.308 AR Build

Thinking aloud, been mulling around a .308 AR build and why would I not want to build it myself?  I’ve built a couple AR lowers already (but not uppers), and in the past built or re-built various motors from the ubiquitous (was once anyhow) VW boxer-motor (build-blow-up!-repeat…) to a two-valve Yamaha FZ 600 engine.  As a kid, partly since we were overseas some of the time where regular American toys were unavailable, I built my own model toys.  Boats, cars, balsa-wood and tissue-covered model airplanes that flew.  I even made my own toy-accessories, like a grenade “launcher” (more like “thrower”) for my Gi-Joe out of a clothes-pin spring and parts.  Back in the States instead of buying a toy car to play with I’d buy a plastic model and assemble it – but even better were the die-cast metal models that you assembled with tiny screws and everything – though instead of painting it I left it in the white. So build here means really “assembly.”

So why buy an AR when you can assemble one, especially when it’s mainly an assembly process of pins and springs – and especially here in CA where there are specific things you MUST do to conform, so you can customize it along the way? Is it so much cheaper to get the whole shebang including a bolt-carrier group all at once?

For a lower you need 27 small items: Front Pivot Pin, Take Down Pin, Bolt Catch, Bolt Catch Screw, Bolt Catch Buffer & Bolt Catch Spring, Disconnector & Disconnector Spring, Trigger, Trigger Pin & Trigger Spring, Hammer, Hammer Pin & Hammer Spring, Selector & Selector Spring, Take Down Detent, Detent Selector & Detent Spring, a Magazine Catch, Magazine Catch Button & Magazine Catch Spring, Pistol Grip, Pistol Grip Lock Washer & Pistol Grip Screw, a Buffer Retainer Pin & Buffer Retainer Spring…

And maybe you want an easier-to-open large-head take-down pin, or a different grip, or need a heavier buffer and buffer spring to go with a different stock assembly than the Manufacturer (Big Assembler) supplies – and then there’s the upper. And suppose you do NOT want an upper with a “forward assist” because they generally only make things worse.

But all the parts add-up too…