However,  the republican candidate (no matter who it is) usually has to overcome a built in fraud advantage enjoyed by the democrats (ineligible voters,  all the residents of long term care facilities magically filling out the exact same ballot, etc).      The election will probably be the same as it always is.  Traditional red states stay red,  the blue states stay blue.  The usual swing states end up deciding the victor.     Either way, we end up with a narcissistic sociopath that most of the country hates and we slide further into the abyss.   

...aaaaaand I'm an idiot.

Put the lower back on the Bev Block to take pics for y'all, and placed a bubble level to show just how bad the warping is. The bubble stayed in exactly the same spot no matter where on the lower I put the level. So the receiver isn't warped after all. The top edges of the receiver are beveled inwards slightly behind the space for the FCG, right over where the rear takedown pin is, and I figure that combined with the fact that the buffer tube and stock are still canted off-center a bit made my eyes play a trick on me.

Big ol' self-  for this one.

So while you may have just been a bit embarrassed, here is the good news:

You being embarrassed costs you nothing, unlike it would cost you about $75 had you actually bent the lower. Free mistakes are the best kind of mistakes  .

Now for the bad news:

You're not as strong as you thought you were. You must continue to eat your wheaties. After all, don't you want to be like Bruce Jenner? Or.... Katelyn... Or....  .

The detents shouldn't have a direction.  They will go in either way.   Might just be that you have one that is sticky,  sometimes they are just like that.  I once had one that absolutely would not fit in there without cutting a couple of coils off the spring.  I don't think the hole was drilled deep enough.   

I've done both and I like the loc-tite method best. I just use my heat gun to loosen it up if I need to remove it.

 A little bit of Loctite Blue works for me, some carb cleaner and a little elbow grease and it pops free. I've got about 1200 rounds through the Preacher and its stays tight.

Sanguine, I got the same one! It is light, which I love. Handles great. I got the BCM (made by Midwest I believe) flip sights and a Trijicon MRO. Fantastic setup.


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I didn't break the torque wrench, it was already broken when I used it. No, seriously: the directions clearly state to return it to its lowest setting once you finish using it. Lowest setting is I think 15 lb-ft, and it was set on 50 lb-ft when I took it out of the case. I set it to 35 lb-ft, but it didn't "click" once I hit the correct torque level.

I didn't see the need for that, since I just shoot M193. Runs fine as-is. Lower is a CMMG MOD-4 with RRA LPK and standard carbine buffer with MOE stock. While I'll upgrade the trigger at some point, it runs fine as-is so I must resist the urge to "fix it til it's broken".


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My upper arrived this afternoon!!!

Um... anyone know s good trick for pulling and holding the Delta ring back to get the handguard on?

Lots and lots of tries and 3 hands........

Lol, really it is.  I struggled for a long time and just slowly got better over time.

So I'm thinking I'm just going to loctite the castle nut in place and then re-staking it. Should I use blue, red, or another kind of loctite?

Random question: a standard M16/M4 compatible bayonet will fit on a 16" barrel with a mid-length gas system, right?

Holy flark it's been a while. I finally got around to pinning the trigger guard. Okay, full disclosure, I didn't pin it. I took it into my LGS and the owner pinned it. He's going to help me get the castle nut off (thankfully I didn't use a heavy enough hammer when I staked it) and then inspect the receiver extension and other parts to make sure they're okay before installing it correctly. He couldn't do it today because he has two castle nut wrenches... one of which he loaned out a while ago and hasn't gotten back, and the other he took home to work on his personal rifle and forgot to bring it back to the shop. I'm going to have him look at it next weekend, and I'll bring my own wrench with me just in case.

And before you ask why I don't just do it myself... well... I seem to have lost my MagPul Bev Block. 

Anyways, I realized that I have been remiss in posting pictures of my build. So now that it's (nearly) finished... here y'all go.



EDIT: Yes, the safety is off. I store it with the hammer down.

Took the rifle out to Allegheny Gun Works. They aligned the receiver extension correctly, then torqued and staked the castle nut to spec. So after... geez, nine months, my rifle is finally complete. And now that it's complete, I think I need to name it.

I think I'll call it "Kindness."


And even though I swore I'd never build another AR... I kind of want to do two more now. Especially since AGW will assemble uppers and/or lowers for a reasonable fee. (Yeah, that's probably cheating. I don't care.)

The first was the suppressor-optimized SBR that I think I mentioned a while back. I have no idea exactly how I'm going to spec it out, and honestly I'll probably just buy a pre-assembled upper and pistol lower, and then have a Shockwave Brace put on it until the paperwork clears and I get the tax stamp. But I still want one.

The second is will be an M16A1 replica build. Brownells already pretty much all of the required parts, and IIRC they announced at SHOT Show that they'll be introducing replica A1 furniture sometime this year. That one I'll call Hal, after US Army LTG (Ret) Harold Gregory Moore. Yes, I know that the A1 wasn't produced until well after Ia Drang, but I don't think the general would mind.