Whether you buy a complete kit or you get it one piece at a time, now is the time to build. Here’s how I made an inexpensive AR-15 pistol.

by Ed Nutter

It seemed like just when I started looking at the AR-15, prices went through the roof and everything was out of reach. In some ways, it reminded me of the old Johnny Cash song, “One Piece At A Time”. Though I didn’t have access to parts on an assembly line, the idea stuck in my head. If I could find the parts – one piece at a time – I could assemble them myself, hopefully with better luck than the Cadillac in the song.

Let’s start with the lower receiver. Skipping forward a few years, I stopped at a gun show where they were selling $40 AR-15 lower receivers. Finding this too hard to pass up, I filled out the paperwork and left with a basic receiver. This is an important distinction. A plain receiver can be made into a …

Read more in the July 2019 issue.

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