thoughts about cncguns.com, home builds and such

[Mo]

was perusing this a bit today.

their AR milling kit is $125.
their AR drilling kit is $99.

3 DSA forgings will run you $75.

call it another $200 for bits/taps/dies/shipping. probably only half that if you get an 80% that has the buffer tube drilled and tapped. I don't know if the DSA forgings do, so let's just go with the $200 number for starters.

Looks to me the only other thing you'd need is a drill press, and most of us have one of those handy.


With stripped lowers are selling $125 and up, why aren't more people getting together and doing AR build parties? Sell the serialized lowers and uild a handful of these for fun and profit - literally!

[Scott@Rockstomper]

People are scared of stuff that takes "machinery" to do, even if there's a reasonable way to do it with normal power tools.

I think a lot of it is the relative costs of the assorted parts involved, too. Build parties are fun when parts kits + compliance parts + partially completed receivers add up to $150-200/rifle; a dirt-cheap AR15 costs well over twice that, and people are scared of "wasting" all that money (never mind that worst-case, they're out whatever they spent on trying their own lower, and can swap all the parts onto a production one). Compounding that, AK's have a reputation of being able to be built reliably by drunken rockwielding monkeys; AR's have a reputation of having to be worked on by specially trained jewelers in cleanrooms.

Aren't you moving out here? I have an antique CNC mill and all the relevant tooling, but no AR15 fixture plates or AR15 programs (yet), and am open to a "build party" some weekend.

[Mo]

moving to Castle Rock next weekend. gonna be good to move there.

And while my fabrication skills are low, I have no fear of trying something new, as long as the expected loss is low dollar.

[Pt_Ranger_V8]

what would you have to do to a DSA 80% lower?

I have a press, and a bunch of bits...

[Scott@Rockstomper]

Originally Posted by Mo

moving to Castle Rock next weekend. gonna be good to move there.

And while my fabrication skills are low, I have no fear of trying something new, as long as the expected loss is low dollar.

Feh. Castle Rock is probably an hour and a half from here, worse if you try to go through Denver during rush hours.

I need to write some AR15 programs... I'm a slacker. Oughta make a secondary design of my G3 bastard lower for DPMS upper fitment as well.

[Scott@Rockstomper]

Originally Posted by Pt_Ranger_V8

what would you have to do to a DSA 80% lower?

I have a press, and a bunch of bits...

I think DSA only sells either finished lowers or raw forgings (0%)... I don't think they do 80%.

The currently popular 80% AR15 lower is about $125ish, and requires that you drill the FCG pin holes and mill out the FCG pocket from solid, but that's it. The DSA raw forgings would require all the holes to be drilled/milled, buffer tower reamed and tapped, magwell carved out from solid, FCG well milled out from solid... it's a lot of work.

[Mo]

from http://www.cncguns.com/tooling.html

These new AR15 lower receiver milling adapters allow you to remove the material from the fire control area in AR type lower receivers. The adapters are sold as sets. One adapter allows you to drill the hole locations and the other adapter allows you to remove the material using your drill press. With these adapters you can remove the material from the fire control pocket as well as the shelf inside the fire control pocket.

lower on the page it says you can use the jigs to complete 0% to 80% receivers.

[Scott@Rockstomper]

Originally Posted by Mo

from http://www.cncguns.com/tooling.html

lower on the page it says you can use the jigs to complete 0% to 80% receivers.

You can (and should--I made my AR10 jig plates after wrecking a lower trying to mill a magwell without jig plates), but there's no "support" for the AR15 magwell operation built into the jig, so you'd either need to have it EDM'd (at additional cost) or mill and file-fit it (at substantial time investment).

[Mo]

gotcha

[millerlite]

Has anyone bought a DSA forging or called about them?

They were sold out when I tried to buy some awhile ago and the guy said they weren't planning to get anymore in.

[rugger]

Mo and Scott,
Count me in for a build party. Give me some notice so that I can brew enough beer.

[Scott@Rockstomper]

Originally Posted by millerlite

Has anyone bought a DSA forging or called about them?

They were sold out when I tried to buy some awhile ago and the guy said they weren't planning to get anymore in.

I have never tried; I just assumed that they were the "standard" source for those.

If they really are out and discontinued, it's not the end of the world, they're listed as current and in stock at http://www.762sass.com/product.php?p...fffe0cf590479c although for $45 apiece.

And if worse comes to worse, I can run a batch of billet 10%'s if I get off my butt and write a program set. They'd be a lot more expensive than $45 (probably in the $100-150 range, as they have only a little less machine work and material consumption than an AR10 lower) so I'd rather not do that unless I "have to", but it's an option.