Never owned an AR...building my first one starting now

[mallowpufft]

This is the how-to guide I used to assemble my first lower:
http://forums.second-amendment.org/i...p?topic=1878.0

There are photos of the whole process except for half of one step which he explains well.

[MistWolf]

I am assuming that is just some funky lighting and your rifle isn't really orange right?

What, you don't like orange??

I used a table lamp for lighting and did a poor job of compensating for the overly warm light. The furniture is actually FDE

[Stopsign32v]

Sorry guys, haven't updated this thread since I didn't show much interest at first. Anyways I've mainly got the lower together now. It was easy as pie. Not sure why a lot of AR owners say not to build your first, but buy it complete. My suggestion would be completely the opposite. Now I know exactly what goes where and if anything needs cleaning or breaks I know how to fix it and don't need to sound like a moron when I take my complete gun to a smith and say "It's broken, fix it". But to each his own.


I will say the guys at Palmetto State are simply a joy to work with. They were busy as hell but took the time to help everyone I saw and was 100% friendly even when some woman was asking about hot pink 30rd magazines.

The only thing that went wrong was I had the 2 trigger pins missing in my LPK pack. I went down on Saturday and called this morning on Monday and talked to a Brian. He was more than helpful and actually cared that the parts were missing. He got my name, address, and phone number and said he would call me back because he didn't think he had any in stock. My phone was on vibrate but I noticed he had called back within the hour and left me a voice mail saying I would have the pins the next day and they were going in the mail. Only thing I wish was that I lived closer to them so I could go there more often.

[Stopsign32v]

Surgical tools for the job

[Stopsign32v]

I used the vice grips to push in the pins. Put some oil in the holes, crushed the starting end of the pins, and pushed them in. They went in like BUTTER! No way I would hammer any pin in...doesn't make sense to me when you can do it this way.

Anyways, pics



Only got it at 2 places and I'm going to touch it up with black paint. Wrong tape/too thin. Live and learn...






And here is the magpul trigger guard screw I stripped out. Looking back I would have used some oil and heated up the screw to loosen the locktite.



Still I got it in far enough and the trigger guard is solid as can be. Going to rock it this way, not that big of a deal IMO.


At this point I'm putting on the saftey and grip. The saftey is not installed, just put in place in one pic.

[MistWolf]

I used the vice grips to push in the pins...Only got it at 2 places and I'm going to touch it up with black paint. Wrong tape/too thin. Live and learn...

This is why I cringe every time someone suggests Vise Grips for installing pins. Vise Grips are a clamping tool with aggressive teeth. The compound leverage can make it hard to get a good feel for a delicate job like installing pins. The tape wasn't wrong, the tool was. There is good reason why punches are used to install pins. Good news is the marring doesn't hurt the rifle. (If you must use a set of pliers to press pins into place, use Knipex pliers. They have smooth jaws and allow for much better feel for the job)


To repair the finish, clean the area of all oils, grease and organic matter and touch it up with Birchwood Casey's Aluma-Black. It works well on black AR receivers.

Couple of other tools that might help. Tappet wrenches for installing certain muzzle devices (tappet wrench on left, standard wrench on right)


and a magnet to help with the little PITA pins


Looking forward to seeing how this rifle progresses. What do you plan to use it for?

[Stopsign32v]

Man I wish I had known about those before going after it. This was my first job so I knew SOMETHING like this was going to happen. Lucky for me the lower costs $79.

Where do I get the Knipix at? Along with the other parts including the paint? THANKS!

[LivnDream]

what size knipex plyers / part #

Sent from my N860 using Tapatalk 2

[MistWolf]

I bought my last pair from Sears. The Knipex pliers come in different sizes. Just get the size that best suits your needs. Sears carries the 10 inch pliers
http://www.sears.com/knipex-10-in-pl...4&blockType=G4

You can also get them from Brown Tool http://browntool.com/ and Yard Store http://www.yardstore.com/

Aluminum Black from Birchwood Casey's is available from the LGS, Sportsman's Wearhouse, Cabela's or other "big box" store. It's also available online from Brownell's http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=4...ALUMINUM-BLACK

Don't use Aluminum Black on steel and don't ask me how I know

[Merle]

Looks good. There is product called Aluma Black that turns aluminum black if you are worried about nicks and scratches. It works better than a sharpie because it is a chemical and won't wipe off. Good choice on triggers too. I recently bought an ACT trigger and it really isn't any better than a regular trigger. I was kinda disappointed. I've tried many different triggers and I think the best bang for the buck is the SSA, especially if you can find one with a discount.