80% lower build

[skizzums]

hey guys, just wanted to share my experience with a polymer 80% lower build. it was an awesome learning experience and recommend it to anyone who has access to a mill, i cannot however, recommend it to anyone that wants to do it only with a drill press. not saying it cant be done, but i have a hard time seeing how it could be done correctly.

so lets start, i ordered the 80% lower from James Madison Tactical, i didnt have to deal with the CS, but the product was great, the instruction were easy enough to follow and the rice was pretty awesome. 99$ for the lower and the jig. i wanted to go cheap since its my first time and didnt wanna mess up a 200 kit.

my parts included the DPMS lower parts kit(59$), the Phase 5 pistol buffer tube and spring kit(60ish$) Slick-Side upper reciever from MAS defense(75$) and the mid-weight 300BLK barrell also from MAS defense(145$ and an awesome company by the way, had a ton of newb questions for CS and the were quick and kind) barrell nut and free-float tube from ebay(40$ wish i could remeber the name cause they were great) and pistol-length low-pro tube from ebay(19$) i think thats everything
oh yeah, i tok a chance on the brake, it was 21$ and had mixed reviews, mine is great, straight and threaded nicely, i can get the name if anyone wants it.

[skizzums]

the milling was interesting since i had never used a mill, but after learning how to zero everything up, it was pretty easy


my end-mill shank was not nearly long enough for the trigger whole, so the drill bit you see is what i initially did it with, then flipped it over and just eyeballed it with the reall mill. in the end though, the shank size i was told to use was too small for the trigger so had to mill out again. no biggie though, except i didnt find that out until assembling the LPK first, so had to do all over again

heres the finished product, so i thought, but also the rear was not large enough to fit the back of the upper, so had to also mill that out again, not sure whos fault that was, james madison, the upper or just me(probably the latter) all in all, it was pretty easy abd took maybe two hours even withall my mistakes

[skizzums]

installing the LPK was a good experience to learn and alot easier than you would think. when you see all the pieces laid out it looks pretty daunting, but after you do it once you no longer need directions. dont let it intimidate you

[skizzums]

with all the hard stuff done, it was simple as putting some non-sieze grease on the barrel and threads, torueing down the barrel nut to 60pds(or where ever the hole for the tube lines up best) and slapping it together


my handgaurd was too long, i got a 10" for a 8.5" barrell thinking it would look cool to just have the end of the brake sticking out, but then though of all the mess that would go inside the tube, so cout about 1/2" off
AND HERE SHE IS, in all her 300BLK glory, make sure you label your magazines so you dont blow your .223 up

[skizzums]

after all was said and done, my inner-redneck just couldn't resist(its not as white qas the pic makes it look, its really a dark earth kinda, guess the flash was on

i put a few rounds through it and so far everything is working as its supposed too. i just got my molds and dies, so soon ill be able to really spit some lead with it and see how it holds up.

so anyone considering an 80%, do it, its alot of fun and a great learning experience. i had a great experience with all the companies i dealt with, i ordered everything the friday before memorial day and received everything that following week. have fun and ill see you in the reloading section soon



this is little more representative of the color

[reynolds357]

Nice work, my only question is that considering you can buy polymer 100% stripped lowers for $40 is it worth it to even entertain the idea of using an 80% polymer lower? As far as that goes, my safe is paced with forged stripped 100%lowers that I paid $50 each for.

[skizzums]

yeah, i wanted to make my own, and now that i have a jig(with some modification probably) i can now buy the aluminum 80%ers and save some dough plus its a nice cozy feeling having no serial #s on your gat, know what im sayin dawg
also i dont see any 50$ forged lowers anywhere, guess im lookin in the wrong places

[reynolds357]

You must be looking in the wrong places. My local dealer hooks me up with them at will. Billet or forged, $50. Most other people pay him $100 for them, but after you buy a certain amount from him, he hooks you up. By the way, PSA has them regularly for around $60.
Having serial numbers is a positive to me. If the Feds outlaw the ar-15 or restrict the ar-15, they will be illegal or restricted regardless of whether or not they have numbers. Unless you plan on selling the ar's to criminals, not having serial numbers hurt their value badly.

[skizzums]

oh geeesh, people are so serious

[Skans]

Unless you plan on selling the ar's to criminals, not having serial numbers hurt their value badly.

I'm not sure how you figure that. The parts will be worth about what he paid for them - barreled upper will not be diminished because of no serial number. The $50 lower receiver will likely be worth about what he paid for it.

[skizzums]

thats how i see, also i didnt spend the time building this thing to sell it, to a criminal or not

just wanted a small rifle that shoots big bullets, i felt it would make (my) ultimate HD weapon, and i thought building the lower would be a fun project

[Ritz]

I don't understand the "hate". I am milling my own lower because:

1. I want to prove to myself that I can
2. I want to be self-reliant
3. I wanted to have a mill for other reasons/projects

I don't give a rat's hiney what the product of my labor is worth. I don't plan to sell it.

So...sure, I could buy a forged lower from any number of lowest-bidder sellers. But then I don't have the satisfaction of knowing **I** did it.

Best,

[reynolds357]

If I wanted to "did it" I could start from a billet aluminum block. For $50, it is not worth the effort.
The real reason I dont like the 80% lowers is they are drawing fire and giving ammo to the gun ban nuts. You can mark my words, the 80% mania going on at the moment will have consequences that law abiding gun owners will suffer from.
The 80% are intended to circumvent the system. It will give the antigunners ammo to use against us in the future.

[superspirit]

I got nothin against the 80%ers, would like to do one myself. but I agree that the political backlash to these will hurt us all. but they are going to impose laws that will make us all pay with or without the 80% lowers. so if thats what you want then do it while you can.

[reynolds357]

I can just hear the headlines the first time a mass murder is carried out using one of these "home built, unregistered" firearms.

[FrankenMauser]

I can just hear the headlines the first time a mass murder is carried out using one of these "home built, unregistered" firearms.

Well, those headlines aren't in this thread, and no one here wants to keep reading about Chicken Little.

So, please, get off your soap box.

[reynolds357]

No soap box. He asked "why the hate" for the 80% and I gave an answer. You do realize that had the Republicans not controlled the house a couple years ago, Ar-15's would be banned today? One mass shooting caused that much hysteria. Let that happen with a "no numbers" lower and there will be hell to pay. It would be one thing if you could actually save money using the 80%. If I could build an 80% for $10 and a 100% was costing $200, the 80% would have a legitimate place in the law abiding world. When a 80% cost as much as a 100%, it leaves one to ask the question "what is the real purpose of the 80% lower?". The answer is common sense, not "chicken little." From a manufacturing perspective, there is no reason to stop at 80%. On a CNC mill, you are literally only minutes away from completion at "80%." From a time perspective of machine operation, "80%" is really closer to 95%. From a polymer manufacturing perspective, the 80% makes absolutely no sense. It is more expensive to make a "80%" polymer than it would be to make a 100% polymer.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Back

On

Topic

Start another thread in the appropriate forum about the perceived issues if you feel the need.

[Justice06RR]

Thanks for the review. I've been messing with the idea of doing an 80% with aluminum receivers.

FYI if anyone is interested, Anderson rifles has 80% alum lowers for $45 right now with free shipping til 6/16.

[skizzums]

sorry if off-topic, but i was reading the guns and ammo magazine today about Troys, New York legal, pump-action AR; question is, would an AR pistol be legal in New York if mags kept under legal limit?

[skizzums]

guess the answer is no, no pistol is allowed to have a detachable magazine outside the pistol grip, clever