I just milled an AR15 receiver from a lump of aluminum!

harmoniums · 18-06-2012 03:50PM #1

Here in the states, the lower receiver of an AR15 is the serialized and hence "controlled" part.
You can buy over the counter (ie no paper) an 80% completed Lower receiver like so:

http://www.tacticalmachining.com/80-products/80-receivers/80-ar-15-lower-receiver.html

Typically you need to mill out the fire control group pocket and drill out the selector, tigger and sear pin holes.

Once you have done this, it becomes a 100% complete receiver and is considered a firearm.
It legal here in the states to make one for yourself, and no further registration etc is needed.
Infact if it's never going to leave your posession you don't even need to serialise it.

So anyway, I milled it out on a CNC last night and built it up.
I'll be taking it to the range tonight.

Pics in a few mins.......

firefly08 · 18-06-2012 04:25PM

That's class...did you use that 80% complete yoke or did you actually mill the whole thing?

harmoniums · 18-06-2012 04:39PM

I used the 80% complete casting.

CIMG0018 by harmoniums, on Flickr

CIMG0019 by harmoniums, on Flickr

CIMG0020 by harmoniums, on Flickr

CIMG0021 by harmoniums, on Flickr

dax121 · 18-06-2012 05:20PM

nice work fair play to ya :cool:
dura coat the lower black now and should be the job. let us know how it fires

harmoniums · 18-06-2012 05:45PM

dax121 wrote: »

nice work fair play to ya :cool:
dura coat the lower black now and should be the job. let us know how it fires

I kind of like the white metal mogadishu look!
I have a home anodizing kit also, I may try that.

gunhappy_ie · 18-06-2012 06:57PM

Cool.... Something Id love to do but you Have to be a dealer here to do it.

Do you have or have to have the bullet button on the mag ?

How did you square out the mag tunnel ? File or broach ?

Dont you have to put manufacturers markings on it now ?? lol... what serial number will you give it ?

What way are you going to do the markings ?

Gh

Half-cocked · 18-06-2012 07:13PM

harmoniums wrote: »

I have a home anodizing kit also, I may try that.

How do you find DIY anodizing? Is it any good?

harmoniums · 18-06-2012 08:47PM

Half-cocked wrote: »

How do you find DIY anodizing? Is it any good?

I'll let you know when I do it.

harmoniums · 18-06-2012 08:54PM

gunhappy_ie wrote: »

Cool.... Something Id love to do but you Have to be a dealer here to do it.

Do you have or have to have the bullet button on the mag ?

How did you square out the mag tunnel ? File or broach ?

Dont you have to put manufacturers markings on it now ?? lol... what serial number will you give it ?

What way are you going to do the markings ?

Gh

yep I have a bullet button on.

the mag tunnel was already milled.
I just needed to mill out the FCG pocket, the trigger slot and 3 holes

1/ the selector
2/ the trigger axis hole
3/ the hammer hole

MacsuibhneR · 18-06-2012 09:12PM

Well done, there is something nice about the aluminium look. If I were you I would leave it for a while before anodising or duracoating it.

gunhappy_ie · 18-06-2012 09:43PM

harmoniums wrote: »

yep I have a bullet button on.

the mag tunnel was already milled.
I just needed to mill out the FCG pocket, the trigger slot and 3 holes

1/ the selector
2/ the trigger axis hole
3/ the hammer hole

Awww wheres the fun in that ...... next time go for the 30% lower lol :P

rowa · 18-06-2012 09:54PM

Very nice harmoniums , what grade of aluminium is that ? Would it corrode if you left it bare ? You'll have to do a 1911 build to match !

http://www.cncguns.com/forum/index.php

Grizzly 45 · 18-06-2012 10:48PM

Very nice Har..You are actually the 1st person I have seen to have built one of these from the 80% billet

:D.There used to be another version of these with the fire control pocket machined out.Are they still out there or has ATF clamped down on them as well??They looked a bit simpler in that all the pins neede drilling out and the recoil tube thread needed cutting.You just neede a jig or very good plans to drill them out.

@GH,if you is making it for yourself and you intend to keep it forever more,you do not have to put ANY ID marks on it in the US. BUT you cant sell,inherit,trade,swop or do anything with it at all at all,as it is your personal self made gun.When you depart to the great rifle range in the sky,it has to be destroyed.:(

Half-cocked · 19-06-2012 09:27AM

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

When you depart to the great rifle range in the sky,it has to be destroyed.:(

Could it be buried with you?;)

Grizzly 45 · 19-06-2012 11:25AM

Without a doubt..
Some of those American caskets[like Batesville,the cadillac of coffins.] are aluminium/titanium and are as good if not better than some gunsafes.They are air tight and sealable and their entire upper lid can be converted to a time capsule type affair where all sorts of momentos can be put.As the Americans usually line their graves with brick and then just capstone the grave hole.
You and your guns will be fine for eternity .:D cost about 4000 dollars upwards.:eek:
Any and all agencies will accept that being buried with your firearms is definately putting them permantly out of comission:).

Dont bother trying to get a Batesville into an Irish graveyard.Because of their impregnibility they wont rot ,so it can cause a bit of a problem if you want to plant the next one the family plot and Uncle Harry still hasnt returned to earth.

Thanks to a contact in the Irish funeral services and fellow shooter for above info;)]

CJhaughey · 19-06-2012 12:17PM

I like the silver look as well. maybe Hard anodised grey would be the ticket, something different from the all black look.

spudy1991 · 24-06-2012 01:13PM

does anyone here know if any1 is importing from tatical machining

gunhappy_ie · 24-06-2012 03:22PM

Do they not ship international themselves ?

harmoniums · 25-06-2012 09:47AM

If you read their website, they ship internationally.
I wouldn't order one if I lived outside the USA though, ATF rules are not AGS rules....

Grizzly 45 · 25-06-2012 01:41PM

If it is as an unfinished to 80% or less reciver block ATF isnt too concerned,as far as they care it is a unfinished lump of aluminium vaugely in the shape of a lower reciver that can be exported.
As a matter of fact ATF changed the whole thing about the 80% recivers.They used to be available with the fire control well already machined out,and the buffer tube thread was un threaded.Now you have to machine out the fire control well and drill the holes.A much more complex operation,that without a special jig and ,or a vertical milling machine as well as a VG reciver templates and alot of machine shop experiance is not going to be somthing you are going to do with a Black&Decker drill and your table vice.

EWQuinn · 26-06-2012 04:42AM

Wikipedia shows 30+ manufacturers of AR 15s. I think at one point I actually was up to 50 and stopped counting. Recently Mossberg just entered the market with their version. Now, with a little machining capability, you too can join the swelling ranks of AR makers!

Harmoniums, before you anodize it, you need to work out an appropriate logo to stamp on the receiver. For example, if you're a horse person, you could have an image of yourself riding a colt.

Grizzly 45 · 26-06-2012 01:24PM

Be an intresting project for here if you could get an Irish gunsmith to do the machine work for you, of the lower reciver and register it as a irish made gun..parts are cheap as chips in both the EU and US for whatever variation of an AR platform you would fancy.Remember it doesnt have to be semi auto r evilll black rifle either .
You can have it ,semi,bolt action,lever action,single shot,muzzle loading...:eek: [Yes,somone with too much time on their hands built a muzzle loading AR upper]
Calibres everything from .22lr up to 50 BMG inc .410 shotgun

Shooting Forum - Firearms licencing information

I just milled an AR15 receiver from a lump of aluminum!

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