Any AR builders here?

[Bill in Oregon]

Years ago I picked up a stripped lower -- just to have one -- and it has only gathered dust. I recently stumbled across the .25-45 Sharps cartridge -- a design based on the .223, and a capable one for use on deer and antelope, pushing an 87-grain bullet to 2800 -- right on the heels of .250 Savage territory. Lee makes dies for it. I sure don't need another project, but a poster on another board mentioned that True Sporting Arms is clearing out new Black Hole barrels in this chambering for 75 percent off. I could not resist. Now I'm gonna have to find someone who can put one o' these things together for me.
I recently ordered some 90-grain monometal flat-point .257 bullets for the .25-35 Tomcat, and I am thinking these might be the bee's knees out of the .25-45. Being a rifle crank is a terrible burden!

[2ndovc]

I've put together a couple lower halves but haven't attempted an upper yet. The .25-45 sounds interesting, I've seen it mentioned a few times. I've got a couple lowers lying around and have to figure out what to do with. Though I think my next one is going to be a 450 or 458 something.

jb

[Bill in Oregon]

Jason, a Socom certainly turns an AR platform into a hog death ray. This is the article that caught my fancy:
https://www.americanhunter.org/articles ... 45-sharps/

[wecsoger]

If you can pull toast out of a toaster, or fold paper to go into an envelope, you can probably build an AR

Maybe not that simple, but darn near it.

Mating a barrel onto an upper only slightly more complicated - and there are gazoodles of youtube videos out there for it.

Brownells has some great assembly vids also.

.300 Blackout seems to be the most popular alternate round from the .223/5.56

Those barrels are 75% off for a reason - they didn't sell because no one was that interested.

I say go for it. Don't think parts will get much cheaper and maybe less so. The market is saturated now and we're going to see a lot of aftermarket suppliers floating at the top of the fishbowl soon, belly up.

If you don't end up liking that caliber, then no issue later to unscrew the barrel and roll another one in there.

[AJMD429]

I'm no gunsmith, but I can put together an upper and lower from individual parts in under an hour. Barrel wrench needed but they are inexpensive. vice-block can be improvised but also cheap.

[OldWin]

I went the .300BO route and have been happy with it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Thanks, fellas. I figured the lower would be simple enough --hardest part likely choosing a good trigger. I'll nose around on what goes into building a good, safe, dependable upper. I had a book around on this. Dunno if I still have it.
If anyone has advice on parts to seek out vs. parts to avoid, I am all ears.

[OldWin]

If you want a decent service type trigger, the ALG Defense ACT is quite good. It's an oem type design but a huge improvement over stock. I have them in both my ARs. Sell for 60-70 bucks. Seen em on sale for 45-50.

[Bill in Oregon]

Thanks OldWin. I'd be looking for a crisp 3-pound break for what would mostly be a hunting rifle.

[OldWin]

I doubt you'll get 3lb from an ALG, but 4 to 4.5 is what I'd expect. It also gets rid of that obnoxious GI trigger creep.

[2ndovc]

If you want a decent service type trigger, the ALG Defense ACT is quite good. It's an oem type design but a huge improvement over stock. I have them in both my ARs. Sell for 60-70 bucks. Seen em on sale for 45-50.

I'll have to check those out. I just put a Hyperfire in my Stoner 7.62x39 and it made a world of difference but they usually run $85 or so.


jb

[MrMurphy]

ALG is the sister company to Geissele (his wife runs it). For crisp 3lb trigger, spend the $$, get a Geissele DMR. I use a SSA in my duty rifle, the DMR will get down to 3lb (for work, 4.5 is our limit).

Sharps has gotten into some shady stuff, .25-45 is not worth it for me. The new .224 Valkyrie has long range performance and industry support, it may,be worth looking into. LaRue, Savage and others are already making rifles in the caliber.

[Griff]

I have CMC triggers in both my ARs, modular design, simple drop in installation. Pricier than what's mentioned above, but the simplicity of install and reliability made the decision easier for me. I have two more to assemble and I have CMCs for them both. The only one I've built, I went with a pre-assembled upper, the next two will be fully assembled by me. I'm still gathering all the parts. Waiting on a deal for a certain upper housing to match one of my lowers, (Seekins). The fourth is still an open slate. I'll end up with at least 5.56s, the 4th... ?

[Malamute]

A guy on the bushcraftusa forum got one of the 25-45 barrels. I dont think hes been abkle to match the advertised velocities in his, which shouldnt be too much of a surprise. I think its a fine chambering, but doubt most are going to get the advertised performance within commonly accepted pressure ranges. If its a proprietary cartridge with expensive anything related to it, id just move to whatever increment up or down suits ones fancy, i dont think any of the mid 20s calibers based on the 5.56 case are anything head and shoulders above anything else performance wise. The 6x45 has long looked useful to me for whatever Id want to shoot with an AR type gun.

The whole "you can build an upper in all sorts of calibers" thing used to sort of appeal to me until I realized that with the level of parts it takes to make me happy (like Colt or BCM bolts and carriers and comparable quality other parts), I can buy another entire Ruger 77 in an even better chambering (like 308 or 30-06 class actions), and id like the gun more.

[Rusty]

I heard an interview on GUNTALK about the 25-45 some time ago. It sounded like a very interesting round. Please let us know how it turns out.

[piller]

Some time back, I got a stripped lower and the parts to put it together. It was easy enough. I am still trying to decide on what to do for an upper. The .458 SOCOM sounds fun, and it lists ballistics that are close to the .45-70 range of power. If I decide to put something together from just parts, it would probably be a .300 Blackout. The items based on 5.56 cartridges are so standardized that even parts from different manufacturers can usually be put together and have it all work right the first time.

Eventually, I want to try my hand at completing an 80% receiver. Some caution and checking to see if things fit seems to be most of what would be needed for that. Don't get in a hurry is what everyone has said that I have heard. Sounds reasonable to me.

[6pt-sika]

At the moment I have three AR-15 lowers and four uppers as well as a single AR-10 lower and two uppers . All accumulated in pretty much the last 16 months . Of all that garbage we only assembled one of the AR-10 uppers and if I say so myself it shoots very very well , it happens to be a 260 REM . That thing shoots as well as my Alexander Arms 6.5 Grendel upper . I will say we put Gieselle triggers in one of the AR-15 lowers and the AR-10 lower .

I can most certainly see me in the next six months building a 6.5 PRC upper just can't decide whether to buy another stripped upper AR-10 receiver and build it or rob the receiver from my 308 upper ! Probably just rob .

[6pt-sika]

That 25-45 Sharps round is very similar if not the same thing John Wooters came up with 40 years ago for his wifes bolt action deer rifle on one of those cute little Sako Vixen action bolt guns .

[Ysabel Kid]

Y2K and I finally got around to building the lower and kit I got over a year ago. I was a bit intimidated so wanted him there for help. Turned out to be easy as pie. I went to YouTube and just looked up a build video. We sat at my desk in front of the computer, pausing it after each step to complete the actual work. Essentially no tools and the only thing that gave us problems were the darn small springs and detents. It really was exceedingly simple.

[arjunky]

Now you did it, I looked at the site and bought 3, 25-45, 6x45 and a american 30.
Byron

[Bill in Oregon]

Sorry Byron. You should know this is not just the "General Forum" but the "Enabler Forum" as well...

[cas]

That 26" 6x45 really tempted me. I came close several times but the hard fact that I have no use for it help holding me up. lol