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stamped steel ar-15 lowers?

21K views 76 replies 31 participants last post by  sniper69 
#1 ·
you know with all the BS going down , and some vendors going $$$ nutz on ar lowers, i think it is time we brought up the roll your own sheet metal lower --from days gone by.

i think the sheet metal lower may be doable--has any one tried it?
 
#2 ·
has any one tried it?
The Armalite AR180, the original design, used a stamped steel upper & lower.
Also remember seeing someone (home builder) make an AR years ago that had three or four pieces of machined steel for the mag well & stock area but the sides were just flat steel pieces.
 
#6 ·
Coils you read my mind!



Coils you absolutely just read my mind!!!!! I have an original Sterling AR180 in my collection if anybody has the software or the drafting skills, I would be more that willing to provide all the actual dimensions to see if we could reverse engineer this puppy. It is basically a square tube build. About the gun itself, it is great! Let me tell you up front when I first got this rifle I shot the living crap out of it. IT NEVER FAILED ONCE. It is an excellent, simple design that probably would have worked much better in Viet Nam than the original M16.
Let me know if anyone is up to the task, I think it could use a few modifications like modifying the mag catch / release to work with the standard unmodified AR15 magazine, of which one solution would be to move the mag/catch release to the left side of the mag well, (if you have ever seen the magazine for the rifle, it takes a standard AR mag with one little modification a small slot cut on the right side that serves as the hold for the mag catch).... Anyway it could be a very neat project.
will6970
:nanabang:
 
#3 ·
Yep; I remember seeing them made from layers like a sandwich, or padlock like



Let's just do a group buy on one of them there 3-D printers.. Heh....Heh


Oh.........The HUMANITY!!!!! Oh My!!
 
#61 ·
Re 3d printerrs

Yep; I remember seeing them made from layers like a sandwich, or padlock like



Let's just do a group buy on one of them there 3-D printers.. Heh....Heh


Oh.........The HUMANITY!!!!! Oh My!!
I checked have ben checking these out online and the prices are wideranged from 599 and up too, several grand ialso had ead somewhere that some machines can do boith plastic and some sort of metal parts as well. I'd love to see this work. now just a for a second. ATF regulations state that you can make your own single shot pistol, rifle , or even semi autos , however this dose not allow you to manufacture and sell firearms.as a bussiness. now you caould make your own receiverds , if this wored well enough, I'd start with low cal and work my way up. now as far a as pistol frame, look many that are now being manufactured is polymer, I think it would be a good try
and its alot cheaier than a CNC machine, of course Ive havnt tried looking for used ones worth a shot the for the home hobbiest, maybe even for the guy just starting out too....Doc
 
#4 ·
Why not a fresh sheet of design paper here and build a clone AR lower like an AK using .223 AK mags, AK FCG pieces, but an AR upper ??? Front trunion is just the hinge section and the rear trunion adapts the AR buttstock/recoil system. The lower uses AK trigger guard and mag catch and rivits to tie it all together.

VD in AZ
 
#5 ·
hell i was thinking a piece of steel tubing about the right size sort of flattened a little then cut out and weld in a mag block section and weld in a buffer tube. then cut out the part where the upper goes and add in a few supports and attachment points--LOL


there is probably a thousand ways to do this

those guys paying $175 for those 80% tp me that is just nutz-- hell we'll bring back the wooden AR-lower if things get that bad--LOL!

damn i hate i flunked wood work in school--LOL!

buy there are other ways to come up with a lower for a home build and the parts shortages/gouging should not hurt us builders as much as the mall-ninjas cause if they even have to turn a nut--they call a guru first--LOL
 
#7 ·
yes over at homebuilder along time ago thats where I knew or know of coils

the lower receiver was made like the old M-1 carbine lowers these were steel plated brazed to gether and then drilled out
the build who did this was inovative he took a old concept and adapted it, for the rear he turned the plates side ways I am trying to remember if he brazed or bolted it together

it can be done it has been done

all one would have to do is band saw the outside profile, file and/or sand down the finish, leave out the internal plates for the fcg and mag well then braze it together, guess you could do the upper reciever as a tube with a rail tacked on top
 
#8 ·
Times like this I wish I was not so paranoid in my younger days. Yes, it can be done, I have done it.

Look at an AR Lower, imagine cutting it into three sections:

Trigger Group section, Magwell group Section, and Center support section.

Trigger Group Section: Obviously, this contains the FCG, provides a place at the rear to attach a sort of rear trunnion, which the buffer tube attaches to, and in the front, it attaches to the Center support section.

Center Support Section: This is the tricky one, it contains the mag release, and the Bolt Hold Open. The Trigger group section mates directly to the Center Support Section, and the Mag Well section lays over the top of the Trigger Group Section.

Mag Well Section: Obviously, This is the section that both holds the magazine, and the front pivot pin section. The rear of this section should overlay the front of the Trigger Group Section.

Once the needed machining is done to the Center Section, the three sections can be joined either by spot welding, or by drilling and riveting.

The trigger group section should have a slight rail fold on the top, just like an AK for stiffness.

The Rear pivot pin goes through the rear trunnion, which has a channel drilled from the top, then milled out to allow the upper receiver rear hole to rest inside. Ends up working just like a normal AR.

The front Pivot is milled out from bar stock, or bent and folded depending on how you want to retain the pin. If you are OK using c-clips to retain it, then just bend it out of sheet steel.

That is about it. I made two of these back in the late '90s. I had intended to make another that was modified to accept AK-74 mags, but just never got around to it.

I was surprised at just how forgiving it is to work with steel in this way. I used an Olympic Arms lower as a guide, measured a hundred times, and then cut.

Now, I did this the hard way. I wanted to make an AR class lower, that would cosmetically be equivalent to an standard AR. The lower ended up weighing almost 2 lbs. OUCH!

Take a lesson from the AR-180 design: Keep it simple, and do not care about the cosmetics.

Here is a link to pics that will help illustrate what I am talking about:

AR-180 - 5.56x45

You can all see that IF we were to create a lower receiver template, and SOMEONE created the stamping dies, it would be fairly simple to press these out, dimple them for the holes that need to be drilled, and sell them for a decent profit. Even if it was just a straight walled lower, it would not be difficult to produce the spacers and longer pins for the hammer, and trigger. The hardest part would be the selector, but it could be solved by adding a right side selector lever and screwing them together.....Just a thought.

Regards,
 
#11 ·
Within the last two months I have made the following purchases.
2 80% ar lowers $80 each
10 plastic 30rd Ar mags $6.30 each
10 aluminum 30rd AR mags $7 each
2 AR barrels $99 each
2 stripped AR uppers $49 each
1 80%AK lower $20
other assorted parts
Just need to put them together
So has anyone got plans for the other AK parts so I can make them myself
PS bolt together AR lowers have a material cost of about 7-8 dollars apiece. I priced the material using blueprints.
 
#13 ·
Now that I am thinking on this thread, I wonder if it might work to use an Aluminium Rear trunnion block. Maybe if you used rivets all the way through, and dimpled the rivet holes using swell neck rivets like an AK uses on the front trunnion.....

Any of you smarter than me types have an opinion?
 
#15 ·
Let's just do a group buy on one of them there 3-D printers.. Heh....Heh
Oh.........The HUMANITY!!!!! Oh My!!
LOL



The only time I got to handle and examine a AR180 was a couple years ago at a local shop, it was a Saturday night close to closing and I looked it over and fondled it for almost an hour. I didn't know a thing about them so I came home and did some internet searching, and decided I was going back Monday morning and putting it on lay-away, well I called into work to let them know I was going to be an hour late and went to the shop, got there 20 minutes after they opened and was told "it was sold first thing this morning". AAAAAAHHHHHH I was pissed the rest of the day :D






OK back to the subject
Wrench I remember the cutting board one, and Will & Bellson I think your thinking the same idea I was thinking of. Make a few pieces out of aluminum for the front, mid and rear of the receiver and some sheet metal for the sides, the sides can be riveted or screwed to these center sections.
Now I was thinking this would be something to use with an AR upper, but after looking at those detailed pics of the 180 (internals mainly) I'm liking that design even more.

Bellson your idea to have side plates with reinforcing areas is good, but I was thinking a little more simple, like just using plan flat plates and find a thickness that will be stiff enough to prevent flex.

if anybody has the software or the drafting skills, I would be more that willing to provide all the actual dimensions to see if we could reverse engineer this puppy
Will I'm no expert with it, but I got a CAD program that has a sheet metal function that allows you to bend sheet into 3D objects, I'll see if I can get some idea how to use it.


Wonder how hard it would be to use an AR barrel? I think it would be easier to got one of these then a 180 barrel.


Hmmm this sounds like something worth looking into more
 
#17 ·
There's a thread on WG about making an easy sheet metal lower also right now. I think that the two easiest ways are the sideplates with spacers idea or the magwell box with a "U" channel (made from 7/8"x1.5" or heavier walled 1"x1.5" rectange tube) for the trigger group area. Either way will work. There was a aluminum sideplate build here a while back by ???? TRX or joezx10r maybe??? with a fixed buffer tube so no fancy threading is necessary. There is also a member over on WG that does lazer flats, so perhaps thats the easiest way for most to get into this type of build. You can drop some of the amenities like the bolt hold open, detent type takedown pins, removable trigger guard, threaded buffer tower, right hand side mag latch ect.. and have a much simpler lower that can be built by just about anyone. Of course those with the skills or wants could add more of the original features back on as they see fit.
 
#20 ·
Thanks I like it and it gets shot alot with no problems with bolts backing out. The outer flats and buffer mount is SS and the inside spacer blocks are alum. Buffer tube is mild steel cuase I couldnt find and SS tube at work. Ive wanted to get stainless screws and tig them in and machine it all smooth but havent found the time.
 
#25 ·
You can weld aluminum, so why not make one from aluminum.

Yes, I was ridiculed on another forum over a year ago because I dared to try welding aluminum with my little 110V mig welder and a tank of argon.

It's not that hard really. It's not easy. But it's not impossible.

I'm doing a tutorial on another forum. Building a 10/22 receiver from scratch.

Have milled thru the welds and as long as you pre-heat with a propane torch you get good solid welds with no porosity.
 

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#26 ·
Not quite finished yet. Still need to do some touch ups in a few spots and belt sand it smooth.

Go ahead and bash away, I've heard it all before.

It will never feed aluminum wire (no problem), it will crack (no cracking) etc. etc. etc.

My mig must have special properties, LOL.
 

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#30 ·
I'm going to try to borrow some CO2 mix and see what kind of results I get.

Be advised, aluminum is affected by gravity, meaning if you are running your puddle the aluminum can get so soft that you end up with a blob heading straight for the floor. I backed it up with another aluminum block to keep it from drooping.
 
#32 ·
was there a guy on the AK section the other day talking about a glue build?

LOL!

hell this ain't one of them mall-ninja places where you got to kiss some gurus ass three times a day. here were open to alternative ideas of construction.

gunco is sort of like burger-king in the good old days--"have it your way!"

yea an aluminum weld up could be a good way to go.

matter of fact you could probably make a very good AR-15 lower that way.

sort of like that guys metal strip build only made from thicker pieces of aluminum and welded in critical places--
 
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