AR Lower Build Lesson Learned

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Stephen1956

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I'm building a Anderson AR lower got a good deal on it and it's well made. Went on Ebay and ordered a lower parts kit from Center Mass Tactical in Georgia mag catch and bolt release went on fine than things went FUBAR. The trigger and hammer had so many machine marks it was unreal, the safety spring was so hard it had no give. The front takedown pin spring just bent after I pushed it through today also stiff it didn't seem that way at first. The trigger spring was also very stiff. And the guy I bought it from is PO'd because I gave a negative review. So what's a man to do the guy said if I'd told him about it all he would have given me a refund. Well I did tell 2 days before the review had a 9 pound trigger pull unreal. So need some help here guys for springs and any other help I can get.:banghead:
 
I had pretty good results with CMMG and Palmetto State Armory Lower build kits.

I ended up replacing the trigger on one build with a Timney.

If you're just looking for springs, maybe try one of those "AR Repair Kits"

Good Luck
 
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Unless they are name brand, dont buy your parts on Ebay. Check out Palmetto State Armory & JoeBobOutfitters for a start. Remember: If they wont put their name on it, its likely not worth buying for a $5 savings.
 
Thanks Hungry1 I just ordered a kit from Amazon for $21.00 Had 2 Of Everything Plus a tool. 200 hundred reviews and 5 stars just 1 3 star they left the tool out of this guys order. Thanks for the help could have got a Anderson kit for the same price.
 
You're right Jackal even if I could return it I've polished the hammer and trigger local guy here who builds AR's check them and said they were ok. What did I start this polishing with a freaking stone I use to sharpen knives. Then 400 grit sand paper and then 1200 and 1500 grit sand paper. The guy that checked said I could polish some more never saw such ridges. But I'm going to call them tomorrow and chew on someone's A** for sure. Thanks for the help and advise.
 
Remember the hammer and trigger should be surface hardened. If you take that off they'll be soft and apt to malfunction possibly going uncontrollably full auto
I'd suggest replacing the hammer and trigger with ALG parts for @$65.00. I'd second the recommendation for Palmetto State or CMMG parts in the future.
 
You gave the guy a negative review only two days after telling him of the problem?

Slow down and educate yourself as to what makes for good parts before repeating your mistake. Assembling an AR is easy. Until it isn't
 
Well MistWolf I talked with him for 3 days about the problems he did offer to replace the trigger but with what kind he didn't say. As to Rick R I sit on a mountain top in Virginia used to be a machinist first day in college file a piece of metal flat can't be done but you can get close. I just used the fine side of the stone to remove ridges didn't go grinding the ridges were tearing the sand paper that bad. I just polished from there I was worried about the going full auto also. Didn't take off the case harding you can still see deep grooves on the hammer but I'll be very careful believe me. I didn't know so I took it over to the local gun shop the guy there has built about 200 lowers he said it should be ok in fact he said I should polish some more. I do have some JP springs on the way and as you saw a parts kit said made in USA but so did the parts kit. I did a lot of research before I started this, the guy from Center Mass said he had one of these parts kits in his own rifle. I sit here looking at the bent spring from the front take down pin it would come out every time I pushed it through need a solution for that don't why it was doing it. All in all I made a mistake, but the good thing I learned from it and you guys are great. Any other help would be nice especially about the take down pin but the new kit has 2 so I'll try one of those.
 
Its pretty bad form to leave negative feedback when the seller offers to resolve the issue... I'd be kinda mad too. Chances are, the seller does not hand inspect every single retail part that they sell (no one does). Kinda dirty pool to drop negative feedback on him unless there is more to the story.
 
I think the reason was he told me he had this kit in his rifle was my main reason I offered to change the review which I can but he has to put in the request. But I'm disabled due to some guy texting his girl friend and destroying my car along with my back, neck and shoulder money is hard to come by. And as stated he only offered a refund after the bad review not all my fault. No he can't inspect them all true I offered to send the bad parts back and just use the rest I'm still waiting for a reply. I should have just bought a better parts kit.
 
Stephen1956 said:
And as stated he only offered a refund after the bad review not all my fault. No he can't inspect them all true I offered to send the bad parts back and just use the rest I'm still waiting for a reply. I should have just bought a better parts kit.
Click to expand...

Bad form and bad English.

seems the OP got what he paid for. Plus he blames the vendor because he OP bought the cheap parts. Worse still, OP dings the vendor prior to a pending resolution.

My stock AR triggers aren't that great but they all go bang. Yeah... If I want a better trigger I'll have to pony up some money and no... I won't order it the parts from eBay.
 
sappyg you could be right got the kit last Monday and told him about the parts mostly the springs gave him 6 days to set that right. Who's at fault me this guy has a website I took the ebay route because of the free shipping which his store couldn't offer. The trigger came out ok after I polished it also the OP did several things wrong while installing parts. As MistWolf said building one is easy till it's not got in to much of a hurry and should have looked at the diagram I had. Hungry1 I checked out your link I saw 2 things I did wrong and one is in this post we all missed it. The front take down spring goes in first then the detent I had it backwards why it bent the spring. So my fault all the way just need to take my time and wait till the JP springs get here just cost $9.95+$3.00 shipping and I have some Bushmaster springs in a repair kit. So OP made some bad decisions but yet again who hasn't.
 
Thermactor well put I could went to the local gun store and picked up a CMMG kit for $65.00 would have saved me a lot of trouble. Live and learn which I did and that crappy trigger pull well what happened on that deal some how I got the hammer springs under the trigger instead of above it. I just got in to much of a hurry and that leads to major problems. Thanks guys criticism, I don't mean it in a bad way can be good if it leads to better things and thanks for all the help.
 
Thanks for letting us know about it. I always appreciate honest negative feedback. I can understand an accidental defective part here or there making it out the door, but with the amount of issues you describe, I would stay away.
 
Why not just buy a complete lower parts kit from Palmetto State Armory and save yourself the pain?

They have kits with their own enhanced FCG, and some deals with a Geissele FCG along with the rest of the parts to complete the lower.

I wouldn't even bother trying to buy parts on ebay when you can so easily find quality parts from a reputable outfit.
 
I bought all of my stuff from Anderson. I built two of them. I have not been sorry, one has been perfect, and the other had a minor headspace problem which the Anderson folks fixed -- the upper is hiding in the Big Brown Truck for delivery tomorrow.

Everything fit, everything was of high quality, everything was reasonably priced, and the end result is a rifle that will likely be with me a long time. I'm not much into aesthetics so I really don't know if my rifle is ugly or normal, but its pieces all match and it shoots very well. I spent about the same as I would have spent for a S&W M&P 15, or a Ruger 556. But I had a heck of a lot of fun learning how to do it.
 
You can find individual parts on Brownells. I have helped customers in the past this way after running into the exact same problem you experienced.

Quality LPK's I have used in the past include: CMMG, Colt, Del Ton, Double Star, and DPMS.

Another company that makes cool stuff that's high quality is KNS precision.
 
CMMG now offers an ":Enhanced Kit" with an ambidextrous safety. I think it's around $80. You will want the ambi safety at some point, get it from the start.
kwg
 
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