Picked up a 3-9x42 scope, single handguard rail and sling mount today at the gun show. Sighting it in tomorrow. Almost finished customizing it. I'd like an engraved dust cover and trigger replacement.

Not sure about the price on the Saiga but my Romanian AK handles the Wolf Shit all day long.

It look like she (and the horse) are headed to NY to visit David Letterman. I'm going to have to check that one out.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/stat...cc4c03286.html

I've decided it's time to build a zombie killer of my own. I'm going to go the AR-10 route. Now that I've decided on the basic platform I want I can start looking at specifics, uppers, lowers, barrels, goodies....

This will be my first time building a weapon, so if anyone has any suggestions or helpful tips they will be most welcome.

I've been at this for about a year now. Some lessons I've learned:

1. Don't buy shit on line just because it looks cool. Determine from the start what purpose your rifle will serve, be it weekend shooting at the range, hunting, storming houses, etc. and buy stuff specific to that purpose. If the extent of your shooting will be a 100-yard rifle range, there's probably not much point in dropping major bucks for a long range scope, for example.

2. YouTube is your friend. If you're curious about something, chances are there are a dozen videos floating around on the subject. I've been able to install stuff myself that I would have never thought I could before from watching videos of other people doing the same thing.

3. Check product reviews, and gun forums, and don't hesitate to ask questions. You can easily buy stuff that won't work for your purposes if you don't pay attention to the fine print.

4. You can find an amazing amount of stuff on Amazon.com. Other good sites are Cheaperthandirt, Opticsplanet, Brownells and PrimaryArms.

5. If you can afford an EOTech red dot and magnifier, get it. It'll set you back around $1,000, though. I went the Lucid route, got a set up that's somewhat comparable, for around $400. But I wish I had the EOTech.

6. There's a shit ton of useful information in this thread. Take advantage of it.

Have fun!

That is part of why I have put this off so long, trying to determine exactly what I wanted. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want, and need, in the end result.

And to think, I didn't "get" that site when first started becoming popular. It is amazing what you can find on there.

Sounds about like me.....

Book marked.

I'm leaning towards a Trijicon ACOG at this point, but we'll see. That is towards the end of the build, I've time to further research and compare in that department.


Yep, read it front to back yesterday. :thumb: I did not see a whole of discussion on actually assembling a weapon piece by piece, mostly upgrading (which is helpful in it's own way).

Oh, I intend too. :)

Damn, getting the ACOG, eh? That's certainly the gold standard. That's out of my price range (if I dropped that much on one addition to the rifle I fear the wife would use it on me). Let me know how you like it. Never seen one in real life.

A great example of buying cool shit you don't need is my pistol grip/flashlight holder that fits on the bottom of the foregrip. It's extremely functional - if you're storming a building in the dark. At the range, however, it's useless. Adds needless weight and just gets in the way. The day may come when that it will come in handy, so I'm keeping it, but for now it's basically $150 worth of junk sitting in a drawer.

Some additions I'd recommend (and if you've got the scratch to pick up an ACOG, you can afford these) Magpul stock (either ACS or UBR), and a Geissele competition trigger. I also just upgraded to a free float 11" battle rail that should be waiting for me when I get home tonight. I'll probably install that bad boy over the weekend.

Yeah I like the look of the foregrips but growing up learning to shoot with out one I'm afraid I wont use it. Now a tactical flashlight is a must for when I'm out the pasture or woods hunting wild doggies or wild piggies.

One of the reasons for building versus buying and up grading is I can do it slowly as I have the money, which is how I can afford to get what I want from a hardware stand point and add toys like an ACOG. This will be a somewhat timely process, but it will be worth it in the end when I have EXACTLY what I want.

I've got well over $1,000 in upgrades to the base rifle I started with, but I do it a little at a time. At this point I'm basically an upper receiver, lower receiver and barrel away from having enough parts to build another one. I'll probably do that at some point - I'd like to have a .762 as well as a .556.

Here's my new Sampson Evolution 11" hand guard. I've already mounted the variable rails for the bipod and attached Magpul grip.

Won't put it on until this weekend, but I had to share. This thing is badass. :thumb:

Frazod, so I shouldn't buy a hogue grip for it? It had excellent reviews on amazon.

When it comes to AR15's, does the lower matter that much?

I am shying away from the AK (again :facepalm:) and now I am looking at a DPMS Panther with 24" Bull. I would like to switch out the upper with a 16" and Eotech eventually to satisfy my "throw a lot of bullets at something" cravings.

Someone asked the same question on THE HIGH ROAD gun site

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=618253

Not all lowers have the same size hole, where the upper & lower are pinned together. Something to pay attention to.

It just depends on whether or not you plan on adding accessories to the hand guard or not. Even if you don't plan on it now, IMO it's better to get something with pit rails or the capability to add rails. It certainly won't hurt anything if you don't use them.

With the red dot/magnifier set up I have, I have to have a top rail.