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I would have finished tonight, but the one thing I forgot to pick up was a barrel nut, so I'll finish on Monday. I decided to forego the SBR for now. I just wanted to get the durn thing finished so I can shoot it while I'm waiting for the stamp on the barrel to be processed.







Here's what's in it so far:

• Spikes Tactical Gen II Billet Lower w/ all parts except trigger/hammer assembly. Includes anti-walk pins and 100% ambidextrous controls
• Matching Spikes Tactical Gen II Billet Upper assembly
• Spikes Tactical buffer tube and buffer assembly
• MFT Battlelink Minimalist Stock Mil Spec
• Timney single stage 3 lb competition trigger
• BCM Gunfighter ambidextrous charging handle
• Anderson Arms mid-length gas-piston conversion kit with bolt carrier
• Leitner-Wise nickel-boron bolt kit
• 16" Rainier Arms Select 5.56mm medium contour barrel, 416 stainless, mid-length gas port, Wylde chamber, 1:8 twist, 5-R polygonal rifling
• 11" Samson Evo keymod rail
• AAC 51T flash hider / suppressor mount
• AAC 762-SDN-6 suppressor
• Bushnell Elite Tactical SMRS 1-6.5x24 FFP scope (I also purchased an Aimpoint T2 Micro for the SBR barrel when it comes in)

Good looking rifle!

That sounds bad to the bone TAM! What kind of handguard are you going with?

Very nice! As I am getting more ingrained to the firearm community I would like this to be my next project (with the supervision of a friend who has built 4 this year either for himself or others). Looks good, stay safe!

VERY NICE!

And building it makes owning and shooting it a whole lot more fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed building mine.

jb2012 wrote:That sounds bad to the bone TAM! What kind of handguard are you going with?

The Annoyed Man wrote:

• 11" Samson Evo keymod rail

It has the Rainier Arms name on it, but it is made for them by Samson, and has Samson's name on it too:

AndyC wrote:You have some fancy parts in that thing - wicked!

It's a disease.

It starts when you have a chance to buy a Spikes lower at a reduced price because your son works in a gunstore. At first, you think "I'll just append some regular parts to this lower, and I'll have a decent little AR for a reasonable amount of money". But pretty soon, your monkey brain takes over, and it says "a Spikes lower deserves a Spikes upper". Of course you follow the dictum that a nice rifle deserves good optics, and.......well, you know where that takes you. And then there's the barrel. The heart of the beast. Monkey brain says you can't stick any old piece of PVC tube onto that receiver, so you go to Rainier Arms .....because you're dumb enough to remember a friend bought a barrel from them once (price be damned) and it was a great barrel .......and your new baby Spikes receiver set deserves a great barrel, right? And then there's the trigger.......because your Spikes lower comes with all the LPK parts except a trigger (because they already know what's going to happen, the poltroons), and you remember that you loved the Timney trigger you dropped into your Remington 700 so much that you put one into your SCAR 17, so you buy a 3 lb Match trigger for your Spikes receiver set...... and a good rifle deserves a great trigger, right?

Etc., etc., etc. And pretty soon, you have more in a carbine length AR than you have in a SCAR 17......by a considerable amount. Put another way, this is actually going to be the most expensive firearm I own.

But this one is a keeper and it ought to shoot really well if I do my part. Rainer says it's barrel is "[g]uaranteed to shoot sub-MOA at 100 yards with match ammo." You have to be willing to go out on a limb to make that kind of claim, and Rainier has a great rep. And it makes me realize that when I do get around to building a 10.5" SBR upper for it, .300 Blackout sounds like a better idea than the original 5.56 SBR I planned to build.

TAM,

Is that a free float KMR?

Nice. Looking forward to the range report.

Abraham wrote:TAM,

Is that a free float KMR?

Yes. Also, it mounts easily, using the standard barrel nut. I have a version of it on my DMR rifle:


The new one going on the new build is even lighter and more "skeletal".

Excaliber wrote:VERY NICE!

And building it makes owning and shooting it a whole lot more fun.

I thoroughly enjoyed building mine.

Yep! This is the 4th or 5th one for me. I've only ever bought one store-bought AR, my first one, and I've had much more enjoyment from the builds than I ever had from the store-bought. Plus.....I got the rifle I wanted each time, rather than having to compromise on something.

I want to learn how to build firearms from kits and such. However, I am not familiar with any books that would be appropriately titled "Armorer Techniques for Dummies" or "Gunsmithing for Dummies."

Maybe one of the experienced builders in the forum could submit a manuscript to a publisher?

dlh

I have parts for 2 minus the upper I just to figure out what I want to make them into.

dlh wrote:I want to learn how to build firearms from kits and such. However, I am not familiar with any books that would be appropriately titled "Armorer Techniques for Dummies" or "Gunsmithing for Dummies."

Maybe one of the experienced builders in the forum could submit a manuscript to a publisher?

dlh

Push you don't need a book! building an AR is pretty simple. There are thousands of youtube videos that take you step by step! I'm pretty sure I could train a 7 year old to put one together!