Rough AR Lower Castings

Reaper said:
Paper weights indeed perhaps their SHTF fantasy has them in a bunker hogging out the mag well with a hand drill and a bastard file while holding the casting between their toes like a 6 year old in a Pakistani gunsmithery
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You say that like its a bad thing...
 
What level of completion is an 80% lower? Is it milled out except for the take down pin gaps to prevent mating to an upper, or is there more to be done like all the pin holes and chamfering too?
 
I can't speak for the items that ATR or Questar are selling, but in the US the notion of 80% is a moving target. The BATFE adjudicates each vendors representation of "80%" on a case-by-case basis. It looks like the current requirements however leave the FCG well solid and require the trigger pin holes to be drilled...

Most 80% lowers are machined to final external dimensions and require some combination of the trigger pin holes to be drilled, all of the holes to be drilled, the FCG well to be milled out and / or approx. 15 thou left to be removed from each wall of the FCG well and / or the buffer tower to be drilled to 1-1/8 and then tapped to 1-3/16... it depends on the vendor as to what is left to be completed.

The Dlask offering looks (from the one pictured on their site) like it needs at least the trigger group holes drilled and the buffer tower to be tapped (and possibly tap drilled prior to tapping)... and there may be other operation left to complete... but from the image it looks like a very nice forged 80% upper.

DAC%20Website_0183.jpg


The most popular offering in the US at the moment comes from Tactical Machining and needs the trigger group holes drilled and the FCG well to be completely milled out... it also looks like a sweet piece of 7075...

372_247_80-lower.jpg


And another option with many holes drilled, buffer tower drilled and tapped but FCG needing to be completely milled out...

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I believe that this has been posted already but here's a (small) image of a DSA 0% forging... everything from external dimensioning to all of the other operations need to be completed... they sell for $27.95 USD.

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Soooo, basically I need a full machine shop to complete the lower if I bought one of these?????

aaaanndd, the knowledge and dimensions of how the fu$& to complete it?????

So $100 and I get a chunk o metal? or $220 from Dlask for a chunk o metal???



$80 MORE GETS ME A COMPLETE LOWER!?!?!?!?!?

WTF


It's like me selling a cutout of a TAG Rampage vest for $320, then all you have to do is sew the entire thing together!!



Or I'll sell you the complete one for $399.99!!!!!!


But don't worry, you can easily do it. You just need the commercial sewing machine ($1500 used) a knowledge of the pattern, buy the thread and you are all set!!! Worth the $80 don't ya think!
 
That's funny man... and by the way, I'll take a set of those TAG cutouts... :)

You're mostly right about the 80%'ers. I've seen threads where guys have completed them on a drill press using the jigs that you can buy in the states just for that purpose, but it takes some effort to be sure and I think the extra $80 is the way to go. Besides you have the legal ramifications to consider as well when you do it yourself... the thing needs to get verified and registered once it gets to 100% otherwise you're in deep sh*t...

In the US, as long as the finished product is for personal use and not for sale you don't need to do anything except shoot it once you're done... not so here...


Farmboy said:
Soooo, basically I need a full machine shop to complete the lower if I bought one of these?????

aaaanndd, the knowledge and dimensions of how the fu$& to complete it?????

So $100 and I get a chunk o metal? or $220 from Dlask for a chunk o metal???



$80 MORE GETS ME A COMPLETE LOWER!?!?!?!?!?

WTF


It's like me selling a cutout of a TAG Rampage vest for $320, then all you have to do is sew the entire thing together!!



Or I'll sell you the complete one for $399.99!!!!!!


But don't worry, you can easily do it. You just need the commercial sewing machine ($1500 used) a knowledge of the pattern, buy the thread and you are all set!!! Worth the $80 don't ya think!
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You can get complete AR15 lower schematics from CNC Guns. (cncguns dot com)


Theres a lot of work to get a 0% up to shooting standards, for most people i would think that 80% would be more realistic. CNC guns is whom offers the "jig" to drill out the holes for the fire control pocked and for the trigger/hammer/selector pins and such.


I dont think normal folk can complete 80% lowers or not, I have been told they need to be completed by a registered firearms manufacturer, but I cant say for sure or not, or if you just need to have them verified and registered.
 
If the price were reasonable and you didn't need CNC equipment (or at least a metric #### tonne of patience at a manual mill), having a few of these around would be cheap insurance ;)

But, at those prices, I might as well machine the whole thing out of a billet...
 
ESQ said:
If the price were reasonable and you didn't need CNC equipment (or at least a metric s**t tonne of patience at a manual mill), having a few of these around would be cheap insurance ;)

But, at those prices, I might as well machine the whole thing out of a billet...
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Yeah the strength difference between 7075T6 Forgings and 7075T6 billet isn't all that much, for the cost of billet it would probably be as easy to machine it from bar stock as it is to machine it from a forging (if you had the right tools). Although I guess you can make a pretty ragged looking lower with a raw forging with enough time and patience :p
 
Honestly you cannot make one for what you can buy one for if you are just making one or 2. An AR sized billet of 7071 cost about $60, anodizing cost about $40 (or $120 minimum charge if you only do 1). The biggest problem doing them yourself is the mag well. These are broached if mass produced, but to do 1 or a few you need to have them EDM'd in order to get the small radius in the corners. We made a couple after work over a few nights and even though we have an EDM machine it still cost about $100 each to make plus the time, and we have the tap for the buffer tube which is another $65. You will also need to make a fixture for holding them. You need to change setup a number of times and everything has to line up.We just finished 2 AR10 Lowers which are getting registered as we speak. It was an interesting project, but a LOT more work than you would think.
A forging would be even more difficult since a billet starts out square you can hold it in the vice. A forging you will have to figure out a way to hold it and make the fixtures before you even begin.
From a solid block
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EDM setup with copper electrode

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After Anodising

Anodising002.jpg
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dogzilla said:
Honestly you cannot make one for what you can buy one for if you are just making one or 2. An AR sized billet of 7071 cost about $60, anodizing cost about $40 (or $120 minimum charge if you only do 1). The biggest problem doing them yourself is the mag well. These are broached if mass produced, but to do 1 or a few you need to have them EDM'd in order to get the small radius in the corners. We made a couple after work over a few nights and even though we have an EDM machine it still cost about $100 each to make plus the time, and we have the tap for the buffer tube which is another $65. You will also need to make a fixture for holding them. You need to change setup a number of times and everything has to line up.We just finished 2 AR10 Lowers which are getting registered as we speak. It was an interesting project, but a LOT more work than you would think.
A forging would be even more difficult since a billet starts out square you can hold it in the vice. A forging you will have to figure out a way to hold it and make the fixtures before you even begin.
From a solid block
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Nice work...!
 
The models and schematics to complete an AR15 lower are free and easily attainable.

I plan to pick up a couple of the 0% forgings and finishing them. Yes, I am lucky to have access to a full CNC shop, which is why I'm doing more than one.

The only hard part of any AR15 lower is the magazine well. Everything else can be easily done.
 
Hell people have made lowers out of cutting boards before!


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Good thing he had the scope AND the laser to be able to blast them snow mice :D
 
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