You guys were right...build #2-fixed mag

[Fightingfish]

Several of you stated that I’d quickly begin another build after completing my first, and you were right!

My goals for this one are as follows:

Fixed mag ”range toy,” so I can enjoy the features.
Light! My first build, with its 18” SPR profile, 15” handguard, and Thorsen stock, is quite heavy.
Visually distinguished from my previous all-black build.
Try my hand at installing a barrel/handguard (previous build was an assembled, complete upper).

I’ve started casually scooping up parts. I was going to wait a bit before starting another build, but with the scarcity of parts and the uncertainty of the future, I figured I’d start getting stuff moving sooner than later. I learned from my last build and scooped up a lower right off the bat, just gotta pick it up from my FFL.

What I have:
16” BA Hanson mid length light barrel with low-pro .625” gas block.
Aero upper and lower in FDE (lower not pictured as I have yet to pick it up).
12” Atlas S-One handguard, also in FDE. Talk about slim!

Like my last thread, I’ll be posting here as the parts come in, and as the inevitable questions come up...I’m sure I’ll have some trepidation when the barrel install comes up!

 

[ArmedCorgi]

Nice!

 

[vago]

Several of you stated that I’d quickly begin another build after completing my first, and you were right!

My goals for this one are as follows:

Fixed mag ”range toy,” so I can enjoy the features.
Light! My first build, with its 18” SPR profile, 15” handguard, and Thorsen stock, is quite heavy.
Visually distinguished from my previous all-black build.
Try my hand at installing a barrel/handguard (previous build was an assembled, complete upper).

I’ve started casually scooping up parts. I was going to wait a bit before starting another build, but with the scarcity of parts and the uncertainty of the future, I figured I’d start getting stuff moving sooner than later. I learned from my last build and scooped up a lower right off the bat, just gotta pick it up from my FFL.

What I have:
16” BA Hanson mid length light barrel with low-pro .625” gas block.
Aero upper and lower in FDE (lower not pictured as I have yet to pick it up).
12” Atlas S-One handguard, also in FDE. Talk about slim!

Like my last thread, I’ll be posting here as the parts come in, and as the inevitable questions come up...I’m sure I’ll have some trepidation when the barrel install comes up!

when you got your lower , do you really need to drill it?

 

[Fightingfish]

when you got your lower , do you really need to drill it?

I’m not really sure what you mean. It’s not an 80% lower, so no need to drill, right?

 

[vago]

I’m not really sure what you mean. It’s not an 80% lower, so no need to drill, right?

I 0rder a lower i have to pick up to the gun license . my question is when you got your 80% lower , did you have to do drilling work?

 

[dwa12479]

Nice choice on the handuard. The Atlas series is great.

Whats your target weight? Anything under 8 lbs for me inusually consider to be light.

 

[vago]

maybe under 7 lbs

 

[dsdmmat]

I 0rder a lower i have to pick up to the gun license . my question is when you got your 80% lower , did you have to do drilling work?

Yes you have to do the work on an 80% lower, otherwise someone else is manufacturing a gun for you and that is a No No.

when you buy a lower from an FFL it is normally a “stripped 100% completed“ lower, no machining is involved.

 

[vago]

Yes you have to do the work on an 80% lower, otherwise someone else is manufacturing a gun for you and that is a No No.

i wached some videos on youtube. if i dont need to drill , i think i can do that.

 

[Fightingfish]

Nice choice on the handuard. The Atlas series is great.

Whats your target weight? Anything under 8 lbs for me inusually consider to be light.

I don’t really have a target weight, per se, just lighter than my first build. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like my other AR is unwieldy or unmanageable, I just want something a little different. Just from the barrel selection alone I’m saving nearly 20oz...yup, just on the barrel!

Look what I finally picked up today (and what came in the mail)...gonna get cranking on this upper soon. Actually, in a pretty cool twist of fate, my father in law was throwing away a bunch of rusted out tools that he’s had in his garage for years...they took a little water during Sandy. Most of it was junk, but check out this old bench vise! I hit it with some WD, and it immediately loosened up, so I’m gonna see what I can do to fix it up a bit.

As far as parts kits, trigger, BCG, etc...
I know it’s a little pedestrian, but I’ll prob go with an Aero BCG like I did on my last build. Don’t need lightweight, but I do like the easy to clean factor of my NiB coated Aero jammy.

For trigger, I’ll prob just go with the Rave 140 like I have on my prior build. No complaints, feels great...though I am considering getting a nice two stage and swapping it into my prior build, since it already shoots like butter with the 18”/rifle length barrel and LPVO.

Parts kit, I’m still up in the air. I used an Aero one for my prior build, which was fine, but I’m going to be using a mag-fixing device (as of yet undecided), plus I want to get some sort of easier to manipulate takedown pin, thus negating two of the major pieces I’d get with the stock parts kit.

In the meantime, I’ll take some suggestions on the following items, since this is new territory:

Adjustable stock- must be light and have a QD spot. I don’t need internal storage. Will probably go FDE, make this puppy one color all around. Magpul CTR seems like an obvious choice, but feel free to suggest otherwise.

Muzzle device- I’m leaning towards a compensator, since I don’t really have any issues with recoil necessarily, just wanna stay on target, but I’m open to suggestions.

 

[BDinPutnam]

See me, if I were going lighter I'd want the featureless one to be lighter... but different strokes.

 

[Fightingfish]

See me, if I were going lighter I'd want the featureless one to be lighter... but different strokes.

That had occurred to me, too...figuring it would be my go to, capability-wise, as I can actually change mags like you’re supposed to with it, it would make sense to have it be the lighter of the two. On the other hand, I’m not really using it for HD (though it would obviously work), plus, and I know this is sacrilege to some, I enjoy shooting with the traditional rifle grip that the Thordsen affords (i learned on lever actions). It seemed like a shame to go super light on some components when the stock itself was bringing extra weight to the table (which is actually nicely balanced out front by the barrel/handguard).
It’s a fun, stable platform for honest, mid-range target work, that can accurately punch holes in things much further away than my PCC, and much more quickly than my 30-30.

Additionally, my life has been boring since experiencing the thrill of very nearly losing my eye several times from errant springs and detents. I’m an adrenaline junkie, I guess.

 

[Fightingfish]

That had occurred to me, too...figuring it would be my go to, capability-wise, as I can actually change mags like you’re supposed to with it, it would make sense to have it be the lighter of the two. On the other hand, I’m not really using it for HD (though it would obviously work), plus, and I know this is sacrilege to some, I enjoy shooting with the traditional rifle grip that the Thordsen affords (i learned on lever actions). It seemed like a shame to go super light on some components when the stock itself was bringing extra weight to the table (which is actually nicely balanced out front by the barrel/handguard).
It’s a fun, stable platform for honest, mid-range target work, that can accurately punch holes in things much further away than my PCC, and much more quickly than my 30-30.

Additionally, my life has been boring since experiencing the thrill of very nearly losing my eye several times from errant springs and detents. I’m an adrenaline junkie, I guess.

Which is a whole lot of words to say “I didn’t realize how heavy my first build would be, and I want to play with the fun, evil features.”

All kidding aside though, it still weighs just a little more than my bone stock PC carbine...that’s a heavy, fun lil package.

 

[dwa12479]

I've been using the Wilson Combat Super Stoc recently, and love it. Rock solid, very light, has a QD attachment point, and the locking mechanism takes the wiggle out of the stock better than the Magpul CTR.

Before we continue

The Hogue OverMold stock is also one of my favorites.

Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes Up to 15% Off w/ Free Shipping — 7 models

Shop Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes | Up to 15% Off 4.8 Star Rating on 123 Reviews for Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes Best Rated...

www.opticsplanet.com

 

[Fightingfish]

I've been using the Wilson Combat Super Stoc recently, and love it. Rock solid, very light, has a QD attachment point, and the locking mechanism takes the wiggle out of the stock better than the Magpul CTR.

Before we continue

The Hogue OverMold stock is also one of my favorites.

Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes Up to 15% Off w/ Free Shipping — 7 models

Shop Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes | Up to 15% Off 4.8 Star Rating on 123 Reviews for Hogue AR-15/M16 OverMold Collapsible Buttstock for Mil-Spec Buffer Tubes Best Rated...

www.opticsplanet.com

That Wilson looks sweet! I like that it has an assembly specifically designed to take out the slack...I hate slack in my firearms. Thanks for putting me onto that.

 

[Briwesk85]

It’s a slippery slope/ rabbit hole. I made a full feature with a mag lock, then decided to make featureless with a Gen3 stock, but now I’m in the middle of doing an ar pistol. Not sure what I’ll make next!

 

[dwa12479]

That Wilson looks sweet! I like that it has an assembly specifically designed to take out the slack...I hate slack in my firearms. Thanks for putting me onto that.

The Magpul CTR also has a friction lock that will take out the slack, but I like the Wilson better.

 

[Blimey]

They're like pizza slices. You cant just have one.

 

[Fightingfish]

I have some parts on the way, will be updating shortly, but in the meantime, I have a question.

I’ve still gotta pickup a stock and grip. If it were your build, would you go FDE all around to roughly match the receivers and handguard, or would you set it off with a different color? If so, which color? I’m thinking black on the grip, stock, and fixed mag might look cool, a little black n tan action...but would all matching be cooler? Dang...

Just looking for suggestions, thanks folks!

 

[BDinPutnam]

I'm a fan of two-tone if colors other than black are in the mix. In fact I've got a bunch of mix and match FDE going on I've been slowly compiling into a build. Its in another state now but I had a black and FDE AR9 that I thought came out well.

And some of the builds I've seen on the forum this year really have me wanting to do a black and OD one, with red controls (mag release, safety. Etc). If I ever get around to doing one I think I'd do an AR10 that way.

 

[Fightingfish]

In between fantasies of Mosins and SKS, I got these over the past couple weeks.

Aero LPK- used it in my last build, worked just fine.
Aero enhanced buffer tube.
The trigger you see there is actually the Rave 140 I had in my last build. I picked up a Geissele G2S from the classifieds here and swapped it into my last, Thordsen equipped build. I figure it fit the motif a little better, with the smoooooth shooting rifle length gas system and the LPVO. I will be using the Rave 140 in this current build.
Cross Armory mag fixing device...a necessary evil round these parts.
Strike Industries Extended latch charging handle. Actually grabbed two of these: one for my previous build to replace the milspec, and one for my current build. Feels solid, great purchase on the latch.
Some pivot pin idiot fixer device I found on Amazon. The fight that the last build gave me with this had me sweating and shouting for a couple hours. Did it once, now I’ll use a tool.


I’ve got a couple more parts shipping soon. I let shitty Optics Planet screw me over AGAIN, but that’s my fault since they already got me once.

You fine folks have any preferences for an EZ push/pull takedown pin? Since I gotta pivot this bitch open when I reload, I’d like something that is a little easier than the standard milspec pin.

I’m also up in the air on optics/sights. I’ll prob go with a lower/mid level red dot like a Romeo5, but part of me wants to keep it just irons...I dunno.

 

[dsdmmat]

It’s a slippery slope/ rabbit hole. I made a full feature with a mag lock, then decided to make featureless with a Gen3 stock, but now I’m in the middle of doing an ar pistol. Not sure what I’ll make next!

Next is the AR10/ AR308 and then the holy grail the 80% lower......

 

[dsdmmat]

In between fantasies of Mosins and SKS, I got these over the past couple weeks.

Aero LPK- used it in my last build, worked just fine.
Aero enhanced buffer tube.
The trigger you see there is actually the Rave 140 I had in my last build. I picked up a Geissele G2S from the classifieds here and swapped it into my last, Thordsen equipped build. I figure it fit the motif a little better, with the smoooooth shooting rifle length gas system and the LPVO. I will be using the Rave 140 in this current build.
Cross Armory mag fixing device...a necessary evil round these parts.
Strike Industries Extended latch charging handle. Actually grabbed two of these: one for my previous build to replace the milspec, and one for my current build. Feels solid, great purchase on the latch.
Some pivot pin idiot fixer device I found on Amazon. The fight that the last build gave me with this had me sweating and shouting for a couple hours. Did it once, now I’ll use a tool.


I’ve got a couple more parts shipping soon. I let shitty Optics Planet screw me over AGAIN, but that’s my fault since they already got me once.

You fine folks have any preferences for an EZ push/pull takedown pin? Since I gotta pivot this bitch open when I reload, I’d like something that is a little easier than the standard milspec pin.

I’m also up in the air on optics/sights. I’ll prob go with a lower/mid level red dot like a Romeo5, but part of me wants to keep it just irons...I dunno.

extended pins are nice but not really needed if your upper properly mates with the lower. If you have a tension screw to keep thing tight you might want the extended pins.

 

[Fightingfish]

New parts day, and a big F U to Optics Planet, again.

Wilson Stock
Magpul K2+ grip
Magpul 10rd mag to be fixed

I ordered these parts PLUS a muzzle device from Optics Planet on September 16. I know, I already said I would never order from the, again after they cancelled my complete upper due to “compliance” issues, but the trappings of price+free shipping+all the parts in one place was too much to resist.

First off, they cancelled my muzzle device, again due to compliance. every email I sent received an automated response. Whatever, I half expected it since my last fiasco with them.
Then time started ticking by. Again, every email met with an automated response. All my parts were ”in stock and ready to ship,” yet it takes nearly a month to get here.

I know it’s Covid time, but I’ve ordered parts from PSA, Arm or Ally, Classic Firearms, Primary Arms, amongst others throughout this pandemic, and NONE of them took nearly a month! Sheeeeit, I ordered some 223 from TSUSA yesterday and they showed up TODAY. I ordered a lower from a pawn shop in Arizona that I found on social media, and it showed up in a week!

it’s my own fault...they already got me once, I shouldn’t have let em get me again. Anyway, here they are.

Also, put together the upper with a buddy. Those pins for the gas block did not want to go it, and we mangled one a bit, but it’s in tight and it’s all lined up, so we’ll see!

 

[Fightingfish]

So I got antsy last night and decided to just put the bolt catch in, maaaaybe the trigger group. Two hours later, this is where I ended up!

A few points of note:
The front pivot pin idiot tool pictured in another post was a LIFESAVER (eyesaver?). My first build, it took me literally hours to get that detent and spring in without firing it into the abyss. This time, the entire process was less than five minutes, soup to nuts. I paid my dues the hard way the first time, and that’s IT!

I would have been done in ~1hr, but I got the buffer tube, rear pivot detent, etc all put together, only to realize that I forgot to actually install the rear takedown pin, so that took some time to take it all apart again and get it back together.

Speaking of td pin detent: the super handy threaded receiver that Aero uses makes it simple, but with some caveats. First, it doesn’t actually come with the set screw. Gotta get the Aero LPK for that, or just know the size and hardware store it. Second, because that set screw takes up some real estate, you’ve gotta trim the spring up a bit. With both builds, all I did was take off the equivalent of the length of the set screw, and it turned out fine.

The FDE cerakote seems to add just enough to the surface to make somethings slightly more difficult. The trigger pins for my RA140 really didn’t want to go through, and took some persuading/lube. Is this just my imagination, or has this been documented/quantified?

Cross armory mag fix went on super duper simple. No complaints there.

I have a Toolcraft NiB BCG coming in the mail today. I used my Aero BCG just to function check, and it’s all smooth.

Speaking of function check, I was befuddled the rifle wouldn’t go into battery, despite all the parts being in place. Wait a sec, it’s a fixed mag, and there’s no rounds in the mag. Took me about five minutes—five minutes too long—to figure this out. Derp.

All I’m waiting on is a muzzle device and optic. I’m leaning towards the Vg6 Epsilon SL, as it fits the “light” motif, and it comes in bead blasted SS to match the barrel.

As far as optics, I’d like something in the red dot family. I’ve been looking at the holosun/Primary Arms colab, since I like the idea of the chevron instead of just a tiny dot. I’m definitely open to suggestions, though, as long as they’re in the roughly 200 buck and under realm.

PS- don’t mind my 70’s flooring. That’s my guns n guitars room, and I LIKE it that way. Keeps the unwanteds out.

 

[BDinPutnam]

Nice!

I have never really had any trouble with the front pin; i usually just hold the spring down with an Xacto knife.

The rear takedown spring under the end plate... always, always a bitch for me for some reason.

 

[PutnamCharlie]

I'm the opposite. I shot two of the little fu**ers across the room last week putting in the front pin. Both gone forever so I ordered 10 of them for the next round. I usually push the spring in and hold it through the small hole on the side but this lower doesn't have the hole.

 

[Fightingfish]

Nice!

I have never really had any trouble with the front pin; i usually just hold the spring down with an Xacto knife.

The rear takedown spring under the end plate... always, always a bitch for me for some reason.

The Aero enhanced lower has a threaded hole where that spring/detent goes. As I said above, it’s a pain since it doesn’t actually come with the set screw, and you gotta trim the spring a C hair, but it is nice not having to deal with that thing once it’s screwed down.

 

[dsdmmat]

When are you going to start build number 3?

 

[dsdmmat]

I May have a complete straight pull bolt action upper available.