I Built an AR-15 in My Kitchen

I built a semi-automatic rifle in my kitchen. I’ll bet that’s one sentence you’d never thought you’d hear. Neither did I, until the day I decided to do it.

The job required drilling aluminum, and tiny shards and slivers of metal were going to fly everywhere. It’s not something you want to do over carpet, so I decided to do it in my kitchen.

Did it work? Hell yes, it did. After three hours of work with light tools, I had built the essential component of an AR-15 rifle. America has now reached a point where people can construct modern weapons in their kitchens.

In my extended group of friends, seven of us own AR-15-type rifles. Perhaps not coincidentally, we each bought one after turning 40.

Buying this kind of rifle is the modern version of getting a Corvette during your mid-life crisis—but cheaper and probably less dangerous.

There’s a subculture—and cottage industry to support it—around AR-15 rifles. After adding accessories to my first rifle, swapping out parts and purchasing tools, I realized I had a knack for it.

I was an AR-15 grease monkey. During the course of several projects, I’d built an entire rifle from scratch. But I’d never built the lower receiver of an AR-15. By U.S. government standards, I’d be manufacturing a firearm.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms controls the sale of AR-15 lower receivers. As far as the law is concerned, the lower receiver is the weapon. It’s one of the few parts you absolutely need to make a functioning firearm, and they’re usually stamped with a serial number.

AR-15 enthusiasts who build their rifles at home must go to a gun store to buy a complete lower receiver. They undergo a federal background check, and other state laws—such as a 10-day waiting period—may apply.

But there’s a way to dispense with the background check and other state laws—and that’s a so-called “80-percent” lower receiver. This is a lower receiver with only four-fifths of the aluminum finishing done. You do the rest yourself.

The ATF recognizes the right of Americans to build their own firearms. It also recognizes that a lower receiver, only 80-percent finished, is technically not a firearm and thus not subject to regulation.

Anyone can go online and order an unfinished lower receiver for delivery to his or her home. All you need to finish it is a router, hand drill, vise and drill bits. Patience, a willingness to follow directions and more patience are also essential.

Once you’ve completed the remaining 20 percent of the machining, you’ve got yourself what the ATF considers a firearm. You don’t have to register it, do a background check or add a serial number. You can now buy the rest of the rifle off the shelf and build it yourself.

The idea of completing the circle by building my own AR-15 lower was something I couldn’t get out of my head. The zen aspect—like completing a bonsai tree by trimming away everything that wasn’t the tree—held particular appeal.

My first stop was a company in Santa Ana, California that makes 80-percent lower receivers. I bought the receiver, a jig—which showed me what to mill—and a drill bit kit.

To round out my supplies, I ordered a router—the kind that builds furniture—from Amazon. I would use my own electric drill.

I assembled the vise in my kitchen and went to work. This would be my first time working with metal. First, I drilled six holes into the top of the lower receiver. As I drilled into the receiver’s 6061 aluminum body, tiny pieces of metal piled up on the floor.

Starting now, I was across the legal Rubicon. Once I’d drilled out the tiniest bit of aluminum from the lower, this hunk of metal legally became, according to the ATF, an “other” firearm.

After I drilled out the holes, I turned to the router. Using an end mill, I slowly connected the freshly-drilled holes, forming a pocket where I’d later insert the trigger and safety.

It was delicate work. Trying to mill out too much aluminum at once risked shattering the end mill. Go slow and it cuts aluminum like butter. Go too fast and you can, as I learned the hard way, shatter an end mill.

Three hours of work later, the job was done. The milled pocket exposed raw aluminum—and the result wasn’t pretty. My first complete lower looked like a monkey made it with a Dremel tool.

But the mess was on the inside of the rifle, and once I had installed the proper parts, nobody was going to notice.

Should people be concerned that you can make a gun with a 30-round magazine in your own home, completely undetected by the government?

Theoretically, yes. Just like theoretically, it’s not a good idea to let people own cars that drive 200 miles per hour.

The reality is that Americans use AR-15s and their assorted variants in a surprisingly small number of gun crimes. In 2013, the latest year for which the FBI has statistics, 12,253 people were murdered in America. Of those, handgun deaths comprised 5,782.

Total long gun deaths, covering everything from hunting rifles to AR-15s, comprised 285. By comparison, in 2011 Americans killed 428 of their fellow citizens with blunt objects, such as clubs and hammers.

AR-15s may seem like an ideal weapon for criminals, but most of them are more than 30 inches long, making them really, really hard to hide. A criminal has to conceal a gun before—and often after—committing a crime. It’s no coincidence that handguns outnumber rifles 20 to one in gun-related homicides.

Still, not everyone needs to be discreet. Some, like mass shooters, just want to kill a lot of people.

Will people like these circumvent the law and mill out their own 80-percent receivers? There are always exceptions, but generally no. Education and personality factors create a threshold not everyone can cross.

If you’re a regular person, it’s not difficult to build an AR-15. If you’re an outlier, beset by a mental health issues that warp your perception of reality, it’s probably not going to work out for you.

Back at my desk, I took the finished lower and set about making it into a functional weapon. I installed the trigger, safety selector and other parts inside the newly-milled pocket.

To my mild surprise, everything fit. The safety selector, in particular, has a gritty feel to it. But it works.

A quick confession—my new firearm isn’t technically an AR-15, but an AR-10. This variant is similar except that it fires a more powerful 7.62-millimeter NATO bullet, compared to the standard AR-15’s 5.56-millimeter round.

I haven’t turned it into a full-fledged rifle, yet. I didn’t build the lower receiver just so I could add a weapon to my collection.

Easily done, you can cast hard lead or swage press lead core copper jacketed bullets (http://www.corbins.com/index.htm).

Add cases, powder, primers and a bullet press and you are reloading at home. Of course, it takes a bit of knowledge and skill but those are the essential tools.

Again, their logic, not mine.

I believe they really have no logic. They, ATF, do whatever they feel they can get away with. They just made up that "indentation goes beyond 80%" stuff. But I hear what you're saying.

The Ares guys are wonderful vets and their only "fault" is they believe in the 2nd Amendment.

For one primary reason - it is a ghost gun, meaning that neither the Feds nor the state know of the existence of that gun (lower receiver).

I did a cost analysis on this and AS A GENERAL RULE, the 1st AR is going to be slightly more (say 20%) by the time you buy the tools, gigs, blanks etc. However, if you already have a drill press and a Dremel, the costs are slightly less. You still have to buy the upper and the trigger assembly and the stock so the cost savings are not significant.

If however, you are going to make more than one AR, (perhaps allow your buddies to use your equipment) then the cost drops below what you can buy it for from the market. Again, not significantly.

According to the ATF, the “weapon” is the lower, not the barrel. Those can be purchased, shipped and do not require a background check. In other words, they are not tracked by the feds.

"AR’s are cheep now. He doesn’t say how much he paid for all the parts but I would imagine it was a lot more than a stock Bushmaster, Delton, Core, S&W or whatever."

Last week Gander Mountain was selling Ruger's AR clone for $699

I’d love to set up a local business here in the North Denver area that does exactly what the Ares guys did. I am also a very pro 2nd vet and believe that were this nation is heading will require MORE guns, not fewer. the only problem is that I don’t have the financing to get it started.

“How about building some SS109/M855 5.56 bullets in you kitchen? Without those, you built a nice paper weight.”

If you had a clue what you are talking about you would have saved your breath on this one. He Built an AR-10, it does not chamber or fire the ammunition you referred to..
Before you engage your fingers/mouth on issues you really need to know what the hell you are talking about. You failed.
And by the way, I load my own ammo every day. Although this ammo ban is stupid it will not slow down my reloading process at all. The full metal jacket Ball ammo they want to ban is my last choice to shoot out of my AR-15’s because it is non expanding and just punches little holes. I much prefer soft nose, or hollow point bullets that expand in the target displacing more tissue and expending much more energy into the target.
If the Oboma bots get their way everyone will have to shoot these more deadly bullets...
Sometimes things just do not work out like you want them too.. With this ban, more people will die because of the mandated use of much more lethal bullets.

“Then explain the raid on Ares Armor in San Diego last year. ATF does what it wants, the same as Obama.”

The ATF went after a firm manufacturing reinforced plastic 80% lowers claiming that a different-colored plastic plug that replicated the area to be milled out had been injected into a finished lower, rather than as the manufacturer claimed the plug had been overmolded with the receiver. The difference is that the manufacturer did not have a “license” to make firearms and that at one point in their process, the ATF claimed that they in fact, had made a firearm ( a 100% lower receiver) that they “turned into an 80% part” in a secondary process. Ares was selling the finished parts and had their inventory confiscated in a raid which was illegal. Both Ares and the manufacturer are suing the ATF and my bet is that they are going to win.

“Technically, it is still a factory made weapon. “

“Technically” you are not correct under the Federal Firearms Act of 1968. The “weapon” is the lower receiver. The rest are just purchased parts.

“The Ares guys are wonderful vets and their only “fault” is they believe in the 2nd Amendment.”

True, and one of the partners is an attorney.

Go read this affidavit which lays out just how stupid the ATF is:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B99vEBRSpVxrWnZRV1BxZWFSQ2c/view?pli=1

They just make up “the law” as they go along.

Both Ares and the manufacturer are suing the ATF and my bet is that they are going to win.

As I recall, the plug sure looks overmolded to me. There is no clear edge. This on the plastic lowers, the metal lowers have no marks at all, much less plugs.

That raid was a joke as Ares had a restraint order (or whatever it's called) that the ATF ignored. I really hope Ares and the manufacturer win!

” With this ban, more people will die because of the mandated use of much more lethal bullets.”

Might or might not be true, since virtually no criminals are using AR’s to commit crimes. The real truth is that the ATF is just trying to “whore up” the AR ammo marketplace, and to keep military surplus M855 ammo out of civilian hands. And all the while, we sit here with the Second Amendment as the only one of The Bill of Rights that requires a citizen to get a license to exercise that RIGHT, while the SCOTUS simply picks at the issue as if it were a scab on a sore. The SCOTUS is still trying to figure out how to “pick up what they regard as a legal turd, by the clean end.”

The drill jigs take care of the tolerance stack up.

Hopefully everyone who can, builds these. More importantly stock up on bullets and ammo before King Obama declares metal bullets illegal. Then, promptly go boating with said items.

“That raid was a joke as Ares had a restraint order (or whatever it’s called) that the ATF ignored. I really hope Ares and the manufacturer win!”

The ATF bullshitted another judge to get around the TRO and that judge is pissed off that they “used” him.

Here is Ares “timeline.” Karas and his partner are going after the ATF big time and they have some good lawyers behind their effort.

http://aresarmor.com/store/Ares-Armor-dispute-with-the-ATF

I Built an AR15 in My Kitchen

"After three hours of work with light tools, I had built the essential component of an AR-15 rifle."

If you had a clue what you are talking about you would have saved your breath on this one. He Built an AR-10, it does not chamber or fire the ammunition you referred to..

Ooooh, oldenuff2no - you're some smart, I would never have figured that out based on the title and discussion until the end....but you are right. The author finishes up with "A quick confession—my new firearm isn’t technically an AR-15, but an AR-10. This variant is similar except that it fires a more powerful 7.62-millimeter NATO bullet, compared to the standard AR-15’s 5.56-millimeter round."

I don't know why he titled this as a home-built AR15 in the first place. But unlike you, I am clueless...

“If you had a clue what you are talking about you would have saved your breath on this one. He Built an AR-10, it does not chamber or fire the ammunition you referred to..
Before you engage your fingers/mouth on issues you really need to know what the hell you are talking about. You failed.”

In Broken Arrow’s defense the title does say he built an AR15. Furthermore IMO your post was unnecessarily rude and insulting.

he ATF bullshitted another judge to get around the TRO and that judge is pissed off that they “used” him.

Glad to hear the judge feels used!

Here is Ares “timeline.” Karas and his partner are going after the ATF big time and they have some good lawyers behind their effort.

Thanks for the link. I'd lost track of what was going on after hearing they were fighting the ATF.

I'm very encouraged that Ares has some smart guys defending them (not that they aren't all smart) and it seems they just may prevail!

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