Show Off Your AR Builds: Gallery & Chat Thread

Hey everyone! This thread is all about sharing our AR rifle builds—let's turn it into a gallery of creativity. Post your pictures, list out the parts you used, and tell us about your building experiences, whether they were smooth or had some unexpected bumps in the road. I'm excited to see all the unique setups out there—let’s see what you’ve got!

Can't wait to see some setups here too. Still a newbie

Looking to buy my very first AR as well. Would love to see your setups guys!

Don’t think you will see many posting pics in this state. You never know how they change the law.
Have a friend that’s a Sherrif and Iraq war vet. Told me his is pieces because he can’t keep up with the laws. But being a war vet, it could be very quickly assembled

Let me just say, I have a number of semi-automatic rifles, some with legal barrels of 16" or greater, but I'd like to get your opinion on using a barrel shorter than 16" ???

For 6.5 Grendel I have a 12" barrel, but I could use a 16" barrel I have. The thing is, I like the 12" barrel better.

I would really like to shoot 8.6 blackout, albeit slightly heavy, it would decimate pigs into jelly. For that matter, it would do the same to black bear.

In Texas, the Garland case granted an injunction to the members of the 2nd Amendment Foundation, as well as the Firearms Policy Coalition, but it's not clear how a pistol brace would stand up in court, so because of that I plan to shoot bolt action rifles this season, while the dust settles on SBRs and Suppressors.

I just wanna know what it would feel like to be Jackie Gleason...cause if I'm ever able to use a suppressor in California, I'll be saying..."How sweet it is!".

What is your guys take on AR type weapons with a pistol brace and 12" barrel in California? This is my Grendel, and as you can see it doesn't have a pistol brace in this pic, and how I currently have it configured. Do you think this is legal in California as an AR pistol? In this pic, it's about 7.7 lbs., ready to hunt. (3.5kg).

I feel this is kind of corny to have the cheek weld on the buffer, but it is legal, AFAIK. Do any of you think this is legal? Also, I have an SB Tactical pistol brace I could put on it, but what is your take on that in regard to legal status in the current climate? The scope is a Vortex Gen1 1-4x24 LVPO.

I don't have a clue as to what is and isn't legal in CA's gun laws.
I don't know what that is, but it looks like it would be fun.
CA's gun laws are so goofy. Or is it that gun laws are written by Marxists with the intent of control?
I personally don't like the platform. I had one in Vietnam. The first issue of Colt. Like most of Nam, I felt like The Machine paid off to buy that new rifle.

Steve Hendry said:

I don't have a clue as to what is and isn't legal in CA's gun laws.
I don't know what that is, but it looks like it would be fun.
CA's gun laws are so goofy. Or is it that gun laws are written by Marxists with the intent of control?
I personally don't like the platform. I had one in Vietnam. The first issue of Colt. Like most of Nam, I felt like The Machine paid off to buy that new rifle.

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I'm not real clear myself, anymore. Back, about 7 years ago, when Pistol Braces first came out, we had to use a bullet button on the mag release. I replaced my last one recently. Presumably, it's legal to use an AR without a bullet button, so that's a thing of the past. It required you use a bullet to release the mag. That was a workaround we came up with in California.

The whole mag ban, AWB, 10 day waiting period, these are all infringements, that all of us face to use our firearms legally, for self defense, but CA doesn't always look at it that way.

I mentioned 8.6 blackout above, but the AR-10 platform is much heavier than the AR-15, and my lightest is a 300 blackout with a red dot on it. This weighs 6.5 lbs. with the red dot, it has a 7.5" barrel on it, with a 1:5 twist. I used to shoot Hornady 110 CX bullets out of it. Definitely good for 200-300 yards.



Now, here is 2 x 8.6 blackout rifles. One has a featureless stock on it, the one on top. This is a stock that Thordsen created, and used to sell, but he's retiring nowadays, at least I have heard. Both the bottom one and the 300 blackout above have a cheek rest on the buffer, so it doesn't extend past the buffer to be legal. None of these have pistol braces on them, but I have 3 of them. I don't have any of these ARs assembled, because the law is so cloudy, it's not clear what is or what is not legal to me. As such, I plan to use bolt action long guns to hunt with. Also, not on the bottom one, that grip is legal in CA, it keep your hand above the top...it's not very comfortable, a standard AR grip, like an MOE+ would be better, but pistol grips on the the illegal feature list.

Off the top of my head, pistol grip, flash hider, front vertical grip, and mags over 10 rounds are all illegal in CA, AFAIK.



People are afraid to talk about this stuff, but legally, I don't have any of these firearms assembled, and the lowers are locked in my safe. The 8.6 blackout can shoot a 285-350 grain subsonic bullet, spinning at 500,000 RPMs. The petals expand to like 3"-4" wide, it's like a blender if you hit something. Definitely good to 400 yards. That's about what I know...

BTW Steve, didn't you post that pic about the whale/newsom's @$$#O!E? For some reason that pic keeps coming up and downloads from my phone, despite being moved into the trash and gone. I don't know what is wrong with that pic, but it happens occasionally. In this case the Newsom @$$#O!E won't go away...sound familiar? We can't get that SOB out of office soon enough...let's hope for the best on Tuesday!

BTW Steve, didn't you post that pic about the whale/newsom's @$$#O!E? For some reason, that pic keeps coming up and downloads from my phone, despite being moved into the trash and gone. I don't know what is wrong with that pic, but it happens occasionally. In this case the Newsom @$$#O!E won't go away...sound familiar? We can't get that SOB out of office soon enough...let's hope for the best on Tuesday!

Way cool pics. don't have a clue as to what I am looking at or all the numbers you put up.
Trying to understand that one of these rifles can hurl a 300-plus-grain bullet 400 yards. Then the spinny thing takes my I don't understand to a new level.
To continue on my clueless path. I remember the Newsom cartoon, but not me doing it. I'm innocent, I say.

Steve Hendry said:

To continue on my clueless path. I remember the Newsom cartoon, but not me doing it. I'm innocent, I say.

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It could have been @Javbike. I claim innocence also, somehow I downloaded it on my phone and it won't go away! It's just like Newsom, it won't go away...

Steve, I'm no legal scholar, but the one piece that needs to be considered is the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA68) , this was signed by Johnson, one of the biggest POSs on the planet, IMO. I have my faves and hates in regard to Presies, but won't go down that rat hole. Suffice to say, most people should spend an hour or two of their life to read the GCA68. I don't know if all of the GCA68 is there, but pieces are referenced. I contend that LBJ was a big POS for even signing that, but he's done other worse, IMO. LBJ was the Obama of his day.

In the GCA68, the government started to require licensed manufactures to start putting serial numbers on firearms. The GCA68 is what is used to this day as the definition of a firearm. This is important, as in the GCA68 it states that unlicensed individuals were allowed to manufacture firearms for personal use. California was pivotal in protesting all of this, to the point that many people were abusing the GCA by setting up CNCs so people could go in and push a button to produce an AR lower. The lower is what is considered the firearm with the serial number as you probably know. All of the other parts can be purchased over the counter, so if you have a lower, you can build a complete firearm. I have always contended that the individual must do the work themselves, so the CNC scenario was not entirely kosher, IMO, and I never participated in any of them. calguns was a big part of this, but the site is almost dead today. San Diego had a lot of this CNC manufacturing going on, and build parties used to happen on weekends where everyone would help others build their firearm. Per the GCA68 this is not so, however.

Another phenomena is how LEO took advantage of the handgun roster in CA, as LEO are allowed to purchase these off-roster handguns, and then can legally sell privately to individuals. And also, in this big picture, even if a handgun had a serial number on it, they were not registered. Today is really registration to go through a DROS, everything is entered into their system, and this is illegal, IMO. What the states can or can't do is very grey, so that seems to be used against us, meaning, "we the people".

There's a lot of grey area here, and California has always used that to their advantage.

These are exciting times to try and nail down the real definition of firearms, and what the 2nd amendment means for all of us. It's not just CA that abuses it's residents, it spreads to other states as well...

I hope this post doesn't muddy the water even more for some...

Like most gun hobbiest / hunters i had friends making ghost Gs. That was followed by a crack down. The People i know made them legit or got rid of them.
I did read CG 68. I agree there should be laws regulating FAs.
Personally I think training should be mandatory, dummies scare me
If the government were incharge it would get screwed up.
LBJ was a self serving peace of crap.

KonoctisWigwam said:

I hope this post doesn't muddy the water even more for some...

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Muddy Waters!? Great American singer-songwriter!
But seriously, this thread got way off topic.
If anything, the NFA 1934 was the thing that muddied the waters. Before that everything was legal. That was the beginning of infringing the citizenry instead of crushing the criminals. The wrong headed thinking that any law would ever be obeyed by criminals it's just too mind-boggling to fathom. If the punishment for criminal use of firearms had been life in prison, or in the case of fatalities, the death penalty, the citizenry would still be able to own automatic weapons, open carry would be the norm, and crime would be a fraction of what it is now.
Criminality is the result of lack of serious consequence for abborent behavior. Soft punishment only rewards criminal behavior. Punishment has to grossly outweigh any benefit of criminality to be effective.
I used to get bullied when I young. One day I had enough and fought back. I got my ass kicked, but also managed to tear a ligament in his knee. He was on crutches for a month and I never got bullied again. Consequences! Im sure he never thought he'd get hurt.

Just my $.02

xchecker said:

But seriously, this thread got way off topic.

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Not really, considering it's ARs and short barrels that have caused such problems in CA. It was the ARs that started with Clinton in the 90s.

I'm curious if the ATF can continue existing. They will still have alcohol and tobacco. It's ARs that created this magazine fiasco, and suppressors were only a tax revenue in the end. It actually started before '34, in the '20s they required some type of registration prior to that, but the NFA is the first egregious actions against the 2A by our Government.

At this point they can do whatever, it won't change my hunting, unless I wanted to hunt with an AR again. I think those days are gone.