12/31/16

The AR-15 Build: buffer tube and stock

December 21, 2016 was when Brownell's put our a pretty good promo code that I decided to take advantage of. The offer was $10 off $75 plus free standard shipping! That's over a 10% discount if you spend under $100, which I absolutely did.

I decided to buy the stock and buffer tube so that I can try out the BCM Gunfighter Grip that I have and see if I might want to try a MAGPUL MOE K grip instead. Even without a barrel or handguard, being able to shoulder the lower properly will be a huge help in my eventual grip decision.



POF Anti-Tilt Buffer Tube - MilSpec
Eventually, I envision this build to utilize a piston gas system. As such, carrier tilt can be a common issue for piston run AR-15's. The answer is an anti-tilt buffer tube! If you aren't familiar with buffer tubes, a standard buffer tube is cut flush at the threads. This provides no additional support to the carrier as it reciprocates in the firearm.

The bottom of the threaded area is flush with the rest of the buffer tube


An anti-tilt buffer tube has an elongated bottom area that always supports the bottom of the carrier. As soon as the carrier begins its rearward movement, it is already being supported by the buffer tube, so there is less carrier tilt and less wear to the internal components.

The bottom of the threaded area has the additional lip that supports the carrier even when fully forward


This also happened to be the best price that I could find on Brownell's for an anti-tilt buffer tube, and the added discount was a big plus as well.


Mission First Tactical Battlelink Minimalist Stock
As far as I can tell, this is the lightest collapsible stock on the market. It is also very decently priced at around $50 retail. Brownell's already had it for less, and the added discount along with it's incredibly light weight design made this purchase a no brainer.



That makes two more major components bought for the build! My parts list is now looking something like this:
    Total cost to date: $387.44
    Estimated cost remaining: $1,602.45

    Estimated Grand Total: $1989.89



    Soon I'll see if I can find someone who can loan me a MOE K grip here locally so I can compare it to my Gunfighter Grip.


    'Till next time.


    -AA
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    12/27/16

    AR-DIY: Painting Magazines

    With the lower receiver that I have, being the Texas Special Edition, the cutout star in the magazine well presents an interesting opportunity for me to play around with painted magazines. The idea is to paint the magazine only at the top so that the color will be visible through the star. While the steps to paint magazines are pretty straight forward, I'll walk y'all through the way I decided to do things.

    First, the picture below shows a 20 round PMAG peaking through the star cutout. Black on black does not pop very much, if at all.


    The things you will need to paint your magazine are:

    • A magazine to paint
    • Cleaner/Degreaser (rubbing alcohol works just fine in a pinch)
    • Paint of choice (I recommend spray paint for the simplicity, and a type that specifically bonds to plastic or metal depending on the magazine you're painting)
    • Painters tape
    • Disposable gloves (optional)



    Before this step, I forgot to show the cleaning step. Just get a paper towel with some cleaner on it an rub down the area you're going to paint. Afterwards, carefully mask off any areas you don't want paint to get to while not touching the cleaned areas with your bare hands. I recommend masking off the top at the very least to keep paint out of the magazine's internals and wearing gloves.


    Using light coats, begin painting the magazine. Lots of light coats will give you a better result than a few heavy coats, as you avoid runs and uneven paint.


    After a good five or six coats, my magazine looked like this when fully dry! Next time, I'll do a better job of making sure the masking tape is fully stuck on the magazine so I get a sharp painted edge. Even so, this one still came out great.


    Here is the painted magazine inserted into the lower. Looking super cool! This is a fun and simple way to customize your magazines, and can also help with identifying which mags are yours when at the range with lots of other similar magazines everywhere.


    Next time, I'm also going to paint just the side of the magazine facing the star cutout. The magazine catch is scraping up the paint on the opposite side, and there's really no need for paint to be anywhere else besides right under the star.

    This was a fun project that only took me a few minutes to do. I absolutely would recommend anyone do this to their mags, even if only for aesthetic reasons like me. Coming up, more AR-15 parts!

    'Till next time.


    -AA
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    12/19/16

    The AR-15 Upper Receiver: The build continues!

    Since receiving my beautiful Texas Special Edition lower receiver, I've been itching to get the upper to complete the base that the rest of my AR-15 will be built around.

    I am not a war fighter. I am not military or law enforcement. I do not foresee myself in a situation where I would need to slam a mechanical piston into my bolt carrier group to force it forward and seat a stubborn round (and most likely either inset the bullet in the case or cause an even worse jam). As such, I decided that I wanted to go with an upper with no forward assist to save some weight and reduce the cost in parts by a small amount. Luckily enough, Aero Precision makes just the upper! It has provisions for a dust cover, includes a shell deflector, but has omitted the forward assist.

    Shell deflector, provisions for a dust cover, but no forward assist!

    Now here is where things get interesting. I originally saw the upper for sale at Brownell's, but what stood out to me the most was that there was an American flag laser engraved onto the upper, just above the charging handle area. I'm quite happy to be an American, but I wondered if there was an upper without the laser engraving that was cheaper to buy. Sure enough, after spending much time and effort behind Google, I found some being sold between $65 and $70. After assessing about three different online retailers on their tax and shipping costs, I was stunned to find that the cheapest upper would not be a stripped upper, but one that comes with a standard milspec dust cover already installed. Granite Ridge Outfitters had their upper on sale for $69.95 with free shipping and no tax cost to me. Other retailers has uppers without dust covers selling for $65 flat, but their shipping costs brought their total cost to around $75.

    Packaging looks familiar..! 

    The lower with no forward assist!

    Now that I have an upper with a dust cover, this presents an interesting opportunity for me. When I buy the replacement cover, I will measure the weight of both of them to see how much heaver the standard dust cover is. Granite Ridge also threw in these three stickers that are very cool, thanks!

    As my build stands now..


    Brownells



      Total cost to date: $305.23
      Estimated cost remaining: $1,688.69

      Estimated Grand Total: $1993.92

      So now I'm back under my $2000 budget, and I have a beautifully matched set of Aero Precision receivers to base the rest of my build on. Hopefully I can grab a few more parts this winter season that will start making my random pile of pieces look more like an actual rifle.


      'Till next time.

      -AA
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      The AR-15 Lower Receiver: God Bless Texas!

      I first laid eyes on the lower receiver of my dreams when I was doing random Google searches for Texas related AR-15 lowers. There are lots of different companies in Texas making lowers, and lots of lowers with Texas related markings or engravings, but nothing was really my style. All either too plain, too expensive, or too gaudy.

      It was at this point that I stumbled upon the Aero Precision Special Texas Edition lower receiver. It was absolutely perfect. The outline of Texas is engraved on the right hand side, and a star is cut all the way through the mag well in the middle of the state. It's just the right amount of flair that makes me really excited, and it's design is so simple that I find it hard to believe that no one else is making a lower like this.


      After looking around for people selling this lower, my heart completely broke. Since this lower is a special edition, they are hard to come by, and the people that do have them are charging a large premium over the standard Aero Precision lowers. As such, I prepared myself to never find one for a good price.

      That's when my prayers were answered; Primary Arms was selling the Texas Edition lowers, and they were only $99.99! I immediately jumped on the chance and bought one. After taxes, shipping, and a $25 FFL fee, the grand total for the lower came out to $139.76.

       Your standard Aero Precision cardboard box

      Your not so standard Texas Special Edition lower receiver!

      The enabler in me reasons that this lower was absolutely worth the extra cost due to the weight savings of the cutout star. The realist in me knows that I bought this purely because of its cool factor.

      If you want save money on a forged upper and lower, I wholeheartedly recommend that you look into the Anderson Arms offerings. I am buying an Aero Precision upper to go along with this particular lower just so that I have matching manufacturers making both the upper and lower receivers. I hear that matching manufacturers for the upper and lower is generally a good practice to follow, and for my first build, I don't see why I wouldn't want to take this advice.

      Now that this exquisite lower is in my possession, my parts list is as follows:
      Total cost to date: $235.28
      Estimated cost remaining: $1,777.99

      Estimated Grand Total: $2013.27
      As you can see, I've gone over my estimated budget by just a bit with this lower. I might swap out the BCM grip for the cheaper and lighter MAGPUL MOE K grip, but I'll have to play around with the BCM grip a bit before making any final decisions. I will also continue to hunt for better prices from different retailers, so I'm confident that I can stay under my $2000 budget.

      Be on the look out for Christmas/New Years purchases as well, I'm feeling motivated now that I have a lower!


      'Till next time.

      -AA
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      12/11/16

      First parts for the AR-15 Build: Pistol Grip, Trigger Guard, and random parts

      The 2016 Black Friday season held some good deals, so I decided to take my first step into assembling all the necessary components of my AR-15 build. Overall, I spent just shy of $100 for everything, and got free shipping from both Brownells and Rainier Arms, as well as a $10 cart discount for my Brownells order.

      As it stands, these are the parts that I chose to purchase.


      Left to right:
      CMMG LPK, BCM trigger guard, BCM pistol grip.

      Left to right, top to bottom:
      Carbine buffer, end plate, cam pin, firing pin retainer, castle nut, firing pin.


      CMMG Gunbuilder's LPK:
      I chose to go with this lower parts kit for a few reasons. The biggest reason was the simplicity of getting all the required parts I need in a lower without forgetting anything. As this is my first build, I didn't want to order all the springs, detents, and miscellaneous parts separately because I didn't know what I needed to get. Since receiving this LPK, I have made a saved card with Brownells that contains all the same parts as this complete kit, and it came out to maybe $5-$10 cheaper. For my first build, I'm completely happy with buying this pre-assembled kit for the simplicity and comfort of knowing that I'm getting everything I need. 

      Secondly, this kit omits the fire control/trigger group, trigger guard, and pistol grip, and buffer tube. I absolutely did not want to run a standard trigger in this build, so not having a spare trigger group was important. The pistol grip wasn't too big of a deal, but I did want to use an enlarged trigger guard. I do want to make this a piston build, so an anti-tilt buffer tube is something that I want to run. It also omits a few other parts, but I wouldn't have minded if it included an end plate and castle nut.

      Last, it's all American made parts. While I don't necessarily mind where parts are made (as long as they are of quality make), this was a nice feature.

      Bravo Company MOD 0 Trigger Guard and Pistol Grip:
      Since my LPK did not come with either a trigger guard or pistol grip, this was a good opportunity to upgrade. I chose the BCM trigger guard simply because it was the cheapest enlarged trigger guard that Brownells offered. I chose the MOD 0 pistol grip for some different reasons.

      It's small; I have tiny hands. I can't eat Whopper's because they make my hands look even smaller. 

      The angle; A more vertical grip angle is helpful to facilitate proper stance for modern firing positions. I'm feeling more tactical already.

      It wasn't the cheapest small grip out there, as MAGPUL offers the MOE-K which is lighter and cheaper, but it doesn't have the option for a duckbill. Once I get my lower and try out the BCM, I may decide to swap to the MOE-K if the gun in comfortable without the duckbill.

      Carbine Buffer
      I chose the carbine weight buffer simply to reduce the reciprocating mass of the internals when the gun fires. The Superlative Arms piston kit that I want to run uses an adjustable gas block, so I will theoretically be able to tune the gun to run with whatever internals I use.

      End plate, cam pin, firing pin retainer, castle nut, and firing pin:
      Cheap. The least expensive options that Brownells and Rainier Arms had to offer. Seeing as these are not super critical parts, I didn't see the need to spend a ton on these pieces.



      As my build lists stands, here's what's left to buy:


      Rainier Arms

      Total cost to date: $95.52
      Estimated cost remaining: $1,857.98

      Estimated Grand Total: $1953.50

      I may buy more parts over Christmas/New Year if there are any good deals to be had, but that all depends on how my bank account is feeling. Until then, I may post some of the guns and gear that I currently have to pass the time.

      'Till next time.


      -AA
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      12/10/16

      The AR-15 Build List

      As my theoretical build stands as of this moment, here is the complete list of items that I will be buying to complete this AR-15. This list is fluid, and as I find better and cheaper parts, I will update the list and the total. As a side note, none of the following links are affiliate links (as of now), and if things change in the future, I will be sure to let you know.


      Rainier Arms


      To the best of my knowledge, all of these parts will come together to make a complete AR-15 with absolutely minimal overlap. Most of what does overlap is due to the lower parts kit and the upgrades to things like the bolt release. It is because of this that I can build a complete rifle without the upgrade parts, and determine if I still want to buy the upgrade later. I also happen to own a 3D printer, which I will attempt to use to make my own parts like an angled front grip. If the parts are a success, I will consider them "free" and deduct the price of the original item.

      At the time of this post, all of the above comes out to $1998.51 before tax and shipping, which includes a few specialty tools to build the AR and an optic. You may have noticed that some of the prices do not match up completely with my total. This is due to the fact that I have already purchased a few of these items on sale this past Black Friday, as well as the exact lower that I want being the limited edition Texas model that is hard to come by. As I purchase these parts, I'll go about explaining the thought process behind each individual piece as it relates to the build.

      Up next, the parts I have.

      'Till next time.


      -AA
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      12/9/16

      The AR-15 Build Philosophy

      So I've been wanting an AR-15 style of rifle for a long time now. With all these modern manufacturers making all sorts of parts and pieces, I've decided to build my AR from scratch.

      I want a build that is relatively light (under 7 pounds), accurate to 1-2 MOA with match grade ammo, and capable enough to be competitive in casual competition (though that is mostly a pipe dream), all for as close to $2000 as I can get. My reasoning for building instead of buying is simply to have as much control over what goes into the build and to have as little waste as possible. There are plenty of manufacturers in that price range that make excellent firearms, but for me, I want to try my hand at bringing together what I think will be the best combination of parts for this build.

      Again, this is a long term process. At the moment, I'm thinking that I will be buying parts mostly twice a year during the winter sale season and the summer sale season. Hopefully that equates to a finished firearm in about 2-3 years time.

      Next, I will post the items that I have purchased during the 2016 Black Friday sales. It isn't much, but it's a start.

      'Till next time.


      -AA
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      12/7/16

      Intro to the Average Armory

      Howdy Friends! I'm here today to begin documenting my firearms journey. I'll be opening this blog with my very own AR-15 build, and my ideas and philosophies behind the way I'm building it.

      Things will progress slowly, but things will happen, and feel free to follow me along the way.

      -AA
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