About a year ago I decided to kick off the project of building an AR15. After about a month of diving head long into forums and YouTube videos about something I knew next to nothing about I finally had my parts list. Here is what I used and why, sometimes the why is simple it's what the local gun shop had.
First off I started with a spike's tactical lower
I chose this lower because it seemed to be a popular pick for most gun builders and had very few, if any, complaints. Also, It's what the shop had in stock
The upper receiver is made by Yankee Hill Manufacturing .
Simply pick this because it's what was in stock.
(forgot to take a pick of the upper alone)
The bolt carrier group is a BCM.
Originally I wanted a nickle boron coated BCG but couldn't find one that seemed reliable and from a reputable company, never mind the ridiculous price tag on the ones I did find. The BCM though was a well established BCG that got great reviews from everything I read and made a great fit.
The charging handle is the ATXS Raptor ambidextrous charging handle.
I picked this because I loved the way it looked as well as its functionality. Having an ambidextrous charging handle was very important to because I'm left handed and didn't want to run into any issues because of that.
ATXS recently re-branded themselves as Radian Weapons. They still sell the Raptor, it;s just stamped with Radian insted of ATXS.
The stock is a Magpul ACS.
I chose this because Magpul seems to be the standard and I love the little compartment it has. Many people I saw using it had back up batteries for their red dot sight packed away there. Since i want to eventually add a rd dot, it was a good fit.
Next is a Noveske, 16 inch, chrome lined, cold hammer forged, low profile gas block barrel with a 1-7 twist.
I chose this because Noveske makes high quality barrels as well as being one of the few that I could find that were both chrome lined and cold hammer forged. The 16 inch length was chosen for the legal reason that all rifles with barrels under 16 inches have to be registered as a SBR. The 1-7 twist seemed to be the most versatile twist rate when firing different grain rounds.
The Noveske barrel in enclosed by a 12.5 inch Odin Works free floating k-mod rail.
I definitely wanted a free float rail for the increased accuracy. I chose the Odin Works rail because it was light weight, looked good, durable, and was cheaper than my original pick of a Daniel Defense rail.
Mounted on the upper and rail is a pair of Magpul Mbuis pro flip up sights.
I picked these up because they were minimalist, fit perfectly with a red dot, and the pro is made of iron instead of polymer like the original Mbuis.
The muzzle device is a Yankee Hill 5C2 flash comp.
The 5C2 was chosen because frankly the Odin Works Atlas 5 was out of stock for the entire build plus a month after. It doesn't hurt that the 5C2 still got good reviews and with the aggressive end cuts, looks absolutely wicked.
The trigger group is a skeletonized Timny single stage 4 pound trigger.
The Timny was a top pick because of it's smooth pull, high quality construction. Plus all you have to do to get it working is drop it in place and drive in the two retaining pins.
The safety is the ATXS Talon.
I chose this because having an ambidextrous safety was important to be for being left handed. Plus, it was on sale as abundle with the Raptor charging handle.
The few other miscellaneous include a CMMG dust cover, buffer tube assembly, and a Spike's Tactical enhanced lower parts kit. The lower parts kit almost got entirely swapped out, save for the pins, trigger guard, and grip.
This was just the first of what I hope to be several more builds. It was fun and challenging to research the best fits for what I wanted and to get them assembled properly.
