I think that the biggest thing is DON'T cheap out. You instead of building something that you can own for a life time end up with some garbage that you are never going to be happy with.
My first original piece of junk was using someones advice about watching for sales on Palmetto State Arms. An M-16 looking thing 1:7 20 inch that would throw 55 or less grain bullets sideways through the paper. I own a nice chronograph and 55's were coming out of the barrel at 3200. So I downloaded the rounds clear down to 16 inch barrel velocities of about 2750 fps and the thing could group or if I shot 69 - 75 grain bullets it could group. Which totally defeats the cheap 55 grain fmj plinking gun. So I just gave it to the guy that help me build it.
I knew that I wanted to get away from anything m-16 looking and away from mil spec triggers. I polished and changed the spring in mil spec and you can improve them to a certain extent, but drop in triggers are the best.
So I went out searching for the best Stainless barrels 18 and 20 inch because of the free velocity. It really makes a difference when you are going to pop some ground squirrel out there 200 - 300 yards often on windy days. 16 inch barrels from my chrono time with the exact same shells were often down by 300+ fps with my hand loads. Slower powders like CFE223 , Leverrevolution, power pro 2000-mr, ramshot big game, and h414 are biased for longer barrels. I only shoot 55 -75 grain bullets. If you feel the need to exceed 75 grain you should be buying a Valkyrie. the 223 case is NOT made for longer bullets. I won't use crap like h335 because its so dirty burning. I rather fill the case with slower powder. All my barrels are Wylde and even some 5.56. It's harder to find NON end threaded barrels, but for pure competition they are worth it. Brakes just add length and are very loud. So what if it removes 40% of the already minimal recoil. It makes for fun shooting. I do have some of those thread caps. So I have both a 20 and 24 inch with 11 degree target crowns non threaded.
All my BCG's are the best heavy full auto in nickle boron and I later went to chrome. Because nickle boron does discolor with lots of use. I wore out a few bcg cam pins even the nice chrome ones and went to roller cam pins. I always fill the cam pin area with mil spec rifle grease and always keep thing wet with light weight oil. A well oiled AR15 is a happy rifle. I don't care about the mess when you wipe them down after use. It keeps the carbon from building up inside the BCG like heavy shooting days at a three gun match!
The modern M-lok hand guards with the big barrel nuts are best. Forged upper slick sided are so nice and get rid of the problematic dust guard and worthless forward assist. Yes, I was 300 miles from home shooting hundred upon hundred of rounds and the dust guard clip came out and was flopping around until I just pulled it off. If a round doesn't feed and it's jammed in pounding on the forward assist is dumb and won't solve the problem. Use a small flat blade screw driver and carefully pry the bolt back through the ejection port.
For lowers Anderson made these forged with integral trigger gaurd. The best for shooting in cold weather with gloves for fat fingers
Rifle length or even + 2 inch gas tubes are the best. lower pressure slamming into your BCG. One test facility showed something like 30,000 psi from carbine length gas port, 22,000 from mid length and clear down to 14,000 psi on a rifle length. I don't have adjustable gas blocks on any of my gas guns. All you need is a micro gas block for your barrel diameter. I run the full auto heavy bolts which slows the rearward motion and just use light buffer weights with quiet flat wound springs to dial in my ejection with my hand loaded hot rodded rounds compared to off the shelf junk.
I like the Hoag grips and stock kits. I buy both comercial and mill spec 7075 six position buffer tubes or solid stocks for competition and have messed with the end hole diameter to not get the air compression shock when the BCG comes back. I have buffer weight faces that look brand new after thousand of rounds. Where carbine length gas guns just beat the crud out of the buffer weights. The buffer weight have to be hevier in the carbine to eject correctly and with the extra PSI just get slammed.
Then you need the enhanced pull down pins or even better these D Ring rear pull down pins. Ambidextrous safety is nice. Forged slick sidded upper are a must For less weight and mechanical problems. I bought the grinding kit to true the uppers to the barrels and I polish the feed ramps before assembly. You don't want to put a ding in the bullet or a scape feeding in and end up with a flyer round. I actually run a 22 call bore snake covered with chrome wheel polish up and down the barrel like 100+ times to eliminate barrel break in per say. It just makes the inside of the SS barrels beautiful. It's like no one thing is going to make a AR more accurate, but it's the combination of hours of TLC that add up to a lifetime of pleasure.
Enhanced charging handles are nice along with 2.5 pound straight triggers
My first original piece of junk was using someones advice about watching for sales on Palmetto State Arms. An M-16 looking thing 1:7 20 inch that would throw 55 or less grain bullets sideways through the paper. I own a nice chronograph and 55's were coming out of the barrel at 3200. So I downloaded the rounds clear down to 16 inch barrel velocities of about 2750 fps and the thing could group or if I shot 69 - 75 grain bullets it could group. Which totally defeats the cheap 55 grain fmj plinking gun. So I just gave it to the guy that help me build it.
I knew that I wanted to get away from anything m-16 looking and away from mil spec triggers. I polished and changed the spring in mil spec and you can improve them to a certain extent, but drop in triggers are the best.
So I went out searching for the best Stainless barrels 18 and 20 inch because of the free velocity. It really makes a difference when you are going to pop some ground squirrel out there 200 - 300 yards often on windy days. 16 inch barrels from my chrono time with the exact same shells were often down by 300+ fps with my hand loads. Slower powders like CFE223 , Leverrevolution, power pro 2000-mr, ramshot big game, and h414 are biased for longer barrels. I only shoot 55 -75 grain bullets. If you feel the need to exceed 75 grain you should be buying a Valkyrie. the 223 case is NOT made for longer bullets. I won't use crap like h335 because its so dirty burning. I rather fill the case with slower powder. All my barrels are Wylde and even some 5.56. It's harder to find NON end threaded barrels, but for pure competition they are worth it. Brakes just add length and are very loud. So what if it removes 40% of the already minimal recoil. It makes for fun shooting. I do have some of those thread caps. So I have both a 20 and 24 inch with 11 degree target crowns non threaded.
All my BCG's are the best heavy full auto in nickle boron and I later went to chrome. Because nickle boron does discolor with lots of use. I wore out a few bcg cam pins even the nice chrome ones and went to roller cam pins. I always fill the cam pin area with mil spec rifle grease and always keep thing wet with light weight oil. A well oiled AR15 is a happy rifle. I don't care about the mess when you wipe them down after use. It keeps the carbon from building up inside the BCG like heavy shooting days at a three gun match!
The modern M-lok hand guards with the big barrel nuts are best. Forged upper slick sided are so nice and get rid of the problematic dust guard and worthless forward assist. Yes, I was 300 miles from home shooting hundred upon hundred of rounds and the dust guard clip came out and was flopping around until I just pulled it off. If a round doesn't feed and it's jammed in pounding on the forward assist is dumb and won't solve the problem. Use a small flat blade screw driver and carefully pry the bolt back through the ejection port.
For lowers Anderson made these forged with integral trigger gaurd. The best for shooting in cold weather with gloves for fat fingers
Rifle length or even + 2 inch gas tubes are the best. lower pressure slamming into your BCG. One test facility showed something like 30,000 psi from carbine length gas port, 22,000 from mid length and clear down to 14,000 psi on a rifle length. I don't have adjustable gas blocks on any of my gas guns. All you need is a micro gas block for your barrel diameter. I run the full auto heavy bolts which slows the rearward motion and just use light buffer weights with quiet flat wound springs to dial in my ejection with my hand loaded hot rodded rounds compared to off the shelf junk.
I like the Hoag grips and stock kits. I buy both comercial and mill spec 7075 six position buffer tubes or solid stocks for competition and have messed with the end hole diameter to not get the air compression shock when the BCG comes back. I have buffer weight faces that look brand new after thousand of rounds. Where carbine length gas guns just beat the crud out of the buffer weights. The buffer weight have to be hevier in the carbine to eject correctly and with the extra PSI just get slammed.
Then you need the enhanced pull down pins or even better these D Ring rear pull down pins. Ambidextrous safety is nice. Forged slick sidded upper are a must For less weight and mechanical problems. I bought the grinding kit to true the uppers to the barrels and I polish the feed ramps before assembly. You don't want to put a ding in the bullet or a scape feeding in and end up with a flyer round. I actually run a 22 call bore snake covered with chrome wheel polish up and down the barrel like 100+ times to eliminate barrel break in per say. It just makes the inside of the SS barrels beautiful. It's like no one thing is going to make a AR more accurate, but it's the combination of hours of TLC that add up to a lifetime of pleasure.
Enhanced charging handles are nice along with 2.5 pound straight triggers
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