wrote in message
oups.com...

Tom Gardner (nospam) wrote:
I'll bet there
is a wealth of imperial knowledge here

There are billions of variables ranging from plinkers to match. I'm
leaning
to the plinker knowing it will be more accurate than I am. Lowers are
available in every form from raw forgings or billets to 80% to finished.
The
rest is bolt on fluff. (for now) Anybody have a box-o-parts or
abandoned
projects? I'll keep reading but there is almost "too much" and those
people
are fanatics, it's hard to filter.

Tom,

There is a you-build-it forum on www.AR15.com which has lots of info.
I believe it is http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=3&f=4
Also, biggerhammer.net has several blueprint sets for the lower.

I am particularly enamored of a piece-by-piece build that someone did
a few years ago. If I can find the photos, I will email them to you.
He
had only a tiny mill, so he used separate chunks of metal, held
together
by screws, for the front end, the two sides of the magazine well, the
hammer/trigger section, the sides of the hammer/trigger section (for
the pin holes), and the threaded hole on the back. It was a very neat
solution for the limitations of his tools.

As for parts, there are plenty of places selling a "complete lower
parts kit". Uppers are arguably best purchased already assembled,
as the tooling to do the job right can get pretty pricey, and they are
a little less forgiving to put together than the lower's parts.

I've read big-time on the AR-15.com forums and followed a zillion links from
there. I too was amazed at the stuff people have done with sharp sticks and
rocks for tooling.