Building an ar15 from a parts kit
If I buy a 24" ss varmint kit from someone here, or say Model1 sales, that comes complete minus the stripped lower and match it up with a colt lower will it be as good as say an "original" colt, rock river, etc.? And if not, how come? What is the difference if they are all mil spec. parts that are machined in the same manner? Thanx in advance.
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Define "as good".
mag0 -
Parts are parts and tolerances are tolerances. So if you mix different mfg. parts together you may well have more fitting to do to achieve the result of a smooth funcitoning, accurate rifle.
If you not experienced in this area I would suggest that you don't go there as you may end up with a lot of money spent and something that is only barely functional to show for it.
If you only have time to do two things so-so, or one thing well ... do the one thing!0 -
Check out www.ar15.com for more information on this subject. Good
luck and enjoy.[:p]0 -
I don't think that you will be happy with anything from that company.
I also don't think that you will save enough piecing together a gun to be worth your while. Yes, there are guys on this forum who can build a tack-driving AR-clone receiver from an old toaster, but I don't think that you or I can do that.
Don't forget, if you buy parts you have no warranty; any problem you can't fix, you have to pay someone to fix.
Buy a good quality, name brand rifle, new in the box. You can get the exact model you want, you will have pride of ownership, & you will get a decent price if you ever decide to sell.
Neal
"You get what you pay for, sometimes less."0 -
Parts is parts but sometimes not! I am not familiar with the company you mentioned.
I am very familiar with putting together AR's and FAL's from kits.
As long as you have mechanical ability, good eyes and hands, nice tools, analytical ability and a desire, you too can craft a nice working device.
Colt lowers would require an offset screw to work with military spec uppers (and visa-versa). As much as I love old Colt weapons, this damns them to me. If you go Colt, you need to go Colt all the way.
Just my experience.0 -
So what if I go with a stripped Bushmaster, or DPMS lower, will that not need any special offset screws? And will this be as good as a complete rifle bought from a dealer? 0 -
That would work as long as the other criteria can be met. Good luck to you.
What men call a hero...is merely a man who is seen doing what a brave man does as a matter of course.
A man who is in love with learning is a man who is never without a bride, for there is always more. L'Amour0 -
Go for it. You will have the expeience of building your own rifle, not many folks can say that. The only advice I'd give you on that is to buy a ready built upper. Bushmaster has a nice selection in about any configuration you can think of. 0 -
Look for mil-spec uppers and lowers. Be aware that Bushmaster and some others use "matched" uppers and lowers. The tolerances may not work with mismatched lowers of different manufacturers. But, overall I think you'll enjoy it. All of mine and my family's 1911's I have built personally, and they all function great, and are very accurate. My CAV-15/AR project has suffered delays due to business emergencies. But I forsee no problems. I've built Olympics and Bushmaster kits before. Don't get your top end in pieces. Get it pre-assembled, head spaced and ready to go. The lower isn't too hard to do it yourself. Good luck and enjoy!
James
Whats next? A ban on automatic transmissions?0 -
try JT distributing's kits. the run about $450 for everything but the stripped lower. You can get an olympic arms or eagle arms (or RRA for that matter) stripped lower for about $100. The upper comes already completely assembled and headspaced and the lower parts arent' hard to put in if you are at all mechanically inclined (there are directions for putting the lower together on ar15.com). JT seems to have the best rep for kits (model 1 has had issues with lower parts being out of spec in the past). The JT kits i've seen have been very well built (speaking of the upper that was assembled by JT) and use shaw barrels (in my experience they were very accurate) and I know several people who have built kits using a stripped lower and JT upper that have really nice ar's. I helped a friend assemble his lower and it took us just over an hour, and then the upper just pops on with the two takedown pins and you're ready to go. STAY AWAY FROM ASA! IT IS COMPLETE JUNK! 0 -
Thanks guys I'll take a look at JT. I do kinda want the self satisfaction of building my own, and saving a few bucks is always a plus! Any other preferences on the brand of stripped lower to use? 0 -
model1sales sells the kits with a 5.56 chamber or a .223 chamber.
Yes they are different. If you want to shoot all kinds of ammo from Wolf to Federal pick the 5.56 chamber. If you want a tack driver pick the .223 chamber and use only good ammo.
Doubt that there is a difference? Email model1sales and ask why they sell kits with different chambers. The chamber throat is bored out more for 5.56 as they are loaded a little hotter.
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