I went by Ricky's shop the other day to get some lowers engraved since their tax stamps came back. While I was there he showed me some of his newest products, and I wanted to make the internet aware of them too.
Check out his billet lower. Look at the trigger guard on this bad boy!
If you haven't bought a higher end receiver lately, you probably didn't know this was thing. Companies have gone away from roll pins and have started using solid pins with threads on them to hold them. No more beating with a hammer anymore, bending pins, scratching the finish, or wallowing out holes. Here is the one that holds the bolt catch in, which is one of the most pain-in-the-butt pins on an AR.
Here is the second biggest pain in the butt according to me. When you are tightening the castle nut on and you have to get the end plate in position to hold the takedown pin detente pin and spring in. Well, Ricky solved your problems because he threaded that bad mamajama too. I guess this means you could even go without an endplate?
Ricky has also designed some very nice free float tubes that utilize the factory barrel nut. This is good news for people that don't want to disassemble their upper nor want a Samson.
If you haven't been by his shop in a while, I suggest you go see all the cool new things he has cooking up.
And don't forget, we have a carbine match on Saturday, May 20. So get to BMS and buy the parts you need to finish or upgrade that rifle and then you can come test them at the match.
I tap the rear spring detent hole and bolt catch on all my AR builds. The detent is easy, tap with a 4-40 tap, clip about 1/8" off the stock spring and put a set screw in behind it. The bolt catch is a little trickier, I use a 6" long bit and tap and 6-32 screw pin. The 4-40 set screws are easy to source, the 6-32 screw pins are a little harder to find (read that as more money) but they are out there. I've never tapped the forward assist retaining pin hole before. The material on the receiver is pretty thin there so you wouldn't get a lot of thread engagement. Anyway, never thought about tapping that hole before.
EDIT: Looks like BMS adds some material to the forward assist on their receivers; that makes sense now.
I tap the rear spring detent hole and bolt catch on all my AR builds. The detent is easy, tap with a 4-40 tap, clip about 1/8" off the stock spring and put a set screw in behind it. The bolt catch is a little trickier, I use a 6" long bit and tap and 6-32 screw pin. The 4-40 set screws are easy to source, the 6-32 screw pins are a little harder to find (read that as more money) but they are out there. I've never tapped the forward assist retaining pin hole before. The material on the receiver is pretty thin there so you wouldn't get a lot of thread engagement. Anyway, never thought about tapping that hole before.
EDIT: Looks like BMS adds some material to the forward assist on their receivers; that makes sense now.
Yeah he is making his own receivers, both upper and lower. So he can make it beefier where need be. His billet lowers have a nice trigger guard and more of a flare on the magwell than a standard forged lower.
I have seen threading the bolt catch before and liked that, but his was the first lower I have seen that tapped the takedown pin detente, and I can't believe that never crossed my mind until Thursday.
He donated a couple receivers to our club's fundraising efforts but I didn't win em unfortunately. The next time I need to buy an upper or lower I will get one of his billet ones.
We are also offering billet AR-10 recievers and rifles also. Threw in a few pictures of the billet rifle we put together the other day it weighed in at 6.4lbs
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