My SLR, some thoughts...

DSG

DSG

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Just took out my SLR for it's baptism, using AE223 55gr rounds. It ran well, except one of my steel mags did not lock the bcg open on the last round. The other steel, and 2 poly mags I tried worked fine. Now that my initial excitement has waned, I can look at it objectively! The only real complaint has been the "soft" material used in the receiver construction. I taped up the vice then clamped the receiver, and it left some small impressions on the back end. I am used to the bomb-proof receivers of my M1As, which are more likely to break the vice than get marked up buy any sort of tool in my experience (what a newb).

I bought alot of parts used and on the EE, for example the Colt BCG, used barrel, Geissele gas system, etc came to $430, receiver was $1000. BCM charging handle, hand guard and lower kit were another few hundred $$ on sale from Eaglehunting, along with the stock and tube assemblies. So this functioning rifle with the BUIS came to about $2100, but I still want a muzzle brake and the Aimpoint PRO was an additional extra.

So was it worth it? So far, YES! The pros: I have a reliable NR. 223 that for all intents and purposes IS a tacticool NR copy of the Liberal Tear Extractor TM* (something with a "15" in it I think?), extremely tight tolerances, weighs significantly less than an XCR while being close in price, extremely customizable. The cons: the metallurgy I have to be careful of with my muppet hands, and the finish; it seems to scuff far more easily than the other rifles I've fallen onto while hiking in the past...

My $0.02 (wearing flame retardant suit now)

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...The M1A receiver is steel, yes?

This is aluminum... 7075, so higher tensile/hardness aluminum, but aluminum nonetheless. Clamping in vise not recommended.
 
Glad to hear it went together well for you. Any issues while putting it together? Been a few reports of tight holes, especially the safety and bolt catch pin holes.

If you had bought the rest of the tools you should own when assembling an ARish rifle you wouldn't have scratched it. You're actually very lucky you only scratched it, things could have been much worse clamping it in a vise. Aluminum is a lot softer than a forged steel receiver and the right tools go a long way when putting them together.

Looks good though, must not be very noticeable.
 
scourge18a said:
Yes it is aluminum vs steel but I wonder if the early anodizing issues are partly to blame?

Looks great BTW
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Could contribute to it but soft jaws or not simply grabbing an aluminum receiver in a vise then torquing on it hard enough to set a barrel nut is a lot of force where it shouldn't be. Lucky he didn't break the receiver.
 
Ummm so wat's this "proper way" to hold an upper to install the barrel ???

I clamped my buddy's upper in the soft jaws of the vice when I installed his barrel. Pinched on the 1913 rail and the bottom of the upper. Everything went well.
 
Murray 3-D said:
Ummm so wat's this "proper way" to hold an upper to install the barrel ???

I clamped my buddy's upper in the soft jaws of the vice when I installed his barrel. Pinched on the 1913 rail and the bottom of the upper. Everything went well.
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You use a reaction rod that goes into the barrel extension

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Murray 3-D said:
Ummm so wat's this "proper way" to hold an upper to install the barrel ???

I clamped my buddy's upper in the soft jaws of the vice when I installed his barrel. Pinched on the 1913 rail and the bottom of the upper. Everything went well.
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You're lucky you didn't damage it.

griffin86 said:
You use a reaction rod that goes into the barrel extension

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I have that exact tool.
Anyone in the Edmonton area (I'm North of the city) that needs help putting an upper or lower together, or just needs access to tools is welcome to come out to my place to assemble their parts and have a couple beers, and if you have your lower built you can test fire your rifle on my range.
 
griffin86 said:
You use a reaction rod that goes into the barrel extension

444133.jpg
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I just watched a u tube video featuring that! Huh, now I'm worried cus I didn't even tighten the nut with a torque wrench! He has a free float fore end on it that I believe bolts to the barrel nut, so I guess I shouldn't have to worry about it backing off without him noticing his fore end it crooked!
 
Magpul makes a tool called a bev block that works as well. But with the lack of receiver pins i think the reaction rod is the better way to go. I used the bev block and it worked fine just have to be aware that the extension is on the lugs of the block and doesnt slide ahead.
 
Murray 3-D said:
I just watched a u tube video featuring that! Huh, now I'm worried cus I didn't even tighten the nut with a torque wrench! He has a free float fore end on it that I believe bolts to the barrel nut, so I guess I shouldn't have to worry about it backing off without him noticing his fore end it crooked!
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Hopefully your buddy doesnt have any real issues
 
No offence to anyone but this is exactly why you should take people's results or opinions with a grain of salt. Poor or improper assembly by those inexperienced is usually what leads to complaints and/or problems.
 
AB_blaster said:
No offence to anyone but this is exactly why you should take people's results or opinions with a grain of salt. Poor or improper assembly by those inexperienced is usually what leads to complaints and/or problems.
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Amen to that: I've damaged around 150$ in parts the first time I tried to modify/customize an AR15!
(My biggest problem what attempting to work on a rifle with the proper tools)
 
It functions beautifully, and I learned in the process! Isn't that what doing it yourself is all about?As expected, I can see I incurred the typical forum wrath of the high horsed knowitalls, I am only sharing my experiences. Hopefully all the other newbies will learn from my mistakes, and take away some build ideas in the process. Time to put out my flame-retardant suit!
 
DSG said:
It functions beautifully, and I learned in the process! Isn't that what doing it yourself is all about?As expected, I can see I incurred the typical forum wrath of the high horsed knowitalls, I am only sharing my experiences. Hopefully all the other newbies will learn from my mistakes, and take away some build ideas in the process. Time to put out my flame-retardant suit!
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Pay no attention to AB Blaster, he is our little MacDef White Knight.
 
Glad your build went well for you and you are happy DSG. I also got mine out for the first time today and ran a couple hundred rounds through it without any issues whatsoever. I have installed parts into my AR before and done low level things but this was my first ground up build. Loved it, learned a lot and based on the performance today, am confident I can do more hobby builds in the future. Good stuff and enjoy that rifle man!

-Saryet, out!-
 
DSG said:
It functions beautifully, and I learned in the process! Isn't that what doing it yourself is all about?As expected, I can see I incurred the typical forum wrath of the high horsed knowitalls, I am only sharing my experiences. Hopefully all the other newbies will learn from my mistakes, and take away some build ideas in the process. Time to put out my flame-retardant suit!
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Remember, you CHOSE to take offence. I can't force you to take offence. You used the wrong tools for the job but still got it done.
 
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