Responding to the 2nd Amendment

After the 2015 San Bernadino "terrorist" event, I started thinking about how firearms would suddenly again be on the chopping block. I remember when Obama first took office- I thought for sure that handguns would be outlawed- that's when I bought my first gun. Well, after the Fedral Assault Weapons Ban didn't get renewed, I figured it was just a matter of time before it would come to the forefront again. With Sandy Hook and now San Bernadino on everyone's minds, the President could try and make it harder for those weapons to be available. I started looking into getting an AR-15.

Well, it just happens to be that the AR-15 is America's most popular rifle. Maybe because it's so easy to shoot. Maybe because parts are readily available. Maybe it's because it's so customizable. I've heard it described as the Barbie-doll for men. Whatever the case, there are thousands of options out there on the web. You can buy the rifle complete and assembled or you can buy them part by part and put it together by yourself. Some buy the firearm complete, then swap out parts customizing them to their particular liking. There's plenty of help out there on the Internet on how to choose what's right for you.

After doing my due diligence, I elected to buy the parts separately and build the firearm myself. After careful calculations, I figured I could build my custom AR-15 for around $600. Buying a built rifle, then modifying it would've cost over $2000. Most all the parts can be shipped directly to your house- only the lower receiver (the part with the serial number) has to be shipped to an FFL, where they will do the DROS. Here in California, I had to wait my 10-day waiting period. Currently, there are only nine states (and DC) that have a waiting period.

I decided to buy a stripped lower from Palmetto State Armory and put it together myself. I bought an Anderson Manufacturing Magpul MOE lower build kit through Toms Tactical and a complete upper receiver assembly from Midstate Firearms. I also decided to to go with iron sights, since I was pretty much building a range toy, so I bought an inexpensive red dot scope through Cabela's, then a 3X magnifier through Amazon. Magazines I purchased through eBay.

The lower receiver build was easy- I found a few YouTube videos for reference. After that, it was a matter of snapping parts together!

The rifle is a pretty nice shooter. For my first purchase of ammo, I bought 55gr .223 Federal American Eagle FMJ. My barrel is a 1:8 twist and I know this bullet was a little light, but it was cheap and I just wanted to make sure the rifle would fire. After that, I bought 62gr FMJ through Freedom Ammunition. The rifle shoots to 100 yards with no drop! The red dot is a little fuzzy with the 3X magnifier, but I'm slowly getting it tuned in.

My buddy, John, taking a test drive

For my next cheap mod, I already purchased a lighter spring kit for the trigger and an adjustment screw. I'll do a little polishing on the trigger parts and I should be able to smooth out the pull and decrease it to about 4 lbs. with very little creep.

I'll keep you posted on the trigger project.....