Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Couple of lessons learned

Rost495, your experience definitely trumps internet conjecture. If you had to purchase a rifle, what would you choose based on price range? Say < 800, 800-1200, > 1200.

I am planning to build my first lower and ran across this thread.

I bought the following items:

Aero Precision lower from Creedmoor
Parts kit and stock from White Oak Armament
Geissele Service Rifle trigger from Primary Arms.


First question is, even though they are already purchased, are there any issues with the parts I have purchased? I own other Geisselle triggers and have been happy with them and it is my assumption that John Holliger would sell good parts.

Second questions, are there any tricks or tips for assembling a lower.

Any input would be welcomed.

And this lower will be used for Highpower competition if everything works out well.

Sorry I can't answer. I wouldn't buy a rifle. I still have probably another 15 lowers somewhere in the safe.

I don't care what lower. I don't care what upper.
I do care what trigger, RRA Varmint for most non competition applications, yes I may even have to tune it a bit. Beyond that its going to Geiselle, Millazo or such.
Barrel I care very much about. If I care about barrel life I go cut only... buttons do NOT last as long.
Make mine floated. You pick how.
Give me an A1 or A2 stock, I've shot standard stocks so many years in competion, I need nothing else.

And a good set of internals... brand I could care less about, quality yes, likely why I've tried to buy all my LPK from White Oak, sans teh triggers....IE I"mnot paying for a mil spec crap trigger.

Any other bells and whistles are up to you. I can do just about anything I want with the above, and if I don't kill or win, its me, not the gun.

IF I were to buy guns just for.... I"d buy whatever is cheapest, and just go through the internals... a cheap gun with a newBCG and new LPK is still going to be cheaper than one of the brand name ones generally.

All of that said, if forced into a corner, I'd buy a colt first, trash the trigger for sure, and expect 1.25 or so MOA. And I might even be surprised.... this if I was forced to buy a gun I expected to not have to work on at all.

Let me add one more thing, if it was a gun for 2 leggeds, I would buy or put together only the better parts, sans names, and then the ONLY way I'd trust it is to beat it up, after 500 or 1000 rounds I"d know whether I"m going to trust it or not. And I'd be betting a total stock Colt would never let me down. Even though I can never see me owning one such gun. Stock Colt that is.

Trigger issue. Someone tried to do a trigger job by lessening the engagement on the sear. This is the reason why if you want a better trigger, you buy a better trigger. The sear engagement between the hammer/trigger is critical on an AR because it has to do with disconnector timing. Lessen the engagement and the disconnector has issues catching. Little problem and the gun will double, firing when you release the trigger. Big problem and you get hammer follow through, which will give you a full auto burst, but it's completely unsafe; you can get a round firing out of battery.
Extraction problems, especially with carbines. The carbine length gas system has very high port pressure and that has caused problems from day one. L. James Sullivan said he wished they made the cut for the extractor spring deeper/bigger, but they didn't foresee the carbines. The carbine gas system solution is to use the late style carbine extractor spring. The interim fix was to slip a rubber o-ring in with the spring; you'll see that on some Colt's and some govt AR's. The high port pressure caused the gas to hit the expansion chamber in the bolt with such force that the extractor actually bounced before it began its travel rearward. On rare occasion, that bounce will cause it to jump the rim (usually on full auto, but happens on semi from time to time) and the bolt rides back leaving the case in the chamber. PIA of a jam to clear in the field.

There's no doubt that the extractor tension needs to be correct, whatever method you choose, but the best solution is an adjustable gas block. End of problem with over-gassing.

MM

No doubt. AR's are also a bit notorious for gas port erosion...solves that issue too.

Interesting on gas port erosion as I've shot a few rifle length tubes to over 12K rounds each, and could tell no difference related to gas volume than when the barrel had 1000 or so rounds on it. Probably helps the ports were the correct size to start with...

The trigger was unaltered from the factory (an AP LPK).

Triggers aren't all the same even if it says so. Good parts equal good service.

I'd sure like to know how an AR can fire out of battery when the firing pin can't reach the primer until the bolt is locked.

Start with the correct size gas port and a good quality extractor/spring kit and you'll eliminate problems from the start.

I've both carbine and mid length gas and find it impossible to tell any difference while shooting. Build em right and they will run.

in 39 years of shooting black rifles I can only recall haveing had one jam and it was from some off brand steel magazine, which I immediately destroyed. I have no idea how much 55 grain ball ammo I have fired over this time. I have never owned a diamondback, core, windham, PSA, etc. I promptly sold a RRA and Bushwacker as soon as I realized what they were. Colt or DD are good guns, Noveske is a good gun, BCM is great, wish I could afford knight. People buy crap and complain when it breaks.

You must be a pretty insensitive kind of guy...................

MM

Good info. Thanks.

Man, I wish I had your luck!

...still...I have never had a problem with a Colt AR which is why the vast majority of AR's I have owned over the years have been Colt's. When I got my first AR back in the '80's everyone gave me a hard time and told me to get used to clearing jams...yeah, NEVER had an issue with that old SP1. Meanwhile watched the Mini-14's have various failures from time to time when they got good and hot. I recall my friends rather expensive H&K 93 giving him a little trouble here and there while my SP1 just hummed along. My AR-180 was bulletproof too...like a fool I sold it, but recently fixed that bad decision. But over the years I've had a few lemons for sure.

I find myself fixing a lot of AR's for 3 gun shooters and just like 1911's & Glocks, you find many of the problems are owner induced.

I keep tabs on what my friends own, and in my close circle I have noticed pretty good results with Colt, Bushmaster, and S&W for the more affordable AR's. I know one competitor who has put probably close to 20k rounds through a Spikes Tactical in a little over 1.5 years, and he hasn't had any issues...I'm pretty surprised at that, considering what he paid for it.

The more I read this thread, the more I realize just how much I know (or don't know) about ARs. I wish I had half the experience that some of you guys have.

Meanwhile, I will continue to accumulate parts and enjoy putting them together.

Just for gits and shiggles if nothing else.

many who don't lubricate their firearms have worse luck than others. My ar's smoke when I shoot them from oil evaporation or burning off. Same with tight fitting 1911's. Then again a long time ago I learned that blue steel will rust in humid climates and gas guns with rusted chambers don't work.

I do clean them once every 800-1000 rounds or so, once in a while I will clean a barrel too. CLP and now slip2000EWL or just any oil I think.