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Finishing 80% Lowers


COBrien

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It was going to happen eventually. I'm getting into building 80% lowers. I blame my father-in-law.

Long story short, his Christmas gift this year is going to be a rifle built by him and me. Ordered up a pair of raw receivers (80% lower and finished upper). Planning on having something engraved  on the lower, wanted the engraving all anodized. I'm going to have the anodizing done by a local shop, but wanted to make sure of something...

Are raw receivers "ready" to be anodized, out of the box? Or is there some final finish work that needs to be done before anodizing?

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45 minutes ago, COBrien said:

 

Are raw receivers "ready" to be anodized, out of the box? Or is there some final finish work that needs to be done before anodizing?

Since blasting is part of the prep process for most finishes you could give them a light coat of appropriate color flat spray paint and see if there are any defects you want to fix before final finish.

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19 hours ago, jtallen83 said:

Since blasting is part of the prep process for most finishes you could give them a light coat of appropriate color flat spray paint and see if there are any defects you want to fix before final finish.

True, I hadn't thought about that.

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  • 2 months later...

To bring this thread full-circle...

I've decided to have a local 'smith apply Cerakote to the receivers.

As it turns out, the local anodizing shop farms out their blasting to another local place. I tried calling the blasting shop several times over the last 6 weeks, and have always gotten a "this number is disconnected" message. That doesn't sit well with me.

Local 'smith will blast, coat, cure, etc. all at his shop. $100, comparable to what I was going to end up spending for blasting and anodizing.

Edited by COBrien
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

 

Curious, not wanting to assume, is the 80% .308?

 

Also like to know what jig you used and wondering if there's any, to watch for, things?

 

I just ordered another 80% because I have a compulsion to buy poop stuff on sale, I had already bought one that is gathering dust, at some point I'll have to actually build one.

 

My #1 excuse is the FL heat and the garage is not under AC, BUT, I can put together more excuses on demand if needed :laffs:

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4 hours ago, Robert@FULL30 said:

Hello,

 

Curious, not wanting to assume, is the 80% .308?

 

Also like to know what jig you used and wondering if there's any, to watch for, things?

 

I just ordered another 80% because I have a compulsion to buy poop stuff on sale, I had already bought one that is gathering dust, at some point I'll have to actually build one.

 

My #1 excuse is the FL heat and the garage is not under AC, BUT, I can put together more excuses on demand if needed :laffs:

This 80% lower is a small-frame. But I've got my eye on a .308 (DPMS pattern) lower for my next one.

I ended up getting the Easy Jig 2 from 80% Arms, along with their tool kit and the "stabilizer plates" for drilling the selector, trigger pin, and hammer pin holes. I like the fact that the Easy Jig 2 will work for small frame and large frame (DPMS pattern) lowers, and I didn't want to have to buy another $150(ish) jig when I wanted to "step up".

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28 minutes ago, Greenwell Armory said:

I have a Polymer80 Warrhog for AR10. What do you all think about that. Going to finish that out for my AR10 build first, then upgrade to an Aero probably.

I'm just leery of polymer lowers, especially in a large-frame. I'm sure there are lots out there that run perfectly well, but I just don't know.

Having said that, I may buy one just for S&Gs and see how long she'll last.

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22 minutes ago, COBrien said:

I'm just leery of polymer lowers, especially in a large-frame. I'm sure there are lots out there that run perfectly well, but I just don't know.

Having said that, I may buy one just for S&Gs and see how long she'll last.

Yeah I got mine on a whim. I figured short term just to get me up and running.

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  • 1 month later...

Having a tidy up in the workshop today and found these tucked away on a shelf............10% small frame forgings, a bit more involved than the more popular 80% lowers but if you want to challenge yourself........

I got 6 of these a few years ago and finished 2 into registered rifles, with sequential serial numbers, one for me and the other is the wife’s. 

I've attached Ray Brandes excellent PDF tutorial on finishing these lowers, it's the best info available, IMO

 

AR forgings.jpg

ray brandens complete ar 15 build.pdf

Edited by 308kiwi
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