Introduction

The AR 15 rifle has become the most popular rifle in America at this point. Countless configurations and options are available, but the reason the rifle is so popular is because of the massive aftermarket allowing customization. This has driven American gun owners wild as they can tinker and alter every aspect of their rifle. Today I am putting together an AR 15 of my own, and for fun I’ll bring you along for the ride.

Often referred to as adult Legos, the AR 15 market has nearly too many options to discuss. Every aspect of the rifle has its own little niche market allowing you to change to your liking. The very basics consist of lower and upper receivers, a barrel, handguard, bolt carrier and gas system, trigger, grip, and buttstock.

But before I get into the particulars, it would be silly to start without a purpose in mind. If you plan to shoot 3-gun for example, you might build a different gun than someone looking for a fighting rifle. The rifle I’m putting together today is for general purposes, some sporting and always for fun.

Parts Selection

I’ll start out with my parts list, because that is what makes a rifle. I took the easy way and got an Aero Precision complete upper, they are pre assembled and well known so it was an easy choice.

• Aero Precision M4E1 upper receiver 16-inch 223 Wylde SS Hanson barrel
• Desert Tech Quattro-15 ambi lower receiver
• Trigger Tech AR trigger
• FAB Gradus pistol grip
• FAB Defense GL Core Impact buttstock
• CMMG buffer tube assembly
• Area 419 One -Piece scope mount
• Eotech Vudu 1-8 LPVO rifle scope
• Eotech EFLX Red Dot

Lower Receiver

With all my parts in one place, I started with putting all the lower receiver parts together. Adding takedown pins and detents can be a challenging process if you’ve never done it. My advice would be to get a couple extra springs and detents before you start.

Using the Quattro-15 lower would allow me to use either the standard 53-round magazines, or traditional twenty and thirty-round magazines. The Mil-spec receiver went together easily with my parts selection, and I really like the ambidextrous bolt-catch. The ambi mag release is nice too, though obviously I don’t need it.

Adding trigger, safety, and safety detent and pistol grip typically has to be done in sequence depending on your components. Often these parts interfere with each other, requiring them to be done in tandem. My Trigger Tech Trigger came with anti-walk pins that have screws on the end. Which made install a little more tedious, but allegedly they’ll be less problematic over time.

Buttstock

After trigger and safety, I tightened down the pistol grip carefully to get the safety detent right. Then moved to the buffer tube and then the stock. The FAB Defense stock came with several interesting options. It has an adjustable cheek piece that can be raised or lowered to fit you, but for this rifle I didn’t need it, so I was happy to see that it was also easily removed. Two sets of buffer tube guides came with the stock, one of them fit tighter than the other. I hate wobbly stocks so I was very pleased to see the option.

The GL Core Impact buttstock incorporates a shock absorbing feature using what appears to be an RC Car coil over shock. But in reality is simply a spring, it allows the stock to slip slightly back under recoil. And has three different adjustment settings.

Upper Receiver

Aero Precision’s M4E1 upper receiver was an easy choice to make, the 16-inch barrel and lightweight handguard fit in nicely to my plans for the rifle. The handguard is pretty large in diameter, but when paired with the high-capacity Quattro lower and magazines it fits very nicely. I’ll probably add an additional foregrip as well.

The 16-inch stainless Hanson barrel has a mid-length gas tube, and is threaded 1/2-28. I’ll remove the birdcage to run a suppressor because that’s how I shoot. The M-Lok handguard gives countless accessory mounting opportunities, having M-Lok slots on every angle and surface also reduces weight. Adding QD sling cups in several places also allows various sling configurations.

Shooting the rifle

With everything put together, all that was left was a test fire. Shooting some PMC Bronze 55 grain ammunition, I ran a few mags worth of ammo through the gun. As I had hoped, it ran flawlessly.

I added one of my suppressors to the rifle, a short one to reduce the size of the overall package. Using a traditional baffle-stack, the suppressor increased the backpressure of the rifle. While I didn’t find it to be a big deal, it was certainly noticeable.

The rifle shot very well, I was very pleased with the feel of the Trigger Tech. Making rapid follow up shots was incredibly fast because of the short reset. Even with 53 round magazines you can empty the gun quickly, though you will for sure have a tired finger when you’re done.

Accuracy from the Hanson stainless steel barrel was more than adequate for my purposes. I surely noticed that much of the rifles weight did come from the barrel. Anything from sport shooting on a steel target safari, to hunting the lightning quick jackrabbits in western deserts would be handily done with this rifle. I am quite sure I could get tighter groups out of the rifle with a different scope. But for my current purposes this works fine.

The dual Eotech optics on the rifle made for quick target acquisition and engagements, while also allowing much further shots with the 8x setting. Using heavier ammunition like Hornady 73 grain match would provide minute of groundhog accuracy even at distances like three and four-hundred yards.

Afterthoughts

One of the beauties of putting your own rifle together, is you can do it to your design. Changing parts out for something you like slightly better is what makes these rifles so appealing.

I’ve really liked the result of this combination of parts and sub-assemblies. The Aero Precision upper has worked out great, giving good accuracy and modularity. The finish and craftsmanship are great and match up perfectly to the Desert Tech Quattro lower. With the ability to run whichever magazine I need for any given purpose as well.

Soaking up recoil is not a huge task on a 5.56 rifle, especially a larger one like this. The Fab Defense GL Core buttstock would shine even more on a 7.62 rifle, which could definitely use additional recoil mitigation.

It wouldn’t hurt my feelings to redo this rifle with a little less weight, but that’s the beauty of these guns. I can easily split it up and reassemble with lighter parts if needed.

So there you have it, go ahead and critique the way I did this rifle. Or if you like it, tell me why. I suppose in the meantime I’ll start rounding up the next batch of parts to try it again.

-CBM