OK…in Part 5, I finished that entry with all the parts I need to have a functional rifle.
I decided to add some style to this rifle and I have a friend who does firearms coating using DuraCoat Firearm Finishes. I just had to figure out the color. I was either gonna go with an olive drab green or flat dark earth. I settled on the flat dark earth.
I cut some vinyl stickers…one eagle, globe and anchor silhouette and another that read ‘SEMPER FI’. The EGA went on the magwell on the right side of the rifle. The ‘SEMPER FI’ went on the upper receiver on the left side of the rifle. I then, masked off the picatinny rails and the other little spots where I didn’t want paint and had my friend coat it. Once the paint cured, the stickers and masks were removed that revealed the original black finish in those areas.
Now came the fun part of actually making a rifle out of all these parts. I will not go into detail about how it all goes together because there are MANY YouTube videos on how to do it that can show you waaaay better than I can tell you.
I started at the forward end of the lower receiver and worked my way back. the pivot pin, spring and detent went it easily (without the fancy little tool the videos say you need by the way.) Then the magazine catch went in. then I installed the bolt release.
When I went to install the trigger though…remember me saying how there is two different sizes of pins? Well…lol.
Once I realized I had the bigger Colt pins, I called the guy I got the trigger from. He wasn’t aware that he had ever had anything but the smaller pin versions. Being as he couldn’t use it either, I figured I would see if I could unload the trigger on ebay or something rather than hand something he couldn’t use back to him.
I put it on ebay and was hopeful of a sale when I got a notice from ebay that the listing had been removed because it was a prohibited item. I am like, “whaaat?!” Evidently, being as I stated in the description that it went to a Colt AR10/AR15 lower receiver, that labeled it as a part to an ‘assault weapon’. Triggers are a permissible sale UNLESS they go to the evil black rifle I guess. Others sell these triggers but they just state that they go to a ‘.223/5.56’ rifle.
So now what do I do? I actually called CMC Triggers (located right up the road in Ft.Worth by the way) and asked them what they suggested. After I explained my predicament, Calli, the wonderful young lady on the phone, said, “oh! Well just mail us that one and we will mail you out the right one!” I said, “SERIOUSLY?!” She said, “SURE!” Nevertheless to say, I WILL be buying another trigger from them! (Oh, and Calli sounds like a cutie too!)
Once I got the right trigger in-hand, I installed it. It was just as simple as they made it out to be! The trigger comes assembled as one unit. You just drop it into place and slide the pins in. Fix the pins into place with the allen screws using the allen wrench that came with the trigger, and assemble is done for the trigger!
Now, the trigger has to be in place before the selector switch goes in. If you were assembling the trigger, you could get the trigger’s disconnector under the selector switch as you are assembling. But being as the trigger is all assembled in a steel housing, it has to go in before the selector switch.
Installation of the selector switch has to happen before you install the pistol grip because the grip houses the spring well for the selector’s detent.
The rear takedown pin and buffer retaining pin have to go in before the receiver extension (or buffer tube) because the takedown pin detent spring is held in by the plate that gets fastened down by the castle nut on the extension. and the buffer retainer is held in place by the extension itself once it is threaded into position.
The castle nut is then torqued down to about 35 pounds and then, most folks suggest you ‘stake’ the nut so it doesn’t wiggle loose. This is better explained in the YouTube videos.
As for the videos, Brownells has a very good series on this. They show you step by step how to do everything.
The last part is the stock assembly. Most stocks nowadays are the adjustable kind. Just pull the adjustment plunger out and slide the stock on the receiver extension. Let the plunger down into on of the adjustment positions and it is in place. Adjustment is then accomplished by a lever of some sort. The stock won’t come off until you intentionally pull the adjustment plunger out far enough to clear the rear of the extension.
So, now that our lower receiver is assembled, we will move on to the upper receiver in the next installment.
Y’all take care and keep a round in the chamber…
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