[luked]

have been wanting to build and AR from scratch for years and now im finally going to start.
bought a Spikes Stripped lower last Friday locally
planning on building a 6.5 Grendel to use just to shoot and also to hunt with. mainly because my know it all brothers say there isn't any reason to have an AR.
ill probably ask a lot of questions hopefully some of you all that know more than me can help me out.
really looking forward to building my own. I know I could just walk in and buy on but want the satisfaction of doing it on my own and knowing that when its done.

 

[InOverMyHead]

My sister would offer there isn't any reason to have a brother.

 

[Tompow]

have been wanting to build and AR from scratch for years and now im finally going to start.
bought a Spikes Stripped lower last Friday locally
planning on building a 6.5 Grendel to use just to shoot and also to hunt with. mainly because my know it all brothers say there isn't any reason to have an AR.
ill probably ask a lot of questions hopefully some of you all that know more than me can help me out.
really looking forward to building my own. I know I could just walk in and buy on but want the satisfaction of doing it on my own and knowing that when its done.

Ask away... we're here to help. Built plenty of the 5.56/.223 variety but no Grendel (yet!)

 

[dmspec]

I can vouch for the fact that there is a ton of satisfaction in doing it. I have built three lowers. For the upper unit I bought fully ready uppers so I have never built an upper. I did my lowers from 80% so that was all I really wanted to accomplish was the lower.

There are very few guns you can build yourself, especially one that you can build yourself without "the man" ever knowing you did. And certainly there is nothing as easy to build as an AR.

 

[HazeGrayJeep]

A lower is easy to assemble. Lots of tutorials online to follow.

 

[luked]

I would like to also start out with a good trigger. what triggers do you all like?
I have been looking at the ALG triggers that are tuned by Geissele. read some good reviews on them being good for the lower cost being tuned by Geissele but they have 2 different ones and not sure which way to go, or if there are others to look at.

 

[usmcdjb]

I would like to also start out with a good trigger. what triggers do you all like?
I have been looking at the ALG triggers that are tuned by Geissele. read some good reviews on them being good for the lower cost being tuned by Geissele but they have 2 different ones and not sure which way to go, or if there are others to look at.

Depends on what you want in a trigger. The standard Mil-Spec part works. I think the ALG ACT is a great upgrade for a service type weapon. Comparable is the Spikes Battle Trigger. Those are the routes I would go in any builds I were to do. Improved triggers without breaking the bank.

Check out ALG's rails too. Geissele quality at a fraction of the cost. Put one on a recent 300BLK build and am pleased with it.

 

[Tompow]

I would like to also start out with a good trigger. what triggers do you all like?
I have been looking at the ALG triggers that are tuned by Geissele. read some good reviews on them being good for the lower cost being tuned by Geissele but they have 2 different ones and not sure which way to go, or if there are others to look at.

For a hundred bucks or so NOTHING beats a Rise Armament RA-140... well in my opinion anyway...

 

[NCchris]

I would like to also start out with a good trigger. what triggers do you all like?
I have been looking at the ALG triggers that are tuned by Geissele. read some good reviews on them being good for the lower cost being tuned by Geissele but they have 2 different ones and not sure which way to go, or if there are others to look at.

For a single stage, the ALG ACT is hard to beat. Their other trigger is also a single stage mil spec supposedly without the mil spec gritty creepy pull. Have the ACT in one of my builds and the rest are Geissele Super Semi Automatic. This is a 2 stage trigger, you may or may not like a two stage. Once I got one, I replaced all my triggers except one Timney and one RRA Match. Last count I had 7 or 12 AR's. FWIW, the "G" in ALG stands for Geissele, as in wife.
Chris

 

[Czechvar]

I would like to also start out with a good trigger. what triggers do you all like?
I have been looking at the ALG triggers that are tuned by Geissele. read some good reviews on them being good for the lower cost being tuned by Geissele but they have 2 different ones and not sure which way to go, or if there are others to look at.

I have Geissele SD-C's in my ARs, and SD-E in the Mega Maten 308 I just built. I wanted consistent trigger feel on all of my rifles.

I also recommend spending some time getting to know Little Crow Gunworks. They make some very useful tools for building ARs. I have a bunch of their stuff, but my favorite tool is the Detent Spring Mod (DSM) Kit because I was always bending that darn switch spring.

https://littlecrowgunworks.com/product/dsm-detent-spring-modification-tool/?v=7516fd43adaa

.....,,

 

[halodub]

Honestly, I got my LPK on eBay from a seller who goes through and hand-polishes every metal-on-metal surface for like 40 bucks, and the trigger came out super duper smooth. Probably could be lighter, but it has a really crisp break and barely any takeup. For my competition build I'm starting, I am probably going to go with a Wisconsin Trigger Company MKIIA2 Bronze Advantage trigger, as I am a fan of supporting local business, and have also heard great things about their triggers.

Congrats on starting your build; it's a great adventure and you will learn a lot in the process. My first AR was an 80% build, and now I keep itching for the rush I got in putting that one together :^)

 

[Edsel]

Overall Assembly​

Knipex 8603300 Pliers​

Spring - Loaded Punch​

Castle Nut Staking​

With the above tools in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th videos - I haven't had to use roll pin punches at all (wished I knew all this before my first attempt). I used an unmodified Starrett 18AA Automatic Center Punch for driving the roll pins. No hammer, no receiver blocks, no nothing. All done while sitting on the couch, during ads interrupting the evening news. Squeeze the roll pins in with the pliers (using strips of wire cut from Chinese take - out boxes as guides; ignore the loud squeak that sounds like metal fracturing, which sometimes occurs), and go tap tap tap tap from either side to get the roll pin centered using the punch.

Birchwood Casey's Aluminum Black is pretty good for the dings you'd invariably inflict during your first build (and openings at which the roll pins were pushed through), while Brownells Oxpho - Blue® is pretty handy for darkening steel parts (see Castle Nut Staking Video).

I haven't found a good way around using a vise for installing the castle nut and barrel, however; had to borrow someone else's stuff for that.