80% Lower Receiver Project

[Mynock]

Check out my cool new paperweights. Mentioned my interest in trying this to one of the engineers I work with and he agreed to lend his home CNC mill and programming knowledge in return for me buying his blank. One for me, one for him, one for my little brother and one spare that'll be mine too if we don't screw it up. Off the grid shenanigans will be had by all.
Blanks by http://www.tacticalmachining.com .

80% AR Lower Blanks 10-3-13 002.jpg

80% AR Lower Blanks 10-3-13 003.jpg

80% AR Lower Blanks 10-3-13 004.jpg

80% AR Lower Blanks 10-3-13 005.jpg

[nachtjaeger]

Between home CNC setups and 3D printers, is there anything we can't accomplish? If you can dream it, you can build it.

[kham]

Paperweights , huh?

[Mynock]

^^As far as our friends at the ATF are concerned, yup, they're paperweights.

Because of it's modular design, the lower receiver is the only part of the AR platform that's considered to be a "gun", in that you need to purchase it through an FFL and pass a background check.

For the lower receiver to be considered a "gun" and be subject to regulation as such it has to be functional. Note that the pieces above are missing the milled pocket where the fire control group goes as well as the pin holes for mounting the same. Even though all the other machining steps are completed, you can't mount this to a rifle and fire it, therefore it's not a gun and not subject to any regulation whatsoever.

Now here's the kicker. As an American citizen in good standing with the law, I am legally allowed to build my own firearms for my own personal use as long as I do not sell, give away, or otherwise transfer the manufactured firearm.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/firearm ... s-assembly

So, we set up the CNC mill, take turns loading our paperweights into the machine and pressing the "start" button (thereby becoming the manufacturer of the firearm) and we all end up with functional lower receivers.

Hit the gun show, pay cash for a few over the counter components, and I have myself a shiny new non-serialized, untraceable, but still 100% legally obtained AR-15.

Yea, I could just go to an FFL, buy one and pass the 20 minute background check......but it's the principal of the thing.

[Mynock]

Not sure if I'll get the machining done this weekend but my parts are on the way. Haven't chosen a stock yet probably going to be one of Magpul's offerings.

Fire Control:
http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.ph ... 9-act.html

Lower Parts Kit:
http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.ph ... -2984.html

Buffer Kit:
http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/Stock-Ha ... %20kit.htm

[kham]

Coming together, looks pretty good

[Mynock]

I had the help of a few professional opinions and I'm glad for it. it's very easy to spend a LOT of money on junk that has a big name attached to it and to ignore the good stuff that doesn't get advertised. I'd never even heard of ALG before but that trigger is probably the nicest single stage you can buy at a reasonable price.

[Mynock]

Parts finally showed up. Mocked up everything but the fire control group and it fit like a glove. If anyone else wants to attempt this Tatical Machining is definitely where you want to go for your blanks.
My buddy with the CNC is running the first one this weekend. Going to get together on Monday and do a test fit of the FCG and selector switch and if all goes well our build party is scheduled for the weekend after.
Getting some ideas on how to have fun with making it look legit.....

BlasTech Logo Cropped.jpg

[kham]

BlasTech huh?

usually see that (tm) on E-11 and similar blaster rifles.....

[Mynock]

Right Side Mag Well:
Galactic Empire Symbol

Left Side Mag Well (upper):
BlasTech Symbol

Left Side Mag Well (lower)
Model No. E-11
Serial No. 3720-1
Standard Issue Power Packs Only

Left Side directly above the trigger:
BlasTech Industries
Druckenwell, Galactic Empire

Wookiepedia didn't have a zip code for them but that's about as close to canon at this cannon is going to get.