Want to try this AR15 nonsense...

chofo

chofo

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I usually lurk over at the Milsurps forum, but have always wanted to try my hand at building an AR15 rifle from scratch.( Seems like everybody and his cousin's sister-in-law has an AR and I'm pissed!).

I finally bit the bullet and sold off a 1903A3 Smith-Corona to help me fund this little fantasy, but I think I'll need more help than just that!

First off, I just bought a Blue Line lower receiver, and it finally came in from those good folks out in BC. No problem with the CFO, all registered and I'm good to go.

It looks great... considering I'm used to looking at old military rifles... but that's why I'm doing this. Imagine, a BRAND-NEW rifle...( with no history, but WTF...an AR15 with history would be quite illegal, eh wot?)

I did try and locate the elusive and very rare Mattel receiver, but no go so I settled on the Blue Line.


mattel-m16a1.jpg


After I got the receiver, a buddy told me to order a DPMS parts kit from Brownell's and it's on the way, so now I can piece together a nice semi-auto lower receiver...But now for my silly questions....

1) I would truly like to build up a CAR15 Commando or an XM177E1 clone but are they even legal up here in Kanuckistan? Barrel too short? Collapsible stock too short? OAL too short? Help!!!

2) If not , then an early Vietnam looking A1 with those awesome triangular handguards would be my second choice... but you almost never see rifles that look like that. Where do you get those handguard? I'm certainly not looking for the M4 look.... all kinds of stuff hanging off of them like a SWAT team.

3) I assume the A1 clone would be legal, but then I need the straight 5/20 round mags which is cool, but I keep hearing about green followers and weirdo springs and Magpuls etc. etc etc. So, seriously....where to buy some good old Colt 5/20's ? Approximate cost?

4) Of course...the big outlay... the upper receiver.
For the CAR15 look, would the 11.5" bbl still be legal, or would the "rifle" then become a "pistol" or go from Restriced to Prohibited.
If I can't have the Commando version, what upper could I use to duplicate the A1 look? A 20" bbl? Suggestions?

Anyways, I never knew there was this much "variety" in building one of these little things, but I'm definately going to try.

If it doesn't work out, well... keep looking at the EE for all this crap I'll be buying up.

Thanks in advance for your input... like everyone here knows:

No Experience + No Knowledge = Destroyed Parts + $$$
 
Make it any length you want. That goes for both barrel and stock. They are all legal, and no matter what they are all restricted.
 
Having a short barreled AR 15 up here is no issue, as it is restricted no matter what the barrel length is.

standard.jpg


Many guys here have AR's set up like this one.

Have fun! :ar15:
 
1.) Yup any barrel length, build that shorty commando!!!

2.) Cmag products are cheap and will give that look you are trying to achieve, I say stick with those. They can be had at Questar.

3.) AR's can be built in any config except full auto or 3 shot, only semi. Any barrel or stock config is good to go.


Keep an eye on the EE for all your small little parts or Brownells for that matter. Also please keep us posted on your build and any questions you may have. The more people into restricted's the better!

Good luck.

PS welcome to the black rifle addiction, your wallet will hate you!
 
Since the AR is a specially named restricted you can build it as short as you want right down to 7" barrel for .223 or 4" for 22LR, just don't cut the barrel yourself because that is the only status changer for a AR.
 
FYI, Brownell's has many good videos on how to assemble ARs. Also, there are good stickies on AR15.com.

Good luck and welcome to the darks side.
 
Lairdtunderinjaysus!! THAT was fast!!

Thanks again to all you good folk out there for the quick answers, since I really am unsure of what the poodle shooters are allowed to get away with up here.

This is GREAT! No wonder people love the AR15.

I have a couple of big, heavy and NOT very concealable L1A1 rifles... semiauto only ... but they are so Prohib that not only I can't shoot them anymore, I can't even leave the house with them! Arrgghh!!

Anyhoo...now I can get to the best part of it all ... I love looking for all the bits and pieces I'll now need to rig up a look-alike VietNam-era carbine. Parts look to be cheap and plentiful... and so much variety it's insane (Try that with restoring a Ross or a Martini-Henry).

Anyways, you got a new convert ... and I will definately post pics as I go along.
 
Building a retro rifle in the States is easy, as they have a massive military that bought millions of those old guns and surplus parts make it out to the gun show circuit in massive quantities.

But none of that was true up here. Without government surplus as a source, you will have to turn over lots of stones at shows and old fashioned gun stores to find the old parts you need to build a Vietnam era clone. Count on surfing the US WTB sites for the parts that are under $100.
 
Lesson #1 -- When your DPMS kit arrives toss it in the lake and buy yourself an ArmaLite lower parts kit.

Lesson #2 -- Don't accept AR15 building advice from the same friend again.

... of course there will to be several members showing up here telling you they've had no problems with DPMS parts and swear by them. That'll be lesson # 3.
 
easy said:
Lesson #1 -- When your DPMS kit arrives toss it in the lake and buy yourself an ArmaLite lower parts kit.

Lesson #2 -- Don't accept AR15 building advice from the same friend again.

... of course there will to be several members showing up here telling you they've had no problems with DPMS parts and swear by them. That'll be lesson # 3.
Click to expand...

You DO realize DPMS gets their parts from the same place most other makers do, don't you? Only a few suppliers actually wax cast bolt stops, triggers, hammers, and selectors and basically they are subsidized by government contract work. The over-runs become AR15 parts and get sold to the Civilian AR manufacturers (like DPMS).

Oh, and Armalite and DPMS both buy their springs form the same manufacturer last time I checked ;)

But whatever. Spend $100 for a $60 LPK if you want to.
 
To the OP:

You can get triangular furniture and A1 stock sets off Gunbroker - lots of used sets on there that ship to Canada.

The issue is going to be finding a 1:12 chrome-lined barrel in Canada. You might have to settle for a 1:9 barrel that will look similar to an A1 barrel. A slick side upper could also be tough to locate, maybe try a WTB in the EE.
 
Claven2, apparently you haven't owned an Armalite kit to compare parts side by side with all the DPMS parts in your gun. When you do, the differences should be clear unless you're blinded by the light.

I have not only compared them side by each and discovered visibly distorted parts before installation, (bolt catch), but personally experienced malfunctions due to out of spec DPMS parts, (out of spec hammer hook and a selector with a divot slightly off) and breakage due to substandard production, (trigger pin and mag catch snapping in half) or materials used in DPMS components.

If you think there's no difference between $60 parts and those which cost $120., you must think that firearms owners are very stupid people to buy something more expensive than it's really worth. People buy the $60. parts not because they are the same quality as Armalite, but because they are too cheap, or don't understand the quality difference.
 
easy said:
Claven2, apparently you haven't owned an Armalite kit to compare parts side by side with all the DPMS parts in your gun. When you do, the differences should be clear unless you're blinded by the light.
[...]
If you think there's no difference between $60 parts and those which cost $120., you must think that firearms owners are very stupid people [...]
Click to expand...

Umm.... ya. I have TWO complete Armalite rifles in front of me right now, An AR180B and a 16" M4-type. I have also installed 2 DPMS parts kits and three Armalite kits over the last 4 months for myself and two different customers.

I simply disagree with you. When was the last time you bought DPMS anything? Back when they used light grey parkerizing like 4 or 5 years ago? Not the same kits anymore.

In fact, in my experience, except for hammers, DPMS seems to have continually changing parts suppliers - depending which sub-contractor gave them a better deal that year.

As for the price thing... well, for starters, very few LPK's (maybe Colt?) cost $120 in the US. DPMS kits are about $60, Armalite kits are about $65 in the USA. It's kinda like buying a book or a car - just because Canadian retailers mark it up 100% over the US price does not mean it magically becomes 100% better.

Anyhow - if you don't like DPMS stuff, don't use it. Personally I function check every part when I install it and if in doubt I micrometer critical parts against either drawings or known good parts. The last DPMS part I rejected was a bolt stop 6 years ago. All have been fine since. I rejected only one other DPMS part before that - a $1 detent pin that had obviously missed heat treating.

Now back to Armalite - they make really nice triggers and hammers. Even when I buy DPMS kits, I usually use Armalite hammer and trigger unless I need a rounded hammer. Not because the DPMS parts are bad (I don't believe they are), but because the Armalite parts usually come with a finer finish on the engagement surfaces - Not sure if they use a finer wheel on their surface grinder or what? With a DPMS part it might take me 30 minutes to get a nice trigger job done, with the Armalite parts, it's more like 10 minutes.
 
I've built several AR-15's for both myself and friends. I've used lower parts kits from DPMS, Armalite, and RRA.

And guess what.....they all went bang ;)

I've spent money on Rock River kits (with 2-stage match triggers) that were complete ####, and yet I've shot other rifles with the same guts that were awesome. I have one rifle of my own running a DPMS kit right now that you would think had an expensive match trigger.....and installed other DPMS kits that were purely average.

No matter what you buy, what you get will be hit and miss sometimes. I see too many guys in here that have had singular bad experiences with a product, and because it didn't work for them, they tell everyone else that the manufactorer is crap. :rolleyes:



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