AR15 Uppers

[djmay71]

So I've been looking for AR15 complete uppers with a barrel at least 18".

Well, I found two options: have a custom Vltor upper with a Noveske 18" barrel made for me by Armtac, or wait however long its going to take and get a NEA 18" DMR Upper.

As I was looking for options, several times, I did stumble across excellent deals for stripped uppers or partially built uppers (dust cover, charging handle and forward assist).

After some more research, I came to the conclusion that anyone with 8 fingers and two thumbs can build an upper for themselves.

That being said, do any site sponsors have a neat little package of "small parts" required to build an upper? I have a BCG en route, so all I think I'd need is a bolt release, barrel, trigger assembly, and safety.
Correct if wrong.

 

[tiriaq]

Buy a complete upper receiver unit - have a look at the suppliers on this board, Questar, etc.
Buy a quality rifle barrel. Might have to do a bit of looking, most of the barrels around are little bitty things. It will come with the barrel extension installed, and perhaps with the gas block and gas tube. If not, a low profile gas block and tube are easily located and are easy to install.
Get a tubular handguard with barrel nut. Two pieces, inexpensive.
Install a decent brake on the muzzle.
Installing a barrel on an upper is no big thing.
You need a jig to hold the upper without damaging it, perhaps a barrel vise, a tool to torque on the barrel nut, and an improvised strap wrench to screw on the handguard. (Piece of rope and a hammer handle).
One of the holes in the barrel nut must line up with the gas tube hole in the upper.
Once the barrel is on the upper, assemble the gas tube to the gas block, slide the block and tube into place, and lock the block in place. Make sure the gas tube is straight.
Almost invariably headspace will be correct. Tolerance control is excellent with quality AR parts.

By all means, get the Brownells catalogue and AR catalogue. Not that you can order all the stuff, but these are great references. The Brownells DVD covers the basics.

 

[Fusilier]

Bolt release and safety are both in the AR's lower. To build the upper you'll need forward assist parts, charging handle, gas tube, gas block and other bits. I've never built up my own AR but I've had my two apart, a bit, a couple of times. Buy or download a good book or better still, Google youtube for videos on building your own. There are lots of places on the web with discussions on building your own AR (ar15.com perhaps) or at least with exploded detailed parts diagrams.

Brownells even has a free DVD on how to build an AR. I haven't seen it yet but I'll be ordering one the next time, and there will definitely be a next time, I order from them.

Best of luck