My AR-15 (Daniel Defense upper, M&P lower) - pics added

blackdeuce

blackdeuce

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My son has decided that he wants to assemble an AR-15 with a portion of his summer earnings. He did some research and decided that a CMMG upper was what he wanted. (CMMG55BED1E - CMMG AR-15 Complete Upper Assembly .223 Rem/5.56 NATO 16" 1:9 Bull Barrel Black WASP Finish). I agreed to order it for him from Cheaper than Dirt since the price seemed good and they were in stock. So many of the good AR items seem to be out of stock.

Anyway, I had been looking at AR's, so I bought two uppers. I guess I need to get educated on the rest of the components so that I can get them bought. My FFL friend is going to help with the rest of the stuff.

Should be interesting. I hope my son picked a good upper cause I didn't check. I do know that he discussed it with my brother who is quite gun savvy.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. I want to get this gun put together for under $1k if I can. I'll probably use it some for prairie dog hunting and target shooting (not competitive shooting). Oh, and zombies. :)
 
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ar's are a blast to build,, and way under 1k
check over at ar15.com, there's a lot of links stickies on doing your own builds.. Not to mention where to get deals and specials on parts,
review's on uppers,lowers,exc..
however, in my opinion, some of the members get a little carried away with the builds, I don't see the point of so many "add on's" that you end up with a 20 pound rifle your lugging around..
keep them light & simple and you keep them fun..
 
kritter said:
ar's are a blast to build,, and way under 1k
check over at ar15.com, there's a lot of links stickies on doing your own builds.. Not to mention where to get deals and specials on parts,
review's on uppers,lowers,exc..
however, in my opinion, some of the members get a little carried away with the builds, I don't see the point of so many "add on's" that you end up with a 20 pound rifle your lugging around..
keep them light & simple and you keep them fun..
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link. I'll check it out.

I don't plan to get too carried away. I want it to be a good shooter, but I don't plan to add a lot of accessories. I'll try to buy the rest of the stuff through my FFL guy since he's helping us put it together.

My son is determined to use different parts than I do so that they aren't exactly the same thing. He can pick his own stuff. I'll go with my FFL's recommendation.

I have a Nikon Monarch scope that has been sitting in my closet waiting for a gun to sit on. I think it will have a home now. :)
 
If you ordered a complete upper then all you will need is a stripped lower, butt stock (which should come with the buffer and tube) and a lower parts kit. Or you could just buy an assembled lower. Then there would only be attaching the upper to the lower otherwise, if you go the parts kit route, there are youtube videos that take you start to finish on the assembly. Tools required, hammer/mallet, roll pin punch set, needle nose pliers and a butt stock wrench (or a spanner wrench if you have one). It's pretty easy to do.
 
thndrchiken said:
If you ordered a complete upper then all you will need is a stripped lower, butt stock (which should come with the buffer and tube) and a lower parts kit. Or you could just buy an assembled lower. Then there would only be attaching the upper to the lower otherwise, if you go the parts kit route, there are youtube videos that take you start to finish on the assembly. Tools required, hammer/mallet, roll pin punch set, needle nose pliers and a butt stock wrench (or a spanner wrench if you have one). It's pretty easy to do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I think my son is going the stripped lower route with the lower parts kit. I would like to get a better than average trigger (I hear that most standard AR triggers aren't great). If the parts kit route lets me do that, I'll probably go that route, too.

I checked out the upper on CMMG's website. I think my son picked a pretty good one. :)
 
here's one of mine that I built, it's the lower one in the pic.

A S&W lower, bushmaster lower parts kit, rock river buttstock, buffer & tube, CMP, ( yes, the civilian marksmanship program) 14 inch barrel with a forged A2 upper, with pinned & welded flashhider ( to make it legal ) bolt carrier & bolt are Noveske
P1010002d.jpg

shoots like a dream,over 2000 rounds threw it now and total cost to build..... $620.00
 
thndrchiken said:
If you ordered a complete upper then all you will need is a stripped lower, butt stock (which should come with the buffer and tube) and a lower parts kit. Or you could just buy an assembled lower. Then there would only be attaching the upper to the lower otherwise, if you go the parts kit route, there are youtube videos that take you start to finish on the assembly. Tools required, hammer/mallet, roll pin punch set, needle nose pliers and a butt stock wrench (or a spanner wrench if you have one). It's pretty easy to do.
Click to expand...

Magazine vise for working on lower.
Action vise for working on upper.
Lower receiver (complete or stripped) requires shipping to FFL. No FFL needed for upper receiver.
 
storeyteller said:
Magazine vise for working on lower.
Action vise for working on upper.
Lower receiver (complete or stripped) requires shipping to FFL. No FFL needed for upper receiver.
Click to expand...

He said he ordered fully assembled upper, when I did my build I didn't use a magazine vise but it is nice to have. Oh yeh, be sure to block/support the ear on the trigger guard bracket when driving the pin. It'll really ruin your day if you shear the ear off if not supported.

If you are considering an upgraded trigger do yourself a favor and spend a few extra bucks and get a one piece trigger. I didn't have a hard time getting the springs, trigger, disconnector and hammer lined up but it's not the easiest to do, the one piece setup drops right in and you just tap the pins in from the side. Some will tell you that you should have the anti walk trigger and hammer pins, but honestly I have never, ever seen a trigger/hammer pin work their way out.
 
One recommendation : expect to spend a much on optics as on the gun. Do not buy the cheap stuff. It looks great, but you will regret it in the long run.

Quality costs.
 
blackdeuce said:
The more I learn about this, the more inclined I am to buy a lower "assembly" unless my friend is willing to help. He's got the tools to put one together.
Click to expand...


Honestly it is not hard to put together, a little mechanical aptitude is all it takes. Do a search on youtube for ar build, watch the videos. It'll go through step by step, if you still feel it's beyond your ability, buy an assembled lower from a gunshow. There is absolutely no shame in that, you'll pay a little more for someone's time to put it together but it's all cool. You'll have a blast shooting it.
 
Well, my son is getting a CMMG lower, CMMG lower parts kit, and a DPMS stock. My friend is going to help him put it together. My friend recommended Armalite scope mounts.

I'm seriously considering a Rock River assembled lower that comes with the RR 2-stage trigger. I can buy the assembled unit for about the same cost as the individual parts.

We haven't decided on scopes. I may use my Nikon Monarch. My son has been eyeballing some higher dollar scopes.
 
Bud's had a S&W M&P 15 lower assembly on Gunbroker for $305 plus shipping. The Rock River probably had a better trigger (2 stage), but I feel a lot better about the S&W lower. If the trigger sucks, I'll change it.
 
thndrchiken said:
He said he ordered fully assembled upper, when I did my build I didn't use a magazine vise but it is nice to have. Oh yeh, be sure to block/support the ear on the trigger guard bracket when driving the pin. It'll really ruin your day if you shear the ear off if not supported.

If you are considering an upgraded trigger do yourself a favor and spend a few extra bucks and get a one piece trigger. I didn't have a hard time getting the springs, trigger, disconnector and hammer lined up but it's not the easiest to do, the one piece setup drops right in and you just tap the pins in from the side. Some will tell you that you should have the anti walk trigger and hammer pins, but honestly I have never, ever seen a trigger/hammer pin work their way out.
Click to expand...

I have done it with and without the magazine vise and with is the easier, softer way. Correct that the action block won't be needed at this time, however, they can be ordered as a package deal, and from what I've read, the son at least, will need one sooner or later (I lean towards sooner).
 
I've built three lowers now and it isn't hard to do. I do have the tools now that make it easier but the first one was done okay with regular tools too. Quite frankly you won't be saving much money should you need to buy tools too. I did it because I wanted to and future builds might start saving me money as the tools are paid for.
Brownells has some good videos on building them too.
If you're just buying one for yourself I'd buy one built by others.
They are a lot of fun to shoot and I built one with a CMMG upper in 22 lr just to be able to shoot them even cheaper. .223/5.56 ammo has increased in cost lately too if you can find it in stock.
 
Thanks for the replies.

My FFL guy is going to help my son with his, so we shouldn't need to buy any tools. It really didn't cost much more to buy the assembled lower, so I went that route for mine. There weren't very many S&W stripped lowers on Gunbroker and the cheapest was around $160.
 
The CMMG uppers showed up today. Couldn't believe that they delivered on a Saturday. They appear to be a quality piece although a bit heavy. We knew they would be given the 16" bull barrel. They weigh somewhere around 4 to 5 pounds. My bathroom scale is digital with no decimal places. I don't think the weight will be a problem for varmint shooting and plinking. Anybody know what the S&W lower assembly will weigh?
 
thndrchiken said:
1 1/2-2 lbs, not much to it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I guess the gun will weigh around 6 1/2 pounds. Doesn't seem too bad.

I've thought about sending this upper back and getting an upper with a standard barrel that weighs less, but I really like the looks of this one. I've read nothing but good things about the CMMG uppers. Made in Missouri.
 
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