Capbyrd

A while back I picked up a couple of barrels and receivers for 50 dollars total from an estate sale. I have one barrel still sitting in the parts drawer and gave one upper to a friend. The other barrel and upper I decided to throw a gas system on and finish out. So this project started with wanting to finish a 25 dollar barreled upper. I had a flash hider sitting in the parts drawer already so I needed gas block, tube and crush washer. I knew that I wanted an a2 front sight because I wanted simple and it matches the carry handle nicely. A lot of people will hate it but instead of dealing with taper pins, I converted the front sight block to set screws by drilling and tapping a couple of holes. I also dimpled the barrel to keep the block a bit more secure. I also broke a tap so that was fun! After I started getting the upper near complete, I kind of got challenged to see how cheaply I could put together a complete rifle. I started looking at parts that I had at home and what I would need to complete a lower. I found a decent deal on a lower so I picked that up. I determined that from the parts that I had at home, I had probably given away enough parts that I was better off buying a complete LPK rather than just try and get missing pieces. So shopping I went for the cheap stuff. The last part came in last night for the entire build and here it is. My set screw install. And my broken tap. So here is how the cost for this rifle breaks down. Some parts will be listed together because they were part of one order. All prices include shipping and tax and are rounded up to the nearest dollar. Lower - $60 Upper receiver and barrel - $25 Crush washer, gas tube, hand guard end cap - $20 Front sight block - $10 LPK and buffer tube kit - $75 Charging Handle - $10 BCG - $88 Set screws - $1 Total - $289 for a complete rifle. I'm really happy with my sub 300 dollar AR. However, there are a few issues. The first is the completely unknown barrel. It has no marks on it anywhere which is incredibly inspiring. So I intend to do a chamber cast before shooting. I'm also going to throw a set of headspace gauges on it so that I can ensure that it won't blow up and kill me when I try to use it. This was a really fun exercise and I have no doubt that it can be done even cheaper. I had several people offer me parts for free but as part of the challenge to myself, I didn't want to accept free parts but there are quite a few things on the list that could be had from someone else's spare parts bin for nothing. As a matter of fact, I probably have some parts that I'm going to donate to someone else who is going to be trying something very similar soon. But at the end of it, I've got another usable (I HOPE) rifle that I can use as a beater/loaner. It's by no means my go-to/hard use rifle but it will do in a pinch for something. Also, I got in some parts that allowed me to finish piecing this together. I love Ruger's laminate stocks. This thing is cool.

I used spare parts from other rifles to rule all of that out. The buffer and spring are being replaced anyways because they are beat and I'm not even sure the spring is correct. Two different BCG's acted the same. He's been throwing money at it trying to solve it but no one ever looked at the gas block alignment.

A friend asked me to take a look at his AR. He didn't know the terminology so just jam and misfire were all I had to go on. After a range trip, failure to feed was the issue and I guessed that it was likely short stroking. I started with cleaning and that made no difference. I took it back to the workbench and started looking things over and discovered this. It was hidden by the way that the two piece rail mounts over the hand guard cap. It has apparently been like this for a while too because the erosion on the gas port in the block was terrible. Luckily, he had already purchased a replacement gas block and tube so I went ahead and replaced both. I haven't taken it back out for testing yet but I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have possibly made it worse. Yall check your gas blocks!!!

Possibly. I think the opening might be too large without anything in there and so the gas might not actually get out, if that makes sense. I also think having a hole that large in the side of your upper is not a great idea. It leads right to the bolt is just begging for debris. Another option would be trying one of the suppressor ready charging handles like the Raptor SD.

You need to head in to Rossville (just right up the road) and talk to Bruce Swindoll at Wolf River Precision. I'd bet he could make you some great recommendations.

Current events will have more impact on this issue than who is in office at the time. All its gonna take is for a tear jerker of a story involving a brace and they are on the chopping block.

To be clear, I don't have any issues with all of the people that want to support local and buy American and whatever. But in a time when money is tighter than ever for a lot of people and folks are struggling and hoping that they can make it through or will still have a job in a couple of days or weeks, maybe its time to get off the high horse and stop being so preachy.

Dang straight. In a time when you are struggling to make ends meet the government mandated that your job isn't important and you can't leave the house, SPEND MORE to support the local guy.

Education was probably the most important thing that could have happened. The problem there is that no one seemed to know the truth. Or at least those that did weren't sharing. I think what we know now is that we were probably better off not shutting down but instead asking high risk individuals and those in contact with them to take extra precautions and everyone else carry on as usual.

Next time? We haven't even finished this time. When they lift restrictions and everyone goes back out, that second wave is gonna hit HARD!

buzz cuts since 85!

I haven’t committed to it yet but I think I’m going to.

John Lovell said something in one of his most recent videos about this. It struck home. I've thought about this before but never had the right words for it and I think he nails it. "I didn't prepare enough to be generous."

Congrats and 73 from KK4VPR.

I've been slacking!

I spent way too long looking at this picture trying to figure out how her fingers bent backwards.

I know I'm thread digging but I might be related to that person. He ran our family reunions for a long time, or at least Jimmy Dickie did. My family line runs back into the Dickies. Most of my family is out in McNairy county and Hardin at this point but they ran all the way from Shelby to Hardin way back when.

I think you are onto something with the rotoscoped image. I suspect it was more to merge a picture of a cop and a picture of some bayonet lunges. That seems to lineup really well. And I'm going 9 o clock as well. That is not over the butt cheek, unless you have a side but, and hey, I ain't judging!

You mean like Biden?

I grew up with Joe Diffie's music and I do love it. And it really sucks that he died. Unrelated but I'm putting it here because his name is on this thread. I blame Joe Diffie for the current state of country music. Specifically, I blame Pickup Man! The kids that grew up on that song went on to write crap like Florida Georgia Line songs and Jason Church and Eric Bryan Aldean crap. Hell, these idiots actually made a song where they just chant Joe Diffie's name like he's Bloody Mary or Beetlejuice and they are trying to get him to appear.

Yall are crazy. That cop is just way ahead of his time. Wait till Costa drops his newest training video highlighting the benefits of the A Frame Grip!

It's the part at the end that should be the most shocking to folks. Just how much they touch their face and how its almost involuntary. It's why wearing gloves through the store doesn't help. Sure your hand was protected from the germs on the shopping cart but then you touched the glove to your face without even realizing it.

Your daughter should also get 1200 plus 500 for each kid (2700 total). And yes they are going off taxes and specifically AGI. I think the single threshold was 75k and married threshold was 150k. Head of Household is higher, around 110 or something.

The sad part is that it shouldn't be shocking.