My 300BLK pistol build

[LMTguy]

So I finally received all my parts to complete my some what of a budget build. I've been gathering parts for about 2 years for this 300BLK pistol and I found some time to start assembly. Here's my parts list with prices:

Lower
-Anderson stripped lower $40 (Gun show)

-DPMS lower parts kit w/ trigger $50 (Gun show)

-Ergo sure grip $19 (Midway USA)

-40rd Pmag $16 (Midway USA)

-PSA Murica trigger guard $6 (PSA)

-Phase 5 hex-2c pistol buffer assembly $66 (Cheaperthandirt)

Lower total: $197


Upper

-10.5" Bear Creek Arsenal Heavy pistol barrel 300BLK 1/8 twist $84 (Classic Firearms)

-Anderson low profile adjustable gas block $60 (Primary Arms)

-Gas tube pistol length $9 (Primary Arms)

-YHM Diamond series specter length rail $83 (Primary Arms)

-DS Arms charging handle $15 (Primary Arms)

-PSA stripped blemished upper $40 (PSA)

-PSA 5.56 premium full auto BCG $80 (PSA)

-PSA 300AAC ejection port cover $9 (PSA)

-Model 10 tactical muzzle brake $13 (Amazon)

-No name forward assist assembly $18 (Amazon)

Upper total: $411

Complete total: $608

parts.jpg

I got all my parts laid out to inventory and all I was missing was the crush ring for my muzzle brake. I didn't think it was that bad for having stored most of the parts for over a year.

I wanted to start the build with the upper so I got my vice block ready.

The upper looked pretty good for PSA to say that it was blemished, all I could see was a tiny scratch on the inside of the receiver.

T marks.jpg

Onto the first part install the forward assist!

No problems here.

I put the barrel into the upper, applied some antisease to the barrel threads then tightened down the full float barrel nut.

After torqueing the nut to 35 ft lbs and getting the gas tube to line up is where I ran into my first problem. The gas block wouldn't fit up to the gas port.

The first thing I did was grab one of my spare gas blocks and see if that one would fit...it did't
gas block.jpg

I removed the gas block and took a nice good look at the barrel. You can see where there stopped milling the barrel.
barrel mill.jpg

I checked the barrel diameter with a micrometer, the first half of the barrel was 0.748, the part where the gas block gets stuck at is 0.750. I tried to get a good picture but it's hard trying to hold my phone and use the micrometer at the same time.
micrometer.jpg

So much for completing my build in one night...

I contacted Classic firearms about the barrel, they sent me to the manufacture. I called and emailed Bear creek arsenal they don't have a answering service and did not respond to my email.

So I called 3 times a day for 2 days the phone would ring but no answer. Finally I got a hold of someone at bear creek, the lady said the guy that I needed to talk to was on lunch break. I left my name and number with her and told her to give the customer service rep the info when he returns from lunch.

Yea... he didn't call. So I tried again the next day and got the same lady on the phone, this time the customer service guy was there. I told him that I had received a defective barrel. All he said was, "Ok, I will email you a return label for the barrel and when we receive your barrel we will send you a new one". I thought it was weird that he didn't ask what was wrong with it.

Ok since I couldn't assemble my upper I thought I would get a head start on the lower.

The mag catch went in fine. As well as the bolt catch. I had a little trouble with the disconnector not fitting, nothing a little sand paper won't fix.

When installing the takedown pins I found that the front pin was not up to par. The head of the pin was not inline with the groove that detent fits it. Not having any spare takedown pins laying around I decided to play gunsmith on the belt sander. It's not pretty but it now fits just fine

The rest of the lower went together perfectly.

So the moral of the story is.....

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!

[aubie515]

Oh c'mon you are the "LMT guy" that has a tendency to go the cheap route. You should change your name to wannabe LMT guy.

There is nothing wrong with trying to save money when it comes to firearm hobby. It's when you buy Hesse like parts and you complain when things go south.

[LMTguy]

Well LMTguy has a wife, son and a house now so I tend to use my money on the more important stuff. It was nice when I was single and could throw more money down on optics then I did on this whole build.

I just hope the next barrel they send me works. Then I will be happy