Question about building a rifle?

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Thefabulousfink

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Just an off-hand question,

How hard is it to build a rifle (say a FAL) from a reciever and a parts kit?

I have no gunsmithing experience, but I'm not a stranger to building things by hand. I was just kicking around the idea b/c I get a great satisfaction out of building things myself, and I thought I might save a couple bucks on a new(ish) rifle.

Am I about to kick over and anthill, or is it fairly straight forward?
 
First builds tend to be expensive with outlay of tools, jigs and/or fixtures. Once that is done the next ones fall in line at a lower price point. If you can you could find someone who knows you and they "might" loan you what you need. A lot of folks recommend the barrel be installed by a 'smith for most combat type rifles like the FAL, AR, AK etc. Once the barrel is installed in the receiver most kits are just a good jigsaw puzzle away from being a decent shooter. Check out FAL forums for FAL builds and AR15.com for AR builds. They are a good place to get parts also.
 
If you get good (preferably like new or new) condition parts, it's not that hard, except you'll want to have the barrel installed and headspaced by a professional gunsmith. The rest of the assembly is not that bad on most firearms and you can use a bake on paint to finish the weapon, available at brownells.com

I don't advise most folks to barrel a weapon, unless they have significant knowledge of the procedure and machinist skills. Even though the military barrels mostly have timing marks, the marks don't always work out on semi auto (non-military) receivers, hence requiring machining (typically lathe work) to get them to properly headspace.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Aces & Eights Custom Guns
 
Thank a lot, it's nice to know that I won't need a machine lathe and mill to install the trigger gaurd:)

Your advice is good, I can probably ask around some of my older shooting buddies and find someone with the knowledge and willing to help me out on good multiple weekend project.
 
"headspace"? I've seen this phrase alot, but I'm not completely sure what it means. I assume it has to do with how the barrel joins the reciever, but could some elaborate please?
 
No need for a professional to install or headspace your barrel on a FAL. If you can read at a 7th grade level, give or take a little, you can do it yourself. It takes a couple of tools, most of which can be made yourself if you dig that sort of thing. The extent of my "machine" experience ended in the 8th grade, and I managed to get it done.

Headspace ensures that the chamber/cartridge/bolt lockup are in the correct relationship.
 
Headspace is the space between the bolt face and the breech of the barrel.

A barrel will have a front sight (or front sight mount), gas port (unless a bolt action) etc already on it.. so the barrel once installed needs to be aligned so the sights and gas ports etc line up. Generally there are jigs or marks on the parts to align them, or a skilled machinist can line up the sights accurately.

When a cartridge is chambered, the bolt is locked into place with cams/lugs or some other positive lock device. If the bolt DOES NOT lock on the lugs, that means your headspace is to tight... the barrel is to far back into the receiver to allow the bolt to fully close and engage the lugs that keep it close. To fix it you can mill off the end of the barrel a bit. You generally cannot unscrew the barrel, as the sights will then be out of alignment, gas port etc.

You may also need to ream the chamber deeper into the barrel... the cartridge may be sticking out to far... but that is generally only for newly installed barrels that come with a 'short chamber'.

If the headspace it to lose, the bolt is fully engaging the lugs, but there is still space between the bolt face and the chamber of the barrel (barrel it not back far enough to touch the bolt) and since the brass cartfidge has exposed web, it will explode, taking the path of least resistance. This generally is fixed by screwing the barrel farther into the receiver, then milling off the excess.

Headspacing some guns is dead simple. My 1919 can be headspaced by hand, as its designed to be.

A garand barrel, on the other hand, must be precisely aligned due to the op-rod and the gas port, and also the front sight.
 
From lego block easy to skilled and experienced only.
1. AR type rifle
2. Fal
3.AK
4.M14
 
I am not particularly mechanically inclined, but I learned to do AK's. It just takes a good amount of research and practice. I love building my own receivers with no garbage red-tape and serial numbers, and AR's and FAL's are cake in comparison to AK's.

I'd suggest going to the building boards and look for build parties or people in your area who can help.
 
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