Custom or Name?

[JDePietro]

AR gurus I seek your unhindered advice! Although you may want to put your tinfoil hat on because this thread is laced with a case of the reynolds wrap horror!

With the upcoming elections and dim outlook for the next four years I have let a little terror fester and it has born me a project worthy of anything else nagging at my time. I am in fear that the AWB is going to creep its ugly head back up once the donkey party moves in and so there a few firearms I want to grab up before that does or doesn't happen. Unfortunetly funds do not allow for much of anything and so my beloved M1A1 is going to have to wait another year. However through use of this tactic I have gotten the little lady to give me the OK to start building an AR.

So here is where I am looking for help. If I buy a stripped lower I will be grand fathered if the unthinkable happens, so that is my first mission. But now I am faced with many decisions, do I want to go completely custom and get parts made from custom manufacturers or do I want to get products from names that people trust?

My Build is labeled Project Arkham, and my specs are simple.

I want a full sized 20 inch upper with a standard gard rail nothing fancy and no picatinny rails everywhere, a chrome lined barrel is a must with a twist around 1 in 9 would do. A standard site setup to which I will add things as I see fit.
The lower again simple, M4 colapsable stock, maybe a Timney or Chip McKormick trigger.

But where I run into my quandry is whom do I buy form for the build. I have seen lowers made by Stag, Colt, DPMS, Bushmaster, and then there are the custom shops, Spikes Tactical, so on and so on. Are the custom shops ok? Will it affect value? Are there some names I should avoid? Same with the upper as they also have various makers. And what about all the little springs and do dads, should they come from a well established company or is anything that is labeled mil spec alright?

And where can I find a top notch instruction manual to help me in my endever?

Thanks for the help look forward to the replies.

[ca2pa]

well it seems you kinda know what you want. as far as the assembly for the lower (or entire rifle for that matter), you can visit ar15.com and they have a plethora of info and tutorial-like instructions on how to do it step by step (with pics!!). I too recently built my first AR and purchased a lower from a "custom" company (which you will hear plenty from here) by the name of anvil arms. You can have an image lasered onto the receiver for FREE. as far as everything else, i chose to go with DPMS lpk and upper. again i will mention that it was my first build and i encountered a problem with the lower, i forgot to install one tiny lil spring, but with help of some people on this forum i figured out what it was and it was a quick fix. hope this helps a little bit..good luck and let us know how it goes...

[K31]

Stag lower for 100$ bro. Why spend any more for a name! I just built this one for about 600 and its a shooter. I would at least go with a free float picatinny hand guard. It will leave your options open for later when you want to accessorize (and you will sooner or later) plus your rifle will be more accurate and it doesn't cost much more. Definitely get a good trigger Timney or the RRA NM you won't be sorry.

[JDePietro]

Ok so far this is what I have in mind for the build. Any suggestions for the build are welcome I am open to all suggestions.

Anvil Arms lower stripped receiver. $140 in my hands.

Rock River Arms Standard A2 20' complete upper assembly. $505 guessing 20 for S&H? So maybe $525?

Anvil Arms Complete Lower parts kit. $65

Comand Arms CBS Stock and tube, Comand Arms pistol grip. $115

So far I'm looking at a grand total of about $850 if my estimates are correct.

Am I missing anything I may need?

I haven't accounted for any Magazines or ammo because I feel they will come later. I don't plan on buying all of this at once or in any hurry I'm planning on taking about 6-8 months to build the whole AR.

A two stage trigger and a free floated handgard will all come in time but in order to keep cost down I need to rein a few things in.

So what are your thoughts?

[SteveWag]

Do you want to shoot it or sell it?

I just logged in a Spike's Tatical lower a customer bought on AR15.com for $110, delivered. Essential Arms sell for $105 here.

Model 1 and M&A Parts make very nice kits that make fine rifles. Try a Rock River two stage trigger, about $95 or Jewell, about $210. If a two stage trigger is ordered from either it will be a RR. I have assembled maybe 50 - 60 kits, total, from them and they all shot.

Blackthorne is about $100 cheaper, I wont use them again. Two kits I assembled last month went together hard and the bolt release needed a LOT of fitting. A 24" varmit handguard leaned to the right, very noticable, and took some fine filing to straighten it out. Both rifles shot and cycled the first time out but I question the quality.

A 20" A2 is a very good choice, not to hard on the hands or other body parts, and enough sight radius to shoot a 1-inch group at 100 yds.

Good Luck
Steve Wagner

[Kaos]

Anvil Arms Complete Lower parts kit. $65

WarnersSurplus (user here) ran me a great price on a DPMS lower parts kit. I installed it into my anvil arms lower Monday afternoon.

Anvil arms lower is good, did have a small blemish on it, not worth enough to mention to the mfg.

If you're worried about a similar ban to the previous one you need to get your ducks in a row.

At least finish the complete lower assembly and start buying mags. Mags are still restricted in NY and CA so those effects lasted there.

I got like 10 now from a board member axmdr40 (who may or may not still be around, think I heard he was leaving town for some time) and only 1 of them doesnt fit my gun. But for the price...no big deal.

44mag.com has teflon coated mags for only 10 a piece too.

id say get the "ban" items in line first

receiver
mags
collapsable stock

[JDePietro]

I herby resurrect this thread to make a timely announcement!

The rifle itself is done... Ivy was put together on this date 08/28/08.

There is still a lot I want/need to do before I can shoot this rifle. Many, many little toys are going to be attached and all of this including pics will come in another thread at a later date.

The announcement is the availalibilty a WASR-10 at the Handgunners in Topton PA.
Unfortunetly my budget just didn't allow for a timely build of the AR and I really want to start competing. I kept the AK around because I felt I needed at least one semi auto mag fed rifle. I really really did not want to give it up but I feel as though our time shared has come to an end and someon else needs her more than I do.

The AK is the High cap WASR-10 with a side mount scope rail. Attached to that rail is a Truglo 2x red dot. The wood has been refinished for appeal as well as durability. If anyone lives near Topton and wants a great AK you can get my old one at Handgunners of Topton. I don't know the asking price but you have my word that it is a great gun and will serve someone very well in the future.

I am not going to post pics of the AR until she is done and that will be another 3 or 4 months. Sorry guys you'll just have to wait and see...