Wooden AR Lower

[WestKentucky]

I ran across some videos today while messing around on youtube of some AR lowers made out of various types of wood. Some plywood and pine 2x material seemed sketchy as all get out but the YouTube videos showed the guns assembled and firing. Clearly not ideal with such poor materials, but with better materials... hardwoods known you not be prone to splitting... ash? How bad of an idea would this realistically be? If you made a single piece receiver/pistol grip/thumb hole stock you could have a rigid setup for the buffer tube which is the weakest point in a normal AR lower and has been the breaking point for a bunch of plastic lowers. It sounds dumb at first, but thinking through it it sounds less dumb, so realistically... how dumb is it? Certainly not for big bore calibers.

 

[DocRock]

Wood can be made extremely strong and shock resistant through processes like !amination. Doing so requires a great deal of skill, some expensive machinery, and time. Non-!laminate hardwood treatments could perform as well as Polymer, but longevity is a question.

Plywood? Not so much.

I don't see the results as likely Darwin Award material, but definitely Bubba Award winning. A wooden lower AR would be a nice rear window gun rack accompaniment to a set of Truck Nutz. Somewhere.

 

[Skylerbone]

My first thought would be the tight tolerances of the AR vs the instability of shrinking and swelling wood.

 

[Demi-human]

How bad of an idea would this realistically be?

When it does break, there will be considerably more labor lost than with an Aluminum one...

Still, that would be pretty neat. Tiger maple AR lower with integrated stock and matching forearm.

With a Brownells 180 piston upper, no buffer tube need be fitted in the stock. But the upper should be bedded in like a stick shift rifle.

All the parts in the lower are rotary and would not bind too badly set in wood, or an epoxied bushing. The mag release will be difficult.

 

[benEzra]

The receiver of an AR doesn’t see a whole lot of force, as the bolt locks into the barrel extension, not the receiver. Cracking around the pins from recoil, wear from the reciprocating parts, and difficulty in attaching the buffer tube would seem to be the biggest issue.

I suspect hardwood could be made to work if it were made a bit thicker than spec and the receiver and buttstock were carved from a single piece of wood, with the buffer tube simply being a hole of appropriate dimensions drilled in the stock. It would be interesting to see a video of that.

 

[Varminterror]

The lower receiver does take the force of the reciprocating mass. If I were undertaking such a venture, I would bed aluminum or steel bushing blocks/ferrules into the stock to capture the pins, and a flanged threaded bushing for the receiver extension. A Rock River or Brownells upper without an extension mounted recoil system would be highly preferred. Stabilized hardwood laminate, with a redesigned lower (aka thicker and bulkier in several areas), with the appropriate metallic pin and thread bushings should be feasible.

Under typical firing circumstances, I think a wooden AR lower is a silly notion, but with an upper-contained recoil system, it would be functional.

HOWEVER...

I fully expect any OOB detonation or over-pressure event to become catastrophically destructive to the lower, whereas aluminum receivers are tolerant enough and strong enough to leave the magazine to yield as the weakest point. I’m not convinced a wooden lower could be designed appropriately to do so.

Effectively, we’re talking about something analogous a very poor quality carbon fiber lower. It can work, but it won’t be as durable as an aluminum AR lower.

 

[Obturation]

Breaking news, they're wanting to ban wood. Thanks @WestKentucky , now what am I going to build my tree fort out of?

 

[Pat Riot]

I don’t know...sounds like an effort in futility to me. Perhaps an epoxy laminate lower for pistol calibers but I can’t see where this could be anything but “let’s see if we can do it”.

I know this. I wouldn’t pull the trigger on one.

 

[<*(((><]

Sounds great until one needs to mortar a stuck round.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Interesting concept.
I see it as totally doable with marine-grade plywood and appropriate, internally honed threadserts.

Could be a fun project.

Todd.

 

[Speedo66]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Also applies to cars, motorcycles, mini bikes, lawn mowers, etc.

 

[MistWolf]

Breaking news, they're wanting to ban wood. Thanks @WestKentucky , now what am I going to build my tree fort out of?

In California, they already have a work around. They're building forts in living rooms out of couch cushions and blankets, although the California District Attorney is reportedly writing a law to close the "couch cushion & blanket" loophole.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Also applies to cars, motorcycles, mini bikes, lawn mowers, etc.

You don't think ARs should be made out of cars, motorcycles, mini bikes, lawn mowers or etc?

 

[MistWolf]

Another unintended discharge

 

[CapnMac]

Wooden furniture has been available for the AR for quite some time.
Never sold very well as the hardwood added a couple pounds to the weight for no real gain. Other than looks.

As a DIY, I'd probably not use Ash. Yes, it's light in weight and color, but, the grain is iffy, and the quality varies a lot. Which means probably needing to glue up veneers, and the glue will weigh more than the wood in the end.
However, a person with a deft hand with a lathe, and access to some good veneer and glue could build up a stout free-float fore end.

 

[entropy]

I suspect a lower made of bodark would stand up to a pounding.......

 

[Varminterror]

Wooden furniture has been available for the AR for quite some time.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we’re talking about wooden lower receivers here, right? Not just stocks and forends.

 

[Demi-human]

Yup!

And it's what I thought of when I read the thread about the welded steel receiver, that I can't find now.

With pieces of the right shape and grain orientation it is very plausible. Laminates would be easiest, routering out the shape. But finely made pieces glued together with Gorilla Glue would last. They won't come apart at the glue joint anyway..., love that stuff.

 

[Obturation]

Amish ARs. Might as well carry this all the way through -bamboo barrel, a lightening bug tied to a twig for a night sight, flash hider made out of a walnut and optional zucchini suppressor, magazine made out of a live squirrel . this could work , guys. We just need to have patience (and a rabies shot).

 

[Varminterror]

The novelty of “look what I can do” would wear off quickly for me. The compression deformations around pin holes will be unavoidable, and the increased bulk to sustain an out of battery discharge without rupturing the lower would be a turn off.

Surviving the recoil operation and common rough handling is the only challenge for a “limited use” lower. We’re not sustaining 50,000psi with the lower, we’re just catching the buffer and carrier.

“Innovations” like this always remind me of a common saying around horsemen - a bad dad joke really. When asked by a hunter or cattleman whether his horses are gun shy, or trained around firearms, inevitably the response is always the same: “you can shoot off of the back of any horse on my place.... Once....”

 

[theotherwaldo]

I was working on a design for a sheet metal receiver that is fitted into a semi-hollow laminate stock. The trigger assembly would be in a separate box that would drop in and be pinned or screwed in place, minimizing the chance of jams caused by warpage of the wood or sheet metal.
I was doing background work for a story where folks were using "brake shop" guns after a ban and the design was simply a design that could be made with basic tools in an auto shop.
It looked functional.
In fact, I thought that it would look more attractive than a standard M-4.

 

[Skylerbone]

magazine made out of a live squirrel . this could work , guys. We just need to have patience (and a rabies shot).

Sometimes the obtuse nature around here gets to me. Very few squirrels are rabid, very few! Now tapping a walnut to compliment bamboo, that is aesthetically pleasing my friend.

 

[WestKentucky]

That

I was working on a design for a sheet metal receiver that is fitted into a semi-hollow laminate stock. The trigger assembly would be in a separate box that would drop in and be pinned or screwed in place, minimizing the chance of jams caused by warpage of the wood or sheet metal.
I was doing background work for a story where folks were using "brake shop" guns after a ban and the design was simply a design that could be made with basic tools in an auto shop.
It looked functional.
In fact, I thought that it would look more attractive than a standard M-4.

thats an interesting project idea. The more I have thought about a wooden AR, the more I want to go full out and do a full length wooden stock with a integral hand guard lower section with a clamshell type top cover just to cover the gas tube. Of course the gas tube could be removed and the hole plugged allowing an even more attractive finished product.

 

[JFrank]

I ran across some videos today while messing around on youtube of some AR lowers made out of various types of wood. Some plywood and pine 2x material seemed sketchy as all get out but the YouTube videos showed the guns assembled and firing. Clearly not ideal with such poor materials, but with better materials... hardwoods known you not be prone to splitting... ash? How bad of an idea would this realistically be? If you made a single piece receiver/pistol grip/thumb hole stock you could have a rigid setup for the buffer tube which is the weakest point in a normal AR lower and has been the breaking point for a bunch of plastic lowers. It sounds dumb at first, but thinking through it it sounds less dumb, so realistically... how dumb is it? Certainly not for big bore calibers.

IMO
Pretty dumb
Or to coin a phrase- useless blather

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Amish ARs. Might as well carry this all the way through -bamboo barrel, a lightening bug tied to a twig for a night sight, flash hider made out of a walnut and optional zucchini suppressor, magazine made out of a live squirrel . this could work , guys. We just need to have patience (and a rabies shot).

You are SOOOOOO onto something here.

How in THE hell could anyone villianize an *Amish-15*?

"B-b-bu-but.... IT'S sustainable!"

Todd.

 

[Varminterror]

I was working on a design for a sheet metal receiver that is fitted into a semi-hollow laminate stock.

Applied in the design contexts of a wooden AR lower, you’ve just described a Marlin 60, Ruger 10/22 (although the FCG block is plastic instead of sheet metal), Ruger LCP, Sig P320 (polymer instead of wood)..........