Got me a new toy!
Decided I wanted to try my hand at building an 80% lower. First try I tried a polymer 80 warhog (LR308) with my drill press and cross slide vise. Needless to say I FUBAR'ed it. my vise was too big and my press was too small. Next time I tried a Easy Jig 2 from 80% arms which has you use a router instead of a drill press. Supposedly its the easiest way to mill an 80% AR lower. It was easier, but not idiot proof. I didn't read ALL the instructions and ended up cutting all the way through the bottom of the first lower (FUBAR'ed). I was disappointed so I put it away for a while.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when the wife and kid were out of town for the weekend I decided to try again. This time I read MOST of the instructions and got my first functional 80% lower. I cut a little too far back behind the rear pin and cut through the bottom of the lower a little, but nothing a MOE type grip wouldn't cover.
I decided to go a bit out of order from what the instructions said. I drilled the holes for the safety, trigger and pins first, going about 1/3 of the way through from both sides. Figured this is the easiest part, yet most critical and hardest to fix. THat way I didn't spend a bunch of time milling only to screw up on the pins and waste all that work.
The most expensive tool used is the jig itself, my other tools were the cheapest HF drill press and an old JC Penney router that I found at a storage unit sale.
Here's the first hold being drilled
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when the wife and kid were out of town for the weekend I decided to try again. This time I read MOST of the instructions and got my first functional 80% lower. I cut a little too far back behind the rear pin and cut through the bottom of the lower a little, but nothing a MOE type grip wouldn't cover.
I decided to go a bit out of order from what the instructions said. I drilled the holes for the safety, trigger and pins first, going about 1/3 of the way through from both sides. Figured this is the easiest part, yet most critical and hardest to fix. THat way I didn't spend a bunch of time milling only to screw up on the pins and waste all that work.
The most expensive tool used is the jig itself, my other tools were the cheapest HF drill press and an old JC Penney router that I found at a storage unit sale.
Here's the first hold being drilled
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Make sure to press the pin back enough to make it lay flat 0 -
"Extra lightweighting" (I wasn't paying attention to where I was drilling) 0 -
Drilling the trigger pin holes 0 -
Trigger through hole seen from bottom while still in the jig. This also gives you a pilot hole to start your router in on each pass 0 -
Milled pocket. Again, I don't follow directions well, I went in straight lines instead of circles, but with my router it gave a better finish, YMMV 0 -
ANNND the finished product! Milled 80% on left, storebought stripped lower on the right 0 -
All in all it's a good tool, fun to use, and fairly easy. Not idiot proof, but it is idiot resistant.
Only problem now is that I have about a half dozen finished 80% lowers that I have no plans on what to build them into.
Oh well, good problem to have I guess0 -
Good job and thanks for sharing the lessons learned along with the finished product! 0 -
With the silly government making folks number them (in California) why bother? Besides the built lowers are so cheap one has to mill a lot to make the numbers add up.
I have seen folks mill them lowers to bare bones like coked out Kate Moss. Kind a interesting but long lasting? Maybe if they ran .22LR.0 -
yoshmyster wrote:With the silly government making folks number them (in California) why bother? Besides the built lowers are so cheap one has to mill a lot to make the numbers add up.
I have seen folks mill them lowers to bare bones like coked out Kate Moss. Kind a interesting but long lasting? Maybe if they ran .22LR.
Couple reasons for doing it:
To see if you can
Fun
Can be cheaper than stripped, especially if your FFL charges a fee.
In America (i don't consider, Chicago, New York, and other hoplophobic areas to be America) you don't have to number them unless you sell or otherwise transfer them.
Less paperwork ( always a good thing)
There is more privacy for folks that want it
But you are correct in saying that they are not everyone's bag, and they aren't always cheaper than buying stripped, especially if stripped is on sale and 80% isn't0
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