Interest in finishing your own AR Lower Receiver

[Sean Satterlee]

Who, if any, would be interested in completing their own AR lower from
an 80% forging. We also have the ability to do custom laser engraving on
anything you finish yourself. There will of course, be expert
machinists on hand to help you complete your lower onsite if we do this.




please note: just gauging interest in this, this is not a solicitation
in any way shape or form. just to get a general consensus to see how
many people would be interested and if it's worth my time to make this
happen for members.

1. IF we do this, we will provide the 80% lowers.
2. gauging around $150 for a 80% lower, and $75 to finish on site, and options (like laser engraving would be extra of course.)

 

[StealthESW]

Too high for a lower that needs to be machined and finished. I might pay 75 for an 80% finished lower and 50 for finishing it. That is if by finishing you are referring to hardcoating.

 

[Wall]

That is if by finishing you are referring to hardcoating.

my guess is "finishing" refers to the remaining 20% of the machining.

 

[Ksmirk]

Depends are these billet lowers? it's been awhile but I know Kenny used to charge $25 per color but that was a few years ago lol

What machine work are we talking about? buy lowers and clamp them and let the CNC go to town or actual chuck it up and run the mill? nevermind I re-read these are forgings, might be a little pricey BUT it's been years since I looked into the forged lowers. Either way it might be a cool deal! how are the markings and SN's going to be handled? Later,

Kirk

 

[Wildcat]

I'd be interested as well. I understand the 75 for the machine time, tooling, instruction, etc. but I agree that 150 for a forged lower in the white is a bit steep.

 

[bsmith918]

I have a jig, but never got around to ordering the 80% receivers. They were going for $80-$90 BEFORE all of the craziness, but are $150+ if you can find them right now. Not a bad deal IMO. I may be interested so I could do it a little more professionally than I had originally planned.

 

[Sean Satterlee]

Gcode is already written, you just clamp and push the button. if you want to bring your own 80%, we already have the most of the steps written out and will have several CNC's ready to go. we will have several machinists ready to assist if you have any questions.

in regards to price, yes, 150 is absurd for a forged lower. but due to the current demand, everyone's prices are going up. that's as cheap as they could be obtained in a timely manner during the hectic times we are in at the moment.

anodization will be ready to be done onsite and is part of your completion price. the laser engraver will be standing by, ready to assist you to vectorize your image, and import and burn logo yourself.

as per the ATF rules, this will be something YOU made. please do your homework appropriately.

i dont want this to be a sales pitch, i'm just trying to gauge interest at this point. i have already sourced all of the parts and whatnot, you just show up with cash and push a button.

 

[Wildcat]

I'm still interested...how deep is the laser engraving? Just curious if it will be required post anodizing or if it will be deep enough to show up if the anodization is completed over it.

 

[Sean Satterlee]

it's a 20watt Co2 laser. haven't tested it yet, pre and post anodizing. i mean, you could do it however you wanted.

 

[CBR]

Interested in a few if price improves

 

[Sean Satterlee]

that's why we are gauging response. as it stands, if we get more interested, price can improve as it will involve larger order.

 

[liftheavy]

I'd be interested, definitely.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've been doing a little independant research on this.
80% lowers can come as forged or cast. There is an option with different suppliers of each. Most of the 80% lowers come with the mag well complete, and the milling is to be done in the trigger assembly area, pins, etc.
There are differences in the mag well area. Some offer edm wire finishes, and some offer broached openings. From what I've been reading Broached is preferred. I stand to be corrected on this, but this is what I've been reading.

Most are offered in 7075 heat treated forged alloys. Same as the factory units. Some offer laser engraving, anodizing, etc in their package.
There are websites out there selling the lowers that give photo tutorials about how to anodize at home. PITA to me, but if you want to do it, go ahead. Other sites tell you how to EDM your own engraving using a 12V battery. PITA as well.

If your a home machinist, and have a very sturdy drill press or a bench mill, some offer jigs that guide the home machinist in completing the lower. Some dealers will buy back the jigs at 75% new price, or they can be bought on ebay.

The wait list at this time is about 10 weeks after committing to purchase for about all of the people offering these for sale. None have any LPK's currently.
The ones to look for are those that commit to not charge your CC until delivery has been arranged.

You don't want somebody sitting on your money for 10 weeks.

Legally, as I understand it, they can never be sold unless they have been issued a S/N by an FFL with a manufacturing license.

Here is where I don't know. If they get a S/N it must be in a series that the BATF specificed to the FFL with MFG license??
Somebody help me here.

Its not if, but when I build my own, it won't ever be sold, so I'll just put a date code on it or something, and pass it down the road to the family.

To the OP, I'm not trying to derail your thread, but this is a new subject to some on this forum, and I wanted our members to know all of the options available to them. Your offer is not out of line considering current pricing, so I'll wish you good luck.

 

[Sean Satterlee]

yes, these are EDM wire finishings. in the case of a serial #, it requires a type 07FFL. and they tend to use their own numbering standardization. we will have our 07FFL by the time this rolls.

 

[nikatkimber]

I've been doing a little independant research on this.
80% lowers can come as forged or cast. There is an option with different suppliers of each. Most of the 80% lowers come with the mag well complete, and the milling is to be done in the trigger assembly area, pins, etc.
There are differences in the mag well area. Some offer edm wire finishes, and some offer broached openings. From what I've been reading Broached is preferred. I stand to be corrected on this, but this is what I've been reading.

Most are offered in 7075 heat treated forged alloys. Same as the factory units. Some offer laser engraving, anodizing, etc in their package.
There are websites out there selling the lowers that give photo tutorials about how to anodize at home. PITA to me, but if you want to do it, go ahead. Other sites tell you how to EDM your own engraving using a 12V battery. PITA as well.

If your a home machinist, and have a very sturdy drill press or a bench mill, some offer jigs that guide the home machinist in completing the lower. Some dealers will buy back the jigs at 75% new price, or they can be bought on ebay.

The wait list at this time is about 10 weeks after committing to purchase for about all of the people offering these for sale. None have any LPK's currently.
The ones to look for are those that commit to not charge your CC until delivery has been arranged.

You don't want somebody sitting on your money for 10 weeks.

Legally, as I understand it, they can never be sold unless they have been issued a S/N by an FFL with a manufacturing license.

Here is where I don't know. If they get a S/N it must be in a series that the BATF specificed to the FFL with MFG license??
Somebody help me here.

Its not if, but when I build my own, it won't ever be sold, so I'll just put a date code on it or something, and pass it down the road to the family.

To the OP, I'm not trying to derail your thread, but this is a new subject to some on this forum, and I wanted our members to know all of the options available to them. Your offer is not out of line considering current pricing, so I'll wish you good luck.

My understanding is this is NOT the case. You can sell it later, and it has to have a serial number, but not from a 07 FFL. You can put whatever you please on it. What you can't do, is make it for the purpose of selling it.

 

[OKC_Gunsmith]

If people are still interested I've got a couple updates...

Sorry for the delay in response. Sean405 started this thread to prove there was interest in people creating their own lowers, based on the interest here and in other forums we have decided to move forward on this project. I currently have 1,500 lower forgings and 500 upper forgings on order with an expected delivery date of mid-June.

In the mean time I have started working on creating 80% billet lowers and am sending the test batch of 10 to be broached tomorrow. After everything is back and we've tortured them I will open my machine shop up for those who are interested to come in and create.

I will also be offering 1911's, AR-10's, and more in the near future. If someone wants to come up and use the machines for their own personal projects that I've not covered we can look into that as well. There will be prerequisites for running personal projects, (e.g. competence with machinery, liability waiver, etc).

I've attached a couple pictures of the beginning stages as well for your purview.

Thanks

 

[gunz4pz]

I'ld be interested. Has this been set up? Maybe even interested as a family 'party' - 4 of us, each finishing our own receivers!