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"Rock River" AR 15

Ambrose
A cousin has called on me to help assemble an AR 15 type rifle from parts he intends to purchase. Since I am more of a 19th century guy whose idea of the epitome of military rifle design is the 98 Mauser, I'm going to need some help/advice. The local FFL has some Rock River receivers: any comments as to quality? Are there any web sites we can try that will help with this project? I appreciate any help.
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Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • tsr1965
    RRA recievers are good. They for the most part meet all mil-spec standards. Not sure what you are assembling, but the lower is fairly straight forward. Just remember if you are building a carbine to use a carbine buffer spring, and a rifle one for a rifle.

    For the upper, you will need a headspace gauge, to make sure the barrel is properly insataled.

    Best
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  • shoff14
    quote:Originally posted by tsr1965
    Just remember if you are building a carbine to use a carbine buffer springWeight, and a rifle one for a rifle.





    You can use a carbine buffer weight for a rifle length barrel. The other way around may not cycle correctly.

    If you go over to AR15.com there are some stickies for this.

    If your friend doesn't want to buy all the tools needed, buy an already assembled upper. They end up cheaper most of the time anyways. You will only need a few hand tools to assemble the lower. For the upper, you need at minimum and action block and wrench for the barrel and buffer tube. Its good to have a torque wrench, good drill press (depending on the FSB install), drill and reamer, a good set of punches and a heavy mallet.
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  • dfletcher
    quote:Originally posted by Ambrose
    A cousin has called on me to help assemble an AR 15 type rifle from parts he intends to purchase. Since I am more of a 19th century guy whose idea of the epitome of military rifle design is the 98 Mauser, I'm going to need some help/advice. The local FFL has some Rock River receivers: any comments as to quality? Are there any web sites we can try that will help with this project? I appreciate any help.


    I very much abide by blue steel and wood, but recently caught the "black rifle disease" in California and have built about 6 AR 15s and an AR 10 in 7.62 Nato. These are not difficult at all to build and I would say the word "assemble" most nearly describes the process for most of us.

    The most challenging part I found is the overwhelming array of different parts and options - it can be confusing and make a first timer lose direction, I know it had that effect on me. There are at least 20 different pistol grips and heck, 4 or 5 different trigger guards and any number of triggers - flat top or carry handle, what type of gas block to use. I think I probably spent more time & $$$ screwing around with triggers & gas blocks before I figured that the Rock River 2 stage was the best I could get for 100% correct function and always fitting properly.

    I think experimenting is inevitable building these things and that usually means some wasted $$$, if you can try someone else's set up before buying that might be helpful.

    As an aside, so long as you don't live in one of the lousy states (as I do) you can build pretty much whatever complies with federal law.
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  • quickmajik
    RRA is a great reciever to build on.. If you want the best barrels, buy from noveske. The Evolution match barrel from brownells is a good barrel for match rifles. Rock River Arms barrels AR very high quality also.

    Regular mil spec uppers have some flex in them that can degrade accuracy to a small degree, Dpms maks a heavy walled slick side upper that adressed this. You have to sacrifice the forward assist(FA) with the DPMS uppers. Both Larue tactical and Vltor make heavy walled uppers with FA.

    the rock river NM trigger is probably one of the best on the market.

    Smith Enterprises, JP Enterprise and Les Baer all make match grade chrome bolt carriers.

    The best two adjustable LOP stocks are made by Magpul, The CTR and the UBR.



    free floating handguards are a good Idea. A handguard with interfaces to accept propertary picatinny rails can be useful. Carbon fiber guards are very light weight and wont conduct heat.

    There are dozens of companes that make free floating four railed handguards, some good ones are A.R.M.S., daniel defense and Troy.
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  • kimberkid
    A good trigger and a good crown, with good ammo will produce sub-moa from just about any AR ... the rest is just icing; stocks, pistolgrips, forarms, sights etc ... the exception would be some of the early Century builds from wore-out surplus parts.

    There a lot of high priced options out there from companies riding on their name ... the truth is, most standard, mil-spec A2's and carbines will shoot better than most shooters are capable of.

    For your first AR, keep in mind these firearms were originally designed to fit the average person, and thats a good place to start. Then decide what you "need" ... I'm always amazed by people that start with high priced options and later find out the standard part is what fits them best ... and even more amazed when someone actually admits it.
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  • sandwarrior
    RRA is outstanding for accuracy. I started with an A2 With heavy match barrel, and went from there. I added a scope mount, then tuned the trigger. I went with a Jard. It was excellent for pull and let-off but I couldn't get it adjusted. It double-tapped a couple times on me. I removed it and decided to add the light trigger pull JP Enterprise springs and polished the sear/hammer interface areas. The pull was awesome when I got done.

    With a good scope, this rifle shot sub-moa every time I did my part.
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