[Ouderkirk]

I have done about 10 AR’s, a couple of AK’s, a few 1911’s and a Glock 30. It’s fun

[cuban leaf]

I spend too much time on hi-fi forums. I thought this would be about the AR turntable.

[TangledUpInBlue]

Wow, I read this headline and rifles is so NOT what came to my mind.

[yarddog]

I wouldn’t even try.

Back around 1985 I bought a black powder pistol kit. It was for a generic Kentucky Pistol. I made a mess out of it.

I worked with a guy who was pretty good at stuff like that. Sold it to him for $25. A week later he showed it to me. It was a work of art. I could not believe it was the same gun.

[Jotmo]

I have done 3.

The first one with a drill press, the next two with a Bridgeport Mill I bought about two years ago.

All were black coated and had no scratching or machine marks. If you know what your doing, its not hard.

My recommendations.

1. For drilling the trigger holes, once the part with the jig is lined up on the drill press, remove the top jig half. Keeping it on just traps the chips between the jig and the lower, scratching it around the holes.

2. Get a fine file and remove the sharp edges from the jig. If you don’t, they’ll leave lines on the lower when clamped tightly in the vise.

[old-ager]

> do you need to put a serial number? No, you don’t have to

In some states you do.

[Paal Gulli]

Complete stripped lowers are cheaper but you can’t put a price on the satisfaction that comes from knowing you’ve contributed both to the skyrocketing number of ghost guns and to the occurrence of conniption fits among hoplophobes.

[atomic_dog]

Here is my milling machine that I have used to finish 80% receivers. Some suppliers of 80% receivers say they can be finished with a drill press. I would expect very poor fit and finish. Even with mine the results are less than perfect.

This is a Haas VF-4 medium mill. If you want to turn out perfect receivers this what you want. It can cost close to $100,000 fully tricked out. It is programmable and you can carry instructions on a USB stick that can turn a 0% receiver (basically a block of 6061 T6 aluminum) into a finished receiver in about 30 minutes. Years ago a machine shop could rent you time on their machine that was already programmed and you could bolt the receiver in and push a button. They would leave the metal intact at the bottom of the fire control pocket for you to drill out yourself (on their drill press). Then the BATFE changed the regulations to where you could only build on your machine on your premises.

Here are the 3 stages of building a receiver.
Top: 80%
Center: finished raw aluminum.
Bottom: 100% anodized aluminum.
These were made on a Haas. In my opinion the hardest part of finishing a receiver is the anodizing. It is possible to do it at home with dangerous chemicals but I have never seen one with a nice even finish. There are commercial shops who can anodize it for you. These were done commercially.

Here is a bunch of receivers we finished on a Haas and were commercially anodized.

Here is my own rifle that I built. I would put it up against any commercially mass produced AR.

[Zathras]

I would be very careful taking this advice.
All you need is for ATF to change the rules AGAIN and suddenly you become a firearm manufacture without a license manufacturing firearms without a serial number.

ATF has shot and killed people for less than this.

[central_va]

Someone recommend a drill press.

[The Pack Knight]

Many AR fans love building their own platform and one of the big thing to get if you like drilling the lower yourself, is getting an 80% lower receiver. 80% AR-15 Lower Receivers is a piece that have not yet reached a stage of manufacture to be considered a firearm. The term “80%” is an industry slang and not endorsed/used by the ATF.

In Soviet Russia, grammar abuses you!

[MileHi]

Is everyone at this blog a 14 year old illiterate?

[archy]

80% Lower Parts - Have you done one?

Currently on #14. Done handguns, AR15s and other novelties. Current project an Uzi pistol.

Every time some jerk makes noise about passing laws infringing on their ownership/manufacture, I build another one.