Is it possible for the average joe to build a state of the art rifle at home?
An amazing case for reducing gun ownership in America
- Thread starter Wez
- Start date
Regulations are for idiots who post shit like you just did.
Most of us are sane.
A shotgun would be easy for anyone who took high school shop and studied a few videos. You could even make a short-barreled one without cutting one down illegally (although I think possession would still be a crime). Rifling would be a bigger challenge or it might need an above-average mill in your garage.
Cant anyone buy a rifle barrel already made?
I think a shotgun has to be 26 inches in California. Still pretty short.
Homemade AR-15: I Built a Semi-Automatic Rifle in My Kitchen
Yes, this is possible.
It was delicate work. Trying to mill out too much aluminum at once risked shattering the end mill. Go slow and it cuts aluminum like butter. Go too fast and you can, as I learned the hard way, shatter an end mill. Three hours of work later, the job was done. The milled pocket exposed raw aluminum—and the result wasn’t pretty. My first complete lower looked like a monkey made it with a Dremel tool. But the mess was on the inside of the rifle, and once I had installed the proper parts, nobody was going to notice.
I built a semi-automatic rifle in my kitchen. I’ll bet that’s one sentence you’d never thought you’d hear. Neither did I, until the day I decided to do it.
The job required drilling aluminum, and tiny shards and slivers of metal were going to fly everywhere. It’s not something you want to do over carpet, so I decided to do it in my kitchen.
Did it work? Hell yes, it did. After three hours of work with light tools, I had built the essential component of an AR-15 rifle. America has now reached a point where people can construct modern weapons in their kitchens.
Is this awesome, crazy—or both?
In my extended group of friends, seven of us own AR-15-type rifles. Perhaps not coincidentally, we each bought one after turning 40.
Buying this kind of rifle is the modern version of getting a Corvette during your mid-life crisis—but cheaper and probably less dangerous.
There’s a subculture—and cottage industry to support it—around AR-15 rifles. After adding accessories to my first rifle, swapping out parts and purchasing tools, I realized I had a knack for it.
I was an AR-15 grease monkey. During the course of several projects, I’d built an entire rifle from scratch. But I’d never built the lower receiver of an AR-15. By U.S. government standards, I’d be manufacturing a firearm.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms controls the sale of AR-15 lower receivers. As far as the law is concerned, the lower receiver is the weapon. It’s one of the few parts you absolutely need to make a functioning firearm, and they’re usually stamped with a serial number.
AR-15 enthusiasts who build their rifles at home must go to a gun store to buy a complete lower receiver. They undergo a federal background check, and other state laws—such as a 10-day waiting period—may apply.
But there’s a way to dispense with the background check and other state laws—and that’s a so-called “80-percent” lower receiver. This is a lower receiver with only four-fifths of the aluminum finishing done. You do the rest yourself.
The ATF recognizes the right of Americans to build their own firearms. It also recognizes that a lower receiver, only 80-percent finished, is technically not a firearm and thus not subject to regulation.
Anyone can go online and order an unfinished lower receiver for delivery to his or her home. All you need to finish it is a router, hand drill, vise and drill bits. Patience, a willingness to follow directions and more patience are also essential.
Once you’ve completed the remaining 20 percent of the machining, you’ve got yourself what the ATF considers a firearm. You don’t have to register it, do a background check or add a serial number. You can now buy the rest of the rifle off the shelf and build it yourself.
The idea of completing the circle by building my own AR-15 lower was something I couldn’t get out of my head. The zen aspect—like completing a bonsai tree by trimming away everything that wasn’t the tree—held particular appeal.
My first stop was a company in Santa Ana, California that makes 80-percent lower receivers. I bought the receiver, a jig—which showed me what to mill—and a drill bit kit.
To round out my supplies, I ordered a router—the kind that builds furniture—from Amazon. I would use my own electric drill.
I assembled the vise in my kitchen and went to work. This would be my first time working with metal. First, I drilled six holes into the top of the lower receiver. As I drilled into the receiver’s 6061 aluminum body, tiny pieces of metal piled up on the floor.
Starting now, I was across the legal Rubicon. Once I’d drilled out the tiniest bit of aluminum from the lower, this hunk of metal legally became, according to the ATF, an “other” firearm.
After I drilled out the holes, I turned to the router. Using an end mill, I slowly connected the freshly-drilled holes, forming a pocket where I’d later insert the trigger and safety.
It was delicate work. Trying to mill out too much aluminum at once risked shattering the end mill. Go slow and it cuts aluminum like butter. Go too fast and you can, as I learned the hard way, shatter an end mill.
Three hours of work later, the job was done. The milled pocket exposed raw aluminum—and the result wasn’t pretty. My first complete lower looked like a monkey made it with a Dremel tool.
But the mess was on the inside of the rifle, and once I had installed the proper parts, nobody was going to notice.
Should people be concerned that you can make a gun with a 30-round magazine in your own home, completely undetected by the government?
Theoretically, yes. Just like theoretically, it’s not a good idea to let people own cars that drive 200 miles per hour.
The reality is that Americans use AR-15s and their assorted variants in a surprisingly small number of gun crimes. In 2013, the latest year for which the FBI has statistics, 12,253 people were murdered in America. Of those, handgun deaths comprised 5,782.
Total long gun deaths, covering everything from hunting rifles to AR-15s, comprised 285. By comparison, in 2011 Americans killed 428 of their fellow citizens with blunt objects, such as clubs and hammers.
AR-15s may seem like an ideal weapon for criminals, but most of them are more than 30 inches long, making them really, really hard to hide. A criminal has to conceal a gun before—and often after—committing a crime. It’s no coincidence that handguns outnumber rifles 20 to one in gun-related homicides.
Still, not everyone needs to be discreet. Some, like mass shooters, just want to kill a lot of people.
Will people like these circumvent the law and mill out their own 80-percent receivers? There are always exceptions, but generally no. Education and personality factors create a threshold not everyone can cross.
If you’re a regular person, it’s not difficult to build an AR-15. If you’re an outlier, beset by a mental health issues that warp your perception of reality, it’s probably not going to work out for you.
Back at my desk, I took the finished lower and set about making it into a functional weapon. I installed the trigger, safety selector and other parts inside the newly-milled pocket.
To my mild surprise, everything fit. The safety selector, in particular, has a gritty feel to it. But it works.
A quick confession—my new firearm isn’t technically an AR-15, but an AR-10. This variant is similar except that it fires a more powerful 7.62-millimeter NATO bullet, compared to the standard AR-15’s 5.56-millimeter round.
I haven’t turned it into a full-fledged rifle, yet. I didn’t build the lower receiver just so I could add a weapon to my collection.
I did it because I could.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...i-built-semi-automatic-rifle-my-kitchen-23496
Yes, this is possible.
It was delicate work. Trying to mill out too much aluminum at once risked shattering the end mill. Go slow and it cuts aluminum like butter. Go too fast and you can, as I learned the hard way, shatter an end mill. Three hours of work later, the job was done. The milled pocket exposed raw aluminum—and the result wasn’t pretty. My first complete lower looked like a monkey made it with a Dremel tool. But the mess was on the inside of the rifle, and once I had installed the proper parts, nobody was going to notice.
I built a semi-automatic rifle in my kitchen. I’ll bet that’s one sentence you’d never thought you’d hear. Neither did I, until the day I decided to do it.
The job required drilling aluminum, and tiny shards and slivers of metal were going to fly everywhere. It’s not something you want to do over carpet, so I decided to do it in my kitchen.
Did it work? Hell yes, it did. After three hours of work with light tools, I had built the essential component of an AR-15 rifle. America has now reached a point where people can construct modern weapons in their kitchens.
Is this awesome, crazy—or both?
In my extended group of friends, seven of us own AR-15-type rifles. Perhaps not coincidentally, we each bought one after turning 40.
Buying this kind of rifle is the modern version of getting a Corvette during your mid-life crisis—but cheaper and probably less dangerous.
There’s a subculture—and cottage industry to support it—around AR-15 rifles. After adding accessories to my first rifle, swapping out parts and purchasing tools, I realized I had a knack for it.
I was an AR-15 grease monkey. During the course of several projects, I’d built an entire rifle from scratch. But I’d never built the lower receiver of an AR-15. By U.S. government standards, I’d be manufacturing a firearm.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms controls the sale of AR-15 lower receivers. As far as the law is concerned, the lower receiver is the weapon. It’s one of the few parts you absolutely need to make a functioning firearm, and they’re usually stamped with a serial number.
AR-15 enthusiasts who build their rifles at home must go to a gun store to buy a complete lower receiver. They undergo a federal background check, and other state laws—such as a 10-day waiting period—may apply.
But there’s a way to dispense with the background check and other state laws—and that’s a so-called “80-percent” lower receiver. This is a lower receiver with only four-fifths of the aluminum finishing done. You do the rest yourself.
The ATF recognizes the right of Americans to build their own firearms. It also recognizes that a lower receiver, only 80-percent finished, is technically not a firearm and thus not subject to regulation.
Anyone can go online and order an unfinished lower receiver for delivery to his or her home. All you need to finish it is a router, hand drill, vise and drill bits. Patience, a willingness to follow directions and more patience are also essential.
Once you’ve completed the remaining 20 percent of the machining, you’ve got yourself what the ATF considers a firearm. You don’t have to register it, do a background check or add a serial number. You can now buy the rest of the rifle off the shelf and build it yourself.
The idea of completing the circle by building my own AR-15 lower was something I couldn’t get out of my head. The zen aspect—like completing a bonsai tree by trimming away everything that wasn’t the tree—held particular appeal.
My first stop was a company in Santa Ana, California that makes 80-percent lower receivers. I bought the receiver, a jig—which showed me what to mill—and a drill bit kit.
To round out my supplies, I ordered a router—the kind that builds furniture—from Amazon. I would use my own electric drill.
I assembled the vise in my kitchen and went to work. This would be my first time working with metal. First, I drilled six holes into the top of the lower receiver. As I drilled into the receiver’s 6061 aluminum body, tiny pieces of metal piled up on the floor.
Starting now, I was across the legal Rubicon. Once I’d drilled out the tiniest bit of aluminum from the lower, this hunk of metal legally became, according to the ATF, an “other” firearm.
After I drilled out the holes, I turned to the router. Using an end mill, I slowly connected the freshly-drilled holes, forming a pocket where I’d later insert the trigger and safety.
It was delicate work. Trying to mill out too much aluminum at once risked shattering the end mill. Go slow and it cuts aluminum like butter. Go too fast and you can, as I learned the hard way, shatter an end mill.
Three hours of work later, the job was done. The milled pocket exposed raw aluminum—and the result wasn’t pretty. My first complete lower looked like a monkey made it with a Dremel tool.
But the mess was on the inside of the rifle, and once I had installed the proper parts, nobody was going to notice.
Should people be concerned that you can make a gun with a 30-round magazine in your own home, completely undetected by the government?
Theoretically, yes. Just like theoretically, it’s not a good idea to let people own cars that drive 200 miles per hour.
The reality is that Americans use AR-15s and their assorted variants in a surprisingly small number of gun crimes. In 2013, the latest year for which the FBI has statistics, 12,253 people were murdered in America. Of those, handgun deaths comprised 5,782.
Total long gun deaths, covering everything from hunting rifles to AR-15s, comprised 285. By comparison, in 2011 Americans killed 428 of their fellow citizens with blunt objects, such as clubs and hammers.
AR-15s may seem like an ideal weapon for criminals, but most of them are more than 30 inches long, making them really, really hard to hide. A criminal has to conceal a gun before—and often after—committing a crime. It’s no coincidence that handguns outnumber rifles 20 to one in gun-related homicides.
Still, not everyone needs to be discreet. Some, like mass shooters, just want to kill a lot of people.
Will people like these circumvent the law and mill out their own 80-percent receivers? There are always exceptions, but generally no. Education and personality factors create a threshold not everyone can cross.
If you’re a regular person, it’s not difficult to build an AR-15. If you’re an outlier, beset by a mental health issues that warp your perception of reality, it’s probably not going to work out for you.
Back at my desk, I took the finished lower and set about making it into a functional weapon. I installed the trigger, safety selector and other parts inside the newly-milled pocket.
To my mild surprise, everything fit. The safety selector, in particular, has a gritty feel to it. But it works.
A quick confession—my new firearm isn’t technically an AR-15, but an AR-10. This variant is similar except that it fires a more powerful 7.62-millimeter NATO bullet, compared to the standard AR-15’s 5.56-millimeter round.
I haven’t turned it into a full-fledged rifle, yet. I didn’t build the lower receiver just so I could add a weapon to my collection.
I did it because I could.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/t...i-built-semi-automatic-rifle-my-kitchen-23496
Yes you can buy barrels.
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/category/barrels
https://www.gunbroker.com/Rifle-Barrels/search
There are hundreds of suppliers...
Hüsker Dü
DA
Where is the line to be drawn?
. . . and "most of us"? Do you consider Donald Trump sane? Dylan Roof?
Gun worshippers are latent homosexuals who hate their own secret homosexuality
One time I visited India and Taj Majal. The temple area is riddled with huge statues that clearly depict erect penises. I was looking at them when a swarthty local guy came to me and asked me if I knew what the statues were about. Being polite and thinking that maybe there's some fascinating Indian mythology behind their obvious shape and form, I told him that no I don't know what they're about. He smirked and whispered to me like a school kid sharing a dirty secret: "They're Lingams or Lings. You know, male sexual organs. Penises." I was like WTF, anyone can see that. But apparently to people in India it is some sort of a religious secret and people are (at least in public) oblivious to the obvious shape of the statues.
Anyhow, that's also how the pro-gun people and gun owners seem to treat their precious guns. They're completely oblivious to the homosexual undertone there is to their passion about guns and the guns themselves. To anyone else, their fascination for hard, powerful, long barreled gun with tons of penetration power is an obvious penis substitute. The gun people don't see how homoerotically rooted their gun enthusiasm really is. They keep cleaning it, like to show it (showing inordinate pride about it), they openly admire other guys' guns, they gently stroke it, and get a tremendous kick out of firing it (equivalent of orgasm and ejaculation). They cherish and worship guns like many men cherish and worship their penis.
It's no wonder they are unable to recognize this latent homosexuality. The pro-gun people are often fanatic anti-homosexuality people and one of the worst things you can do to them is to call them gay. It doesn't matter if you're straight or gay, being called gay shouldn't matter at all if you are secure in your own sexuality. It's a very telling reaction if someone gets upset when he gets called gay: he's not secure in his own sexuality and most certainly harbors secret homosexual fantasies that he can't admit even to himself.
Any anti-gun agenda is a anathema to them. Any opposition is always highly personal - as if someone had called their penis small and inadequate. Some men get offended in a similar way when they're pointed out that only people who have a penis can rape. The gun owners get offended when they're pointed out that guns kill people. WTF? That's what they're made for. All talk about target shooting, hunting or self-protection is just sugar coating the real issue. The guns are made to take lives. Yet, saying so out loud seems to invoke an emotionally charged response ever time and pre-programmed nonsense responses like "No. People kill people. Guns don't kill people". As if people killing people somehow absolves guns that kill people.
So, grow up and give away your guns and stop worshipping them. Hey, it's ok to be openly gay! You don't need your penis substitute.
One time I visited India and Taj Majal. The temple area is riddled with huge statues that clearly depict erect penises. I was looking at them when a swarthty local guy came to me and asked me if I knew what the statues were about. Being polite and thinking that maybe there's some fascinating Indian mythology behind their obvious shape and form, I told him that no I don't know what they're about. He smirked and whispered to me like a school kid sharing a dirty secret: "They're Lingams or Lings. You know, male sexual organs. Penises." I was like WTF, anyone can see that. But apparently to people in India it is some sort of a religious secret and people are (at least in public) oblivious to the obvious shape of the statues.
Anyhow, that's also how the pro-gun people and gun owners seem to treat their precious guns. They're completely oblivious to the homosexual undertone there is to their passion about guns and the guns themselves. To anyone else, their fascination for hard, powerful, long barreled gun with tons of penetration power is an obvious penis substitute. The gun people don't see how homoerotically rooted their gun enthusiasm really is. They keep cleaning it, like to show it (showing inordinate pride about it), they openly admire other guys' guns, they gently stroke it, and get a tremendous kick out of firing it (equivalent of orgasm and ejaculation). They cherish and worship guns like many men cherish and worship their penis.
It's no wonder they are unable to recognize this latent homosexuality. The pro-gun people are often fanatic anti-homosexuality people and one of the worst things you can do to them is to call them gay. It doesn't matter if you're straight or gay, being called gay shouldn't matter at all if you are secure in your own sexuality. It's a very telling reaction if someone gets upset when he gets called gay: he's not secure in his own sexuality and most certainly harbors secret homosexual fantasies that he can't admit even to himself.
Any anti-gun agenda is a anathema to them. Any opposition is always highly personal - as if someone had called their penis small and inadequate. Some men get offended in a similar way when they're pointed out that only people who have a penis can rape. The gun owners get offended when they're pointed out that guns kill people. WTF? That's what they're made for. All talk about target shooting, hunting or self-protection is just sugar coating the real issue. The guns are made to take lives. Yet, saying so out loud seems to invoke an emotionally charged response ever time and pre-programmed nonsense responses like "No. People kill people. Guns don't kill people". As if people killing people somehow absolves guns that kill people.
So, grow up and give away your guns and stop worshipping them. Hey, it's ok to be openly gay! You don't need your penis substitute.
Lines have been drawn.
Get help.
Coocoo.
See my last post to huspola
You’d be happy with 26 inches, wouldn’t you?
Sheriff Joe
DA
Nice one.
Hüsker Dü
DA
They aren't effective in this country. Other countries have guns, video games, sexually repressed men and "others" to demonize for their downfalls. Yet they don't have the mass shootings we do.
Minimum barrel length 18 inches.
Minimum total length 26 inches.
Have all the jollies you want with that.
Try not to hurt yourself, freak.
Bye, and Buh-bye.
Hüsker Dü
DA
Don't run off and cry now.
Love it ‘r leave it.
You not happy with our country and her bill of rights, gtfoh.
Bye.
Sheriff Joe
DA
Hüsker Dü
DA
Do you find bliss in your self imposed ignorance?
Listen, it's not hard to understand what you're seeking as you lovingly describe the gun shaft lengths you desire.
Your macho gun love reveals all too clearly your latencies and, more importantly, that feeling of powerlessness in the world.
Any other view of it (e.g. protection from tyranny) would be irrational and you're not irrational.
You're just operating on a subconscious level, is all.