At the time, it seemed like a good idea. It was during the height of the post Newtown hysteria and parts shortage when this idea came to me.

What  you say? During the most server shortage of just about anything firearms related, you decided to build your own rifle? What are you nuts?

Well, it didn’t seem so, at least at the time. I contacted the fine people at York Arms and they had some lowers come in for final machining that hadn’t been spoken for. So, I ordered one, just because.

I already had a spare lower parts kit because I got a pre panic deal on one.

That’s when the brain storm struck me. What if I could find parts that people didn’t need and were selling off cheap? Or relatively cheap. Then I could make a low cost AR15 that would be built pretty much the way I wanted it to be.

Great idea, so the search began. The first things I’d need would be an upper, an upper parts kit, and a bolt carrier group.

Then of course a barrel, front sight, carrying handle, hand guards, butt stock.

Simple.

So, I started haunting classified ad sections in various forums.

I found a guy that had several uppers and BCGs for sale. He’d bought them for future projects, but his future apparently included a divorce, a not so voluntary move, lawyer bills, and other things. He was selling stuff cheap and for well under $200.00, I got those parts.

Then another guy had a surplus barrel that he wanted to sell. It was an 18″ barrel, which is what I wanted. I think I paid $125.00 for it.

The Upper Parts Kit came from Brownells as individual pieces. Not to expensive at all.

I found the buffer tube, buffer, buffer spring, and butt stock used for $75.00. A carry handle was mine for $30.00 or so.

I was aiming to build something that would look more or less like a M16A2. Not a clone, but sort of a clone.

The lower receiver arrived and was built while all of this was going on. I’ll tell you, it’s kind of fun building those things.

It’s also pretty easy as long as you take your time and are careful not to scratch the receiver driving in pins.

As I told a friend of mine who is embarking on a similar journey, order extra pivot springs and detents. Those suckers like to launch themselves into outer space.

I had reached critical mass of parts and started my upper build.

Building the upper itself is pretty eacy. Again, take your time and be careful pounding in the various pins.

The hardest part for me was getting the ejection port cover spring wound properly and held in place. I think that took about half an hour by itself. Fortunately, no parts launched themselves into Low Earth Orbit.

Now a bout of indecisiveness hit me. Open sights or a low end scope? My eyes aren’t that great and I’m not getting any younger, so I thought I’d put on a scope mount.

That meant that my carry handle was now surplus, or likely surplus. Mental note to sell that when I’m done.

I found a used scope cheap and mounted it using some rings I had lying around in my parts box.

Too low, so I ordered new scope rings.

I found a nice set of back up sights for about $50.00. Only they won’t work with the scope.

So, I abandoned the scope idea, which also made the low profiled gas block surplus.

Sigh.

I was going to put the original gas block/front sight on, but in my state the evil bayonet lug has to be removed. Which required me to repaint the sight.

That was all semi sorted out and it was time to mount the barrel and put all that stuff together. Instead of buying an upper vice block and armorers wrench, I managed to borrow one from a friend who builds his own ARs.

I probably should have given him the parts and asked him to put it together for me, but I didn’t.

It took a while, but I actually figured out how to install the barrel, line up the  Delta Ring, Weld Spring, and other bits and got the barrel on.

Oh, I had to buy a small torque wrench for that. Which I figure will come in handy for bicycle repairs. Or, maybe I’ll sell it. Whatever.

I also managed to damage the threads on the muzzle end of the barrel where the flash suppressor, muzzle brake goes. Because the guardians of my state also think that a flash suppressor will cause me to go all G.I. Joe/Rambo on the populace.

That’s annoying, but since I have to bring the rifle to a gunsmith to have that contraption pinned and welded on, it’s not a big deal. Just evidence that I’m not a master gunsmith.

Annoying bits I had trouble finding.

1) A sling swivel rivet. Found one at a gun show and I’ve even figured out how to put it on without a special tool.
2) The ventilated screw that holds the butt stock on to the buffer spring tube. It’s amazing how hard it is to find those. I could order one on line, but it would cost 5 times as much to have it mailed to me. Gun show find for $1.50.
3) Spare gas tube pin. Same deal as above, $1.00 each at a gun show.

So, here I am with a mostly built AR15 that if I had been able to get it done when I started would have been a bargain.

Now, it’s no bargain, but it was a cheap lesson. Really, I have a pretty good idea of how an AR 15 goes together, which is interesting.

When, or if, I ever get this build finished, I’ll post some pictures.

Oh, I just bought a scope riser/mount for a flat top upper. Which means that the scope is back in play and the lower profile gas block might go back on.

Good thing I have those extra gas tube pins.

I’ll also have some assorted left over parts which I’ll try to sell to recoup part of the cost of the world’s most expensive inexpensive AR15 build.