Is it hard to build an AR

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SKUNK

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I live in So Cal.

I am thinking about purchasing OL lower and building my own AR.
I have heard horror stories about home made ARs jamming. My understanding is that as long as there are not more then one "evil parts", it is CA legal. I have been contimplating other rifles, but the CA legal ones dont move me, so that is why I am inquiring about a home made AR.

Do any of yall have any experiance doing this? What were some of your pitfalls? Is it a waste of time & $$?

Thanks
 
I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of cali's gun laws. I'm not a resident , and if my luck keeps up, won't be any time soon. I have built my own AR however, and I can say with the resources over at www.ar15.com, it was very easy. If you have any mechanical skill at all, you can do it. Just go slow, and make sure you've got the right tools.

edited for clarity
 
I am in CA, I just finished building my AR about month ago. As long as the mag is fixed in the weapon while you have other "evil" feartures equipped, you should be fine. Somewhere in the law it also states that a "tool" must be used to remove the mag. I suggest a Prince50 kit, or something else similiar, the tool in this case is an allen wrench.

You can get an AR kit for about $450, usually includes complete upper and a lower parts kit (LPK). Once you start interchanging pieces on a kit you see, that $450 figure will prob end up to like $600.
 
Well.... I think I am going to purchase a Rock River Arms 9mm A4 Midlength marked rifle lower. What do yal think about uppers from Stag?
 
I will say that it's just about stupid-easy to put together a lower from a stripped one and a kit, with only a couple of "specialized" tools (I ordered a few (3) Roll Pin Punches of the appropriate sizes from Brownells) that help a whole lot.

However, I'd suggest that you THOROUGHLY investigate the applicable laws before you start building your AR. We don't want to lose a good THRer because of some irrelevant technicality, yeah?

~GnSx
Aka: Admiral Obvious
 
Dam GS... I hear you.

I plan on doing a lot of research.
But everything I have seen so far states no more then one evil part.
 
Perhaps it's my over-abundance of caution, or perhaps my deep desire to remain in the good graces of our society, but I have a strong aversion to spending time in a place where I would no doubt be some gentleman's "dance partner".

Just kidding :);) We tend to get a might bit paranoid when we talk about gun laws. Now, the internet is a grand bastion of truth and clarity and you can trust everything on this board and others... but you really can never be too careful;) . If I were you, I'd call a local gunsmith and ask. They will no doubt have first hand California building experience. It's a few minutes of your time to get the straight dope on an important concern
 
Stag is top notch and the best bang for the buck right now. My suggestion would be to buy a complete lower and upper, push the pins yourself and you save the tax on a complete rifle. You don't really save much building from scratch, not to mention you have to buy a bunch of tools.

You really need to do soem reading over at arfcom to answer all your questions.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=3&f=4
 
Go to CalGuns.net to answer your legal questions. They're the ones who started the Cal lower craze in the first place. Read the FAQ and other posts before posting any questions, or else a crazed attack dog that answers to "ohsmiley" will bite your head off.

To sum it up, if you want build a new AR in California, you needs to find (1) a lower that isn't on the official CA Assault Weapon List, and (2) you must either fix the mag; or, not install a pistol grip and add no other evil features. The number of evil features rule is misleading in this case, since if a semi-auto doesn't have a detachable mag, it doesn't come into play. If you have a detachable mag, then that IS your one evil feature, and you must find a way to shoot your AR without a pistol grip.

Another way to look at it is, once you have a detachable mag on a semi-auto rifle, adding one more evil feature makes it an "assault weapon".

As far as difficulty, it is low. My friend got an Ameetec "6.5 Grendel" lower, and a Rock River 16 inch .223 upper, and spent about two hours putting it together. The fit is not perfect but close, and the rifle shoots like a charm. He has no gunsmithing experience, other than removing the front sight off a Mini. Just remember to insert a 10-round mag and replace the mag release with a nut and bolt before you install the pistol grip.

As a final warning to all this, the Attorney General's Firearms Division is attempting to legislate by themselves (California gov't is so efficient we only need two branches) and change the definition of an assault weapon to include making a fixed mag "detachable" if the whole mag well isn't blocked off.
 
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Man.. thanks for all of the great advise... Keep um coming:D

minigun.jpg
 
Bump

Is it worth it to build an AR lower with a prince fixed mag kit or are the CA laws two crazy?

Thanks
 
I am in CA, I just finished building my AR about month ago. As long as the mag is fixed in the weapon while you have other "evil" feartures equipped, you should be fine. Somewhere in the law it also states that a "tool" must be used to remove the mag. I suggest a Prince50 kit, or something else similiar, the tool in this case is an allen wrench.
Click to expand...
Why don't you install one of those hideous, Commie-friendly stocks I've seen on some ARs? I don't understand why anyone would want a PG over a functional AR15.
 
Is it hard to build an AR? Skill wise? Not at all - perhaps the easiest firearm there is.


However, there are quite a few little things you need to know in order to do a quality job.
 
easy as pie

a buddy and i built mine on the kitchen table with a hammer and some channel lock pliers. we printed instructions from ar15.com and went to town. some speciality tools would be nice but not necessary.
 
I prefer building to any other method.

Reason being, I can customize every little detail the way I want. It also helps you understand the way the rifle functions so that you can diagnose problems, etc...

It's the only way to go.
 
What if I build an AR with a "temp fixed mag" & the laws change to only permit a perm fixed mag? This is the last pitfall I am debating?

As always..... Thanks
 
To stay legal your best options are to:

1. Build gripless ala Monsterman or U15 stock. This method allows you to use detachable and larger capacity (more than 10 round) magazines, but you can't have any of these following features along with the above: thumbhole stock, grenade launcher, flare launcher, flash suppressor, or a forward pistol grip.

2. Fix the magazine (must be no more than 10 round capacity) with one of these two (though there are other methods):
- Bullet Button Mag-lock kit
- Prince 50 Mag-lock kit.

If you use this method, you can have any evil feature you want.

I personally prefer the Bullet button kit because it allows me to swap magazines at the range and not have to top load. Some will say that it's a gray area of the law. Go over to Calguns.net and take a look around to help you make a decision as to what method you want to use.

As to building ARs. I say go for it, at least for the lower. At most, you'll need some punches and a small hammer. It's not rocket science. For the upper, if you plan on making more than one AR it might be worth it to purchase the tools you need to put upper together, not to mention the fun of doing so. However, if this will be the only AR you plan to own or build, you're going to pay for tools you might never use again. It may be better to just buy a complete upper.
 
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