Far-sighted readers of this family blog will know that I'm turning one deadly assault rifle into two deadly assault rifles. I went a step in that direction this evening, by assembling an AR15 Lower Receiver. It's not hard.
I drove to Waco in the rain and bought a Spike's Tactical stripped lower, a buffer tube with components, and an Anderson "parts kit." Then I drove back home and put it all together. I used a small padded vise to drive the trigger guard roll pin home, and taped up the receiver to install the bolt catch assembly -- using a roll pin punch and a taped punch to keep the holes aligned.
The front take down pin was a bit tricky, because the small brass detent kept springing out of its hole, like a Womyn Dean in search of a Bishopric. It's not easy to find those little detents, when they're rolling around on the floor like so many predatory texts in an English market town.
But the job was done soon enough and I was pleased with result. If you want to do this, consider getting some roll pin punches, a lower receiver vise block of some sort, and a razor blade to help keep the front take down pin detent in place, while you slide in the pin.
New Grip to Follow |
Do you save any money, doing it yourself? Sure you do, a bit; more if you're a parts dealer. But you also have the satisfaction of having a hand in something you're going to shoot; and that's alright. More practically, you get to understand your rifle.
This lower will go on an upper that a friend's assembling for me. My hope, of course, is that it will shoot like a laser.
Cheers,
LSP
10 comments:
I like your modified trigger assembly.
That first pic makes me think you were tailing my mom's boyfriend out of Wally-World, which is entirely possible, as they're supposed to be in Waco for a square and round dancing convention this weekend. He knows his way around an original M-16, learning about them during his "summer trip," tho he says he preferred the M-14. He was pleased to find a brother in the Marlin .30-30 club, when I got my grandfather's old one.
Thanks, LL. Let's see how it shoots.
He was a friendly old man; we stopped and talked about the downpour for a bit.
Wouldn't mind an M14 myself. Pricey, though.
An M-14 -- a real M-14 is selective fire...
Check out what the SEALs did with the M-14. I may blog about it. They NEVER GAVE UP THE M-14. Nor did they give up .45 ACP caliber handguns, no matter what the "big" military did. There is a lesson there.
The only problem I found with the M-14 is that the rear tang screw loosens as you shoot thousands of rounds through it and you need to tighten it occasionally. That's about it.
I'd like a real M14... beyond the reach of the stipend, annoyingly.
But for sure -- post on it and I'll link. Interesting stuff.
Tomorrow's blog is on the M-14 and on its evolution into the M-14EBR.
Patience is important in firearms acquisition. Trust me, I know. It's all in priorities and proportionality's. When you are Bishop or Cannon LSP, you'll be dripping in gold and will equip the DLC with an arsenal of EBRs.
When that happens, probably pretty soon, we'll be well armed. No doubt about it.
That might frighten people in Austin, San Francisco, or Burning Man.
There for a minute... when I read the post title...
Interesting reading about your smithing. Hope there will be pics of you shoot'n it.
Thanks, Brighid. As soon as it stops raining...
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