Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Building an AR-10

I hear that this is the best, cheapest way to own a AR-15, but does it work the same for the AR-10? If I wanted to build my own, who would you get parts from without breaking the bank?

I like the 308 better than the little 223.

LiveFree, You don't have to settle for a .223 in the AR platform. There are plenty of large bore caliber configurations available, .25 WSSM, 6x45, .50 Beowulf for example. And I pieced mine together just by looking for upper and lower parts at a good price. I have all good quality name brand parts and I don't have $700 into any of my ARs. I don't believe you can do that with the AR10 platform and it is also heavier to pack around.

My 2 cents,

Jerry

Building can be cheap if you look at all AR parts as being the same quality, the only difference being price. If you use good quality parts with proper build materials, etc, it is not particularly any cheaper. If you're building an upper there are specialized tools to be bought too. Assembling a stripped lower doesn't require one to have specialized tools though they can make the job easier. It really boils down to what you want to do with your particular rifle and what your expectations are for said rifle.

Oh, I thought you could buy an assembled upper and lower and just had to put them together. .50 Beowolf sounds interesting. How's the ammo availability?

That you can definitely do.

.50 Beowulf Ammo is hard to find right now. I roll my own. It is a real Thumper. Makes a heck of a wild hog gun. If a guy wants better ammo availability the .450 Bushmaster or the .458 S0COM would be a better choice. And yes you can buy complete uppers and lowers assembled and put them together.

As Hound_va stated Quality is an important thing and with the source of some parts hard to find there are companies out there that have cheap prices or availability that aren't of the best quality. Patience, knowledge of what to look for and keeping an eye open is the secret to finding the good deals.

Where can you obtain a list of all the parts needed to assemble an AR15 be it all parts or assembled upper and lower units ???

Assembled upper and lower units list would be composed of completely assembled upper and completely assembled lower. You may have to buy handguards, bolt, charging handle, and bolt carrier depending on which brand upper you choose. Push 2 pins in and you've got a completely assembled rifle.

Complete list is dependent upon whether you're doing fixed or collapsible stock configurations.
Lower:
http://rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=287
Upper:
http://rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=281
Barrel:
http://rockriverarms.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=277
Good starting points for a list of all parts.

Most often you buy a stripped lower receiver and add a lower parts kit, receiver extension, buffer, and stock to get to a functional lower instead of buying each piece individually.

Do you need to order any of these parts from an FFL holder ?

Lower receiver is the serialized part and must go through an FFL. Keep in mind that states that have AWB laws on the books can regulate what your allowed to legally have. I'm not up on NY law but I seem to recall that they are an AWB state.

What the hell is an AWB state? Knowing NY it probably is. Thanks.

A state which kept some sort of Assault Weapons Ban on the books. Much like the Federal Assault Weapons Ban which has since gone by the wayside.