300BLACKOUT pistol build suggestions

[Liberty]

Andy's build has me drooling, and got me thinking I should attempt this myself.
I have never built an AR myself. and am curious about how to go about this. I have been looking through some on line catalogues such as Primary Arms and Midway. Right now I'm in the planning stage just trying to figure out how to approach this project. I have some questions on some things I haven't figured out.

How safe is building your own. I know nothing about gauging and headspace.

What do I need for special tools? Right now my gunsmithing tools consist of A boresnake a $5.00 set of Allen wrenches and an aging pair of bamboo chopsticks. I don't have a gunvice or stand or anything like that. Should I get one. Right now my cleaning bench is outside on my patio. My lighting is original solar lighting. I can set up a more permenant area in my garage, or temporarily more sterile are on the dining table.

I want to use qualiity but inexpecive parts. This isn't intended to be a tack driver or family heirloom just a fun gun that always goes bang and will outlast me.. that isn't a PIA to clean either. Who should I avoid? Who has good value?

[troglodyte]

Liberty,

I'm sure many will chime in but here was my experience building my first to fifth AR. All were built from parts. I didn't build any BCGs. My first two builds I did sitting at my computer desk watching Larry Potterfield from Midway assemble one on YouTube. I had also watched several other videos and found a few tricks. I didn't have any blocks or vices. I used a set of punches, needle nose pliers, a small hammer, my pocket knife, painters tape, a small file, oil, grease, and made myself have patience and work carefully. I did have to fashion a receiver block to tighten down the barrels and use a vice. Both 300 BO Pistols run fine and shoot well.

I will preface to say all the builds had free-float hand guards and had a barrel nut that I could use conventional wrenches on.

The next one I put together for a friend's wife as a gift to her husband. As "payment" she bought me a vice block and mag block. It made things so much easier. I also picked up an AR multitool wrench that has been useful but so far not necessary.

The last AR I completed was like you are describing. We use it as a "house" gun, like the pioneer's gun above the door. Just the one that is easy to grab if a coyote is around the chickens or a stranger is coming in the drive. It was cheap ($320 before sights).

I am currently working on a 22 Nosler with my son. We were shorted some barrel shims so I need to go pick up a couple.

I've really enjoyed putting together ARs. I'm looking at what I'm going to build next, maybe a 6x45 for coyotes or maybe something else will strike my fancy.

There are tools you need (punches, hammer, needle nose pliers), tools that are nice (vice blocks, AR wrench, pin starters), and tools that are mostly unnecessary IMO (some of the little tools Larry uses in his video).

Hope you have a good build.

[cmgee67]

What he said

Building an AR is very easy. If I can do it so can you. Like troglodyte said you don’t need a ton of tools but things like a magazine vice block help a lot when your putting on a barrel. If your putting in a free float hand guard /barrel on usually the barrel nut can be tightened with a regular old wrench pretty easily. My advice for the barrel nut and gas block make sure you put some anti-seeze on them. This will help you in the future when you decide you need to change something because you want it to be “cooler”. Most of the AR’s I’ve built I usually buy the complete upper minus BCG and charging handle which makes the build go quicker. Then I pick my BCG and charging handle out. If I can’t find the right combo I’ll buy each individually. It all comes out to spending about the same amount of money. Take your time do it right and enjoy! I think you will be surprised with how easy it really is. And remember YouTube is your friend! I don’t think building an Ar-15 is really the right term. There is no milling or CNC Work all your basically doing is putting together parts. Now building AK’s that’s a totally different ball game there. That takes hours and you do have to worry about getting the headspace right and drilling the receiver for the trunions and riveting all kinds of things and pressing components on the the barrel and what not. I’m bout to build another AK74 and that’s gonna take two or three days and several hours to do. Whereas I can assemble an AR in about 2 hours from the first pin the the last.

[Liberty]

I would like to get the upper complete with barrel and gas block. It being a pistol and .300BLK, it seems to be a good Idea to get stuff designed to work together.

Getting a punch set and an ARTool is probably a good idea. Right now I pretty much just use an Allen Wrench or a chopstick. Although the chopsticks are my prefered tool if the ins are appropriate size, They leave no scars.

I can see the practicality of the vice block but I would need to get a small vice to hold it.
Right now I'm just in the planning stage, although I might order the needed tools now.

I don't see much concern about headspace or gauging. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

[MrMcCullster]

I don't see much concern about headspace or gauging. Is this something I need to be concerned about?

I was in the exact same position you are in a year ago. No vice, no specialized tools, and a pretty bare bones tool box. I watched a few lower and upper build videos on the ol' YouTube (mostly Sootch00 videos) and he pointed out a few key tools that I ended up purchasing in the process of acquiring parts. I looked at it as part of the rifle build. And it was funny towards the end because technically I could "put together" my rifle completely, but wouldn't be able to torque it down to the proper ft-lbs, or time the flash hider correctly and go shoot it. It was like having the keys to the car, but you needed a spark plug wrench and couldn't get one until payday. The process pushed me to buy the tools needed to properly put it together so I could shoot it.

For the hard stuff like the barrel fitment and flash hider, I had a buddy who has a vice mounted in his garage on his table. I went over to his house one night with a few beers and a box of parts and specialty tools and we put my rifle together.

I just finished building my first AR 15 a couple of months ago, and I didn't check the headspace between the BCG and the barrel before I shot off the first round. Being the first AR that I have built and worrying about the possibility of having an issue made that first round a little tense.

I was a little nervous, but when everything went off without a hitch, I loosened up and then tuned in my adjustable gas block.

I think my general observation is that if you buy quality components from reputable, known manufacturers, you shouldn't have an issue with headspace. That's not to say that you won't have an issue, but your percentages go way down when you buy good quality parts.

If headspace is something that you are worried about, go to MidwayUSA and buy the headspace gauge set for your caliber (they're $50 bucks) and test it if you plan on making more AR's (you probably will plan on it after your first one), or take it to a gunsmith and have them check it for $20-30 bucks.

I haven't really seen or heard of a lot of people on the web having issues with headspace in their rifles, so I didn't worry about it. I had enough faith in my quality parts that they were machined correctly. That's not to say that shooting the first round out of a rifle that you built with your bare hands wasn't exhilarating. First was nervousness, then relief, then excitement after the fact.

[cmgee67]

I see what you mean about the noise difference. I’m gonna use this gun for defense and hunting from time to time so I think the supers are gonna be the way to go. I want to buy a good quality bcg for this gun. I’ve got Palmetto bcgs in my other three AR’s and they all work fine. I’m most likely goin to buy one of those unless there’s a better choice.

[Sidro]

For your bcg. https://aeroprecisionusa.com/spare-part ... l/bcg.html

[MechAg94]

Yeah - supersonics through a suppressor are no big deal for your ears to handle, and we're hardly going to need to worry about "Oh noes, the supersonic crack reveals our location!" indoors. Look forward to seeing the build

Supersonics are probably loud enough to be an issue long term, but I agree they are nowhere near the normal shooting noise.