Building The Leftist’s AR

Fella's;

I've recently taken possession of a brand new stripped Stag AR lower.  The project is to build the total LH AR. 

I'd like this to sorta be an open forum of advice & suggestions as to parts & how to do it as I progress with the building.  Hopefully, it'll also be a how-to reference for anybody else who wants to do the same thing in the future.

However, one of the reasons I went with a stripped lower, besides the need for adventure, is that I can proceed at my own pace and budget.  Besides, you never know anything as well as when you do it yourself.  Who knows?  It might be a very good idea to be familiar with the guts of the AR if the banners have their way come the next election.

So, for right now, the cost is $90.00 for a stripped Stag LH lower delivered.  Also, for right now, I gotta tell you I couldn't tell the difference between a RH lower & a LH lower if my life depended on it.  See?  It's gonna be a learning experience for everybody, 'cept King if he chimes in.

900F

Where are you on your build up?  I have one that I built but decided not to go LH with it.  I put a 24" bull 1-8" twist on it and feel it can do about anything except turn around inside an elevator.  I may have to saw a couple inches off the bbl.  It's pretty long. 

Huh, I've never in my life complained about something being too long... 

Fella's, and peanut gallery;

The left hand upper has returned from the nether end of the continent!  Now comes the adventure of mounting the optics.

I've got a Nikon Monarch 3.3-10X A/O mil-dot to put on the upper, but am unsure of the ring height I'm going to need.  The objective bell of the scope is 54mm exactly.  Near as I can tell, there's 5mm from the top of the rail to the top of the handguard.  Which would make a 1" (25.1mm) high Weaver mount real iffy close to being just right or just wrong.  My calc's say just right.  One half of the objective diameter is 27mm.  If the mount is exactly 25mm, that'd be -2mm.  But the 5mm from the rail top to the handguard should then bring it to +3mm, or very slightly under two tenths of an inch.

If the Leupold Weaver-type picatinny rail ring &  mount set-up is indeed 1", then that's the way I'll probably go.  However, I'm open to suggestions if you know of a setup that works for sure.  Just, no Burris please.  I get testy on that subject.

900F

Fella's;

Well, well, well.  The Stag ambi safety will not work with the Knight trigger group.  The mil-spec lever will because it is approximately .020 wider across the critical flat.  I could bitch to Stag, which wouldn't do much good since I'm sure their ambi lever works with their trigger group & their sympathies would be limited to say the least.  Or, I can take both to the machinist & ask him to make this match that.  Which will take an application of money.  Bah!

900F

CB900F wrote: Fella's; Well, well, well.  The Stag ambi safety will not work with the Knight trigger group.  The mil-spec lever will because it is approximately .020 wider across the critical flat.  I could bitch to Stag, which wouldn't do much good since I'm sure their ambi lever works with their trigger group & their sympathies would be limited to say the least.  Or, I can take both to the machinist & ask him to make this match that.  Which will take an application of money.  Bah! 900F

I had the same problems with Warne extra high rings.  I finally bought a Larue QD mount that cured the problem.  They are expensive but dammit, they are good and allow my Burris 4-16X44 to fit up perfectly and my head is right in line.  I don't have to try to make it work, as you were talking about.

Fella's;

I can see I've been remiss on updates here.  The situation is now this:

The unit would not feed correctly.  I tried all kinds of magazines, different kinds of ammo, voodoo chants at midnight, and soaking the action in Tri-Flow.  Nothing made it a reliable feeder.  So it got packaged up & sent back across the country.

It seems to have arrived with a different barrel.  It also arrived with a set of Nightforce rings!  The rings were 30mm though.  So, off to the Brownell's catalog & ordered a set of the Delrin inserts that then allow a 1" scope to be mounted in 30mm rings.  Bingo!!  We have a winner.  The scope is now perfectly positioned to my eye.  The gun feeds.  And winter is here.

Between winter, and the gun club playing footsie with my membership check, there's been no range time.  Load development has been non-existant, but will proceed.

900F