OK, so the new rathole:
I intend to take this through it’s first iteration as a full length 15, with a standard barrel, flattop reciver, and one of those Bushnell Facogs. I’ll buy innards where I find them cheaply, and no doubt I’ll fart around with stocks & stuff.
I won’t be making anything special, just a gun to shoot and have fun with. What I want to know from you lot, is what non-major-expense item do you find indispensable? In other words, is the $17 dollar Whizbang Ambi safety a billion times better than the $11 “regular” safety? Is the trigger group from CMMG smoother and crisper out of the box than the similarly priced one from Bingbong Industries? Can I buy an indestructible barrel for $12 more than the barrel I’ll have to replace 20 times?
These are my burning questions, and I welcome all information.
If you are right handed, I would stay away from the ambi selector. It bites the index finger.
If standard handguards are good enough for you, you should be able to find them for real cheap since the pic rails and floating barrels are the fashion how.
There is no difference between match grade bolt carriers and mil spec, in performance.
Make sure your barrel has the feed ramps cut in it. Older ones don’t.
Since my own preference is for optics, I also don’t spend anything on iron sights or a front sight post.
Keep it simple, buy more ammo to shoot…
…and shoot ’till you can’t wipe the smile off our face…
Dann in Ohio
If you want to play at anything over about 300yds get at least one in eight twist barrel. Think about the chamber as well, the Wylde reamer works pretty good for the heavier pills, I used one similar for match service rifles. If I were to spend good money on one component it would be the tube, I like Krieger. Out of maybe 7 or 8 only sent one back and they replaced it without question. Enough dribble about barrels, the only cheap item I really like are the old A1 hand grip without the “bump”, my hand just don’t like the A2 style. Have fun with the build. Best thing about the mouse is if you don’t like it the way it is, change it!
You might want to look at the latest “The American Rifleman”. Bryce Towsley has an article on building an AR 3 gun rifle. I haven’t read it yet.
Ditto on the 1 in 8 twist with the Wylde chamber. Have that on mine, in an 18″ Lothar Walther stainless barrel with a factory matched and headspaced barrel extention and bolt.
Shoots five shot, single ragged hole groups with 62 gr. and 68 gr. match grade ammo.
Although I have a McCormick trigger in mine, the RRA match group is a fine setup, for half the price.
Ditch any form of the standard handguard, and get something free floating. I have the “Viking” tube by Troy Industries. Unbolted the removeable rails before installing it, so it’s slim, lighweight, and entirely free floating.
Get the M-16 bolt carrier (it’s heavier, dampens the “slam” just a bit), and also get the tungsten weighted buffer. Run slower, run smoother.
For a “facog” optic…….look into the Viking Strikefire. Good enough for (non) Government work. It’s more of an Aimpoint clone, but it’s a good one.
Most importantly? Have FUN with the process and the end result. Make it work for you regardless of what others think. My input is worth what you paid for it, but does come from my experiences with ’em.
Enjoy!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
If you want to play with this cartridge, use it for what it was intended: sniping squirrels and the like at 300-500 meters.
The AR-15 is the best known case of “if you build it, they will come”. A fine varmint cartridge, it is NOT a battle cartridge of note, despite that all our troops and all the Russ troops being forced by their idiot armies to use .22 caliber.
If you are going to use it as a varmint gun, get a CZ American shooting that caliber.
You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, Og.
yep. I should just throw the receiver away, because there’s no way I might just be buying it to shoot and have fun.
I am NOT undergunned. This is a toy.
I’ve liked the Yankee Hill Machine parts I’ve used because their prices were right; sights and fore end so far. Work just like they say on the tin.
Brownell’s mags are good and come in bulk packs right now.
Bravo Company has been good to me so far. Their bolt carrier groups have all the buzzwords and they’re up front about what’s in stock.
I steer clear of DPMS but I still haven’t found a lower parts kit that amazed me. The Stag kit I used a couple years ago was fine. So were the last two Armalite kits I got from DSG Arms. A Geissele SSA trigger is on the want list.
You said full length so you’re probably going rifle gas system on a 20″ barrel. If you end up going shorter, think about mid-length gas. Softer shooting in a 16″ barrel and pretty standardized these days.
Let us know what you end up with. Have fun!
We hunt a few sagerats (ground squirrels, smaller than prairie dogs) in these parts. The ranchers who let us hunt them have a problem with AR-15s, no matter how tricked out as a Super Sniper weapon they might be.
Those ranchers prefer us to use bolties from 22 WMR to 17 HMR, or maybe a 22 Hornet. Something on the lighter side. The ‘rats are usually taken from the bench at 125-180 yards, in windy, open country, so the rimfire cartridges are interesting to use.
Rat rifles are not cheap to put together. It’s not unusual to spend $2K on one. I prefer spotting to shooting, you have to be able to do both.