takes about 45 minutes to assemble from parts. The 80% AR projects require some machining and descent tools but are still not at the same level of a 1911.

83343
 
astjp2 said:
https://www.matrixprecisionparts.com/19112011-tools-and-jigs

I added a dial indicator to the mix to improve accuracy when broaching the slide and these jigs are within .0004 for position when you drill the holes. The proper files for doing stainless cost me $135 alone to deck the frame to the correct height. Just in parts you will be about $1k, if you want real good quality parts. Evolution Gun Works and Ed Brown for fire control and safeties, wolf springs, Kart barrels are all top of the line. I used a Smith slide because one of the companies jacked me around on shipping a slide. Tools are not cheap either, I bought the true radius sear jig, the special stone for truing up the hammer and sear, lapping compound, the special tools for ftting a barrel, the manuals on proper building ate up about 3 months and $2k to build a pistol that works. I just followed what others have done to get a good firing pistol. I may be willing to loan the tools out, but I have to figure out how to ensure that nothing gets broke and everything gets returned as shipped.

The 1911 is not like building an AR, it requires way more attention to detail to fit every part. I spent 2 hours just fitting the thumb safety alone. An AR takes about 45 minutes to assemble from parts. The 80% AR projects require some machining and descent tools but are still not at the same level of a 1911.

View attachment 83343
Click to expand...
Nice! I would love to borrow your 1911 jigs when I get components to build one. Thanks for the offer!
 
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