AR-15 and Variants

buy a new one when you get a chance, now weak.....damn Bobby. That's the hardest pin on the gun , I broke down and ordered a roll pin holder , driver and slave pin just for this step.

The roll pin was too fat for the hole or vise versa. I now know how it bent, but I had to sleep to remember.

When I bought that plastic hexmag, the first time I used it it worked fine.

The second time I used it I was talking to the range officer I accidentally stuffed 11 bullets in the thing. I wasn't Counting the rounds I just stuck them in until it was full.

Anyhow it was tight. Almost as tight as my metal magazines.

I smacked it in place just like the combat movies and I rounded off the plastic stop on the mag. This caused the magazine to protrude into the breach and when I push the bolt release, the bolt moved an eighth of an inch and jammed against the back of the magazine.

I didn't realize the bolt had moved at all. The bolt release had always been a little sticky and I thought it hadn't released. When I smacked that release button again, hard, maybe I bent it.

I pushed the pins out and removed the lower and at that point the bolt de-cocked. Hard.

Maybe the bolt smacked it and bent it at that point. I didn't think the bolt had moved forward so I never bothered to hold it back.

(EDIT....
Well that's nonsense & what happened is not the bolt de-cocking: The hammer came forward hard.)

Once the lower was off the plastic mag came right out. I didn't really notice that that latch was bent at that point.

Last night I dressed down the original roll pin and put it back in. It had never bent, but it had been over driven and mushroomed slightly, then ground approximately flush.

It was a crude job hidden by a dab of touch up paint. That's why I said that the assembler had problems putting that pin in. I called him an assembler because he's clearly no gunsmith.

I will change the pin too.

But I made it work great and that's the important point.

This latch wasn't exactly bent so much as it was twisted. That made it a little fat and it wouldn't move up and down in its little slot. It works like a charm now. But a year from now it might crack right in half.

Essentially I made those tools by hand in order to do the job.

I used broken drill bits and turned them down for slave pin and a drift.

My roll pin holder's just a little piece of aluminum with an .094" hole drilled through it. I ground a little extra lead on the roll pin so it would be easy to insert.

I taped a rag over the receiver as a shield and I managed not to scratch it all up.

I changed my post up above, as what I had said about the bolt was absolute nonsense once I had thought about it enough.

The hammer came forward hard and hit the receiver

Very nice

I think I figured out how that latch got bent. While the bolt was jammed on the mag, and the latch was latched, the plastic mag was being compressed forward hard by the bolt. It wouldn't go forward, and the latch wouldn't let it go back.

In that condition, the RSO, trying to help, hit the forward assist, which did nothing.

Except it just moved enough to bend the latch.

Normally this could not happen, but the latch was jammed hard by pressure of the bolt, hard against the plastic mag.

It didn't slip loose when the forward assist was struck, but was forced forward and bent forward, twisting the latch somewhat about its little neck.

The mag was solidly over-packed with 11 rounds. It didn't budge until we split the upper off.
But the latch bent because of the forward assist being hit while it was both latched and jammed.

This has to be it, as nothing else ever touches that latch but the bolt.

and the latch wasn't bent in from me smacking it.
It was twisted forward on top, and if you look at the pic (previous page) you can see the marks dug into the latch by the bolt.

I picked up a new latch yesterday, It appears to be of different manufacture & I haven't tried it yet.

Also, it may not have been the forward assist that caused the bending.

When you separate the upper and lower, with the gun cocked, it fires the hammer. That hammer, misses the bolt and hits the latch in question hard.

I was warned not to dry-fire a lower by itself, but because it can crack the receiver. (No cracks were found, fortunately.)

Anyhow, that was how we removed the stuck plastic magazine from the lower. We popped the pins and dropped the lower.

I think of that every time I accidentally do it, that would bum me out

Not normally.

But if it's cocked, and you release both takedown pins, and lift the upper off, the hammer comes out of the BCG, and smacks hard against the hold open.

Don't try it! Just believe me, unless you like roll pins and have spare parts handy.

I have a Aero precision M5E1 coming. 20" barrel, they could not give me a delivery date, but assured me it would be before the end of the year and beat the bullet button ban in California.

I built a fun little budget plinker with an Anderson lower and Sanders upper. As you see it I'm about 500 bux in. I'm already adding the cost of the Bushnell Banner and 45 degree irons to that total. I got lucky and was gifted the Harris bipod. A buddy had it for 5 years and gave it to me because he said he knew it was going to a good home.
I tried my best to balance out the weight. Taking in mind what I've added and what I was able to do with out.

My daughter's loved it.

I built another Anderson at the same time and test fired it the same day but that one has a 15 inch rail and is only iron sights. It didn't get the same love from the girls as this one did. I made that one with the idea that I needed more iron sight training. That one has a lot of the stuff on it that I took off my DD V11.

I'm working on a Seekins lower next.

Here's my second and sequential Anderson build. I really like how they came out.

What do you all think of them?

Good point. It's held zero so far. It was actually really good out to 100 yards. It isn't my home defense tho, its whole purpose was just to be a plinker. Something to play and train with. I'll try to fix it when I get it on the bench next. Might need a better mount.

Thanks John, thats the reason why I asked.

Okay this seems strange. I thought the guns with the Bullet Button were not going to be grandfathered in and we were all going to have to convert to the AR mag lock or register as assault weapons or some such.