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80% Lower

9K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  N law 
#1 ·
I went to a gun show this past weekend and saw where a guy was selling 80% receivers, which are by definition from the ATF, a paperweight. The remaining 20% of the machining can legally be completed by the end user and you will have a non-serialized, no paper trail lower. Seems intriguing, but is certainly not the most affordable route to go. The 80% blank costs just shy of a fully milled and legal (read: sellable) lower receiver plus you had to buy a jig (~$150) plus a drill bit kit (~$45). You'd have about $250 in a "ghost" receiver vs $60 plus background check in a fully transferable receiver.

I came home an did some research and it appears that you can get polymer lowers with a disposable polymer jig for <$100, but you'd still need bits. Some jigs are cheaper but require a drill press to mill everything out.

Has anyone done anything like this before? Pros or cons?

http://www.80percentarms.com

 
#2 ·
I too have looked into this. It seems that if you were planning on producing several lowers, it may be worth the cash but, with my limited AR budget, I can only build one at a time..... slowly ;)
 
#3 ·
I picked up a blank a while back and have drilled a ton of holes but haven't milled the trigger pocket yet.
 
#4 ·
I milled the trigger pocket out last week and finished the lower. I got the parts kit mostly installed, but waiting on the stock to get here to put the last pieces in.

I also picked up a stripped upper to go through the whole process.

I'll post pictures later
 
#6 ·
Bolt parts arrived over the weekend. I finally have completed the whole build.

I know, I know... it's not very tactical with all the shiny... but who am I kidding!?!? I'm not going to war, especially not with this one. This was built to be a learning process and a range toy. After talking to the first guy about ARs at a gun show, I realized that I may have had the wrong perspecticles to be an AR owner, since I didn't see everyone else as an enemy. Anyways, I left it bright and polished it out. Then found a polished handgaurd (cheaper than some others I was looking at and relatively local). I had a guy PayPal me some money for car parts and shopped for a barrel. I ended up with a SS 1:10 twist 7.62x39. Again, many folks say that's better left to AKs, but I wanted a toy. To play with and tinker with. Lots of bad press on ARs in 7.62x39, but I wanted to try. It's an easy swap to another upper if I don't like it. The stock, charging handle and gas block were all pretty standard. Muzzle break was the larger diameter one for 30cal. I shopped bolt carrier groups and as going back and forth between a Palmettos State Armory bolt that I would convert the bolt to 7.62 OR finding a built BCG. I ended up finding one on sale at Classic Firearms. That showed up on Friday evening and we got it all put together this evening.

Next up, seeing if it will actually fire... you know... the important part! What?!?! If I had wanted a reliable gun right out of the box, Id have bought one!!! Been there, done that, now I'm here!
 

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