Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Puzzles

I helped a friend assemble an AR-15 lower receiver this weekend, along with all the other stuff I did. Neither of us had ever put one together before.

A friend of mine calls them expensive jigsaw puzzles, and that's about right. With the help of instructions from AR15.com, we probably got it done in a little over an hour. A good part of that time was spent trying to force one or two little bitty springs and a tiny piece of metal- a "detent"- into their proper place. More frustrating than actually hard.

I'm not usually good with small complicated things, but I encourage anyone who's considered building their own AR rifle for defense, sport, or hunting to give it a try. I'll definitely build another when I have more money and time.

10 comments:

Matt G said...

When I last went to the Dallas Gun Show, I brought along a friend of mine, on leave from his duties as an armorer in upstate New York. He'd already done a tour in Iraq, and is awaitig orders to go to Afghanistan. He picked up a receiver and parts, and built the lower in the back seat of my dad's Escape on the way back. He had it done before we left Dallas city limits, using his pocketknife as the only tool. His attitude was that it's the best way to keep from losing the little parts. I think maybe he was showing off just a tad, too. :)

Old NFO said...

hehehe- Yep, you need three hands and a small sledgehammer to get a couple of those pins/springsets in...

J.R.Shirley said...

Well, Matt, if you've got it...

NFO, that was pretty much my experience, at least with the roll pins.

Tam said...

Bobbi and I built ours on TV trays in the living room. We did have a set of punches.

That was the third one I've built, and I'm so mechanically-uninclined that changing a tire is a Big Deal for me. If I can do it, anyone can.

J.R.Shirley said...

A punch would have helped.

Roberta X said...

Tam and I also had the magic detent-assembly widget, (PDF!) which I highly recommend. Even at that, one of four went ZING! never to be found.

Home on the Range said...

I felt good just changing out the stock and putting a PRS on it. Building the whole thing, perhaps when I've mastered reassembling the &#*@( Ruger Mark III. LOL.

I do enjoy the different blogs where I watch people really good at these things put them together.

Watch and learn.

Tam said...

"Even at that, one of four went ZING! never to be found."

I don't think that one zinged, I think Model 1 Sales left a detent out of my parts kit...

J.R.Shirley said...

This was an ambi kit, which apparently is only different in that an ambi selector is added, in addition to the standard.

John B said...

Expensive jigsaw puzzles? Not at all. Compared to B's 3rd rule. "Any time you look under the hood of a car less than fifteen years old, expect to find at least $500 worth of repairs."

I'm getting a couple of cav arms receivers while they're closing out. Kinda sad that they crashed.


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