Ar lower made from melted beer cans

Yeah, you can make the lower, but if you don't do it on a CNC, it takes forever and isn't worth the time compared to what a lower goes for. Seriously, if you make at least $15/hr, you're better off buying a lower.

If you guys want to make your own stuff, stick with "fake" suppressors.
 
Yeah, you can make the lower, but if you don't do it on a CNC, it takes forever and isn't worth the time compared to what a lower goes for. Seriously, if you make at least $15/hr, you're better off buying a lower.

If you guys want to make your own stuff, stick with "fake" suppressors.
I guess it's like making black powder then
 
I guess it's like making black powder then
Dude, it would cost a thousand times more to buy the tools, the lathe/mill, grinder, etc. to make a lower than if you just bought a lower. With black powder, the expense is a tumbler machine and a few bucks of the ingredients and once it's all said and done, you've spent maybe $7 for a pound of black powder as opposed to $25.
 
Dude, it would cost a thousand times more to buy the tools, the lathe/mill, grinder, etc. to make a lower than if you just bought a lower. With black powder, the expense is a tumbler machine and a few bucks of the ingredients.
Just teasing :) I would never make my own lower either - at least not an AR.
 
Just teasing :) I would never make my own lower either - at least not an AR.

That's why you should stick to AKs. For the cost of a shit shovel, you can forge an AK receiver and defend the motherland! Or confuse the shit out of Boris's cats. Either way, there's something awesome about an AR receiver made out of beer cans.
 
speaking for myself, if i had all the equipment the video guy has, & the knowledge to use it, i'd make a few.

i love to play with tools, create something from raw materials (mostly lumber) then sit back when i'm done and admire my work. good therapy for me.

i would not however 1) shoot at a pond, or 2) make a round of .223 out of aluminum
 
Yeah, you can make the lower, but if you don't do it on a CNC, it takes forever and isn't worth the time compared to what a lower goes for. Seriously, if you make at least $15/hr, you're better off buying a lower.
Who are you going to buy it from after the knowledge about how to start from scratch is lost with the death of the last craftsman?
 
My question is on the strength of the aluminum. Aluminum cans are not 6061 or 7075 like most lowers.

I'm not set up to do 90% of what's done here so I'll stick with 80% lowers.

correct, can are made from "virgin" aluminum which suck for casting because of its purity, it shrinks a lot and is usually too soft. There are alloys that do much better, with having better properties on shrinkage.

in terms of strength, the Achilles' point on AR receiver is the part between the pistol grip and buffer ring. If it's reinforced, even plastic receivers can serve a really long time, longer than an average shooter cares to shoot it. Aside from plastics or polymers, one can use a low melting alloys that could be cast into rubber molds, I've done it, but they tend to be expensive and heavy.

An apprentice foundry man was once tested to cast a tea cup + saucer + spoon in the cup in one pour and the tea spoon was floating. This was done with just foundry sand, not even wood patterns. It takes a lot of skill and patience, but with training, most can do it. AR receiver also can be cast to the point that no further machining would be required, but it would take a lot of time and skill to make it happen.

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People are surprised that aluminum can be melted and cast at home. All it takes is a hot fire that can warm steel to dark cherry red or a weed burner propane torch between a couple of bricks to contain the flame. A steel or cast iron pot as a crucible. Even steel soup can can work for a melt or too.

There is a Navy foundry manual sirca 58's (http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a956386.pdf), that your granda already paid for in taxes. This is how people used to make things before ordering them from China.
 
Cool video, also extremely ballsy to cast his own case and bullet and then just dump an unknown amount of powder in and shoot it.

I was thinking this too. There is a reason they don't make pure aluminum cases. Then he filled it. I'm assuming he didn't seat the bullet with the powder topped off like he showed. I also assume the case volume was much less than a factory case as it looked like he only bored a straight hole in the case the size of the neck.
 
I was thinking this too. There is a reason they don't make pure aluminum cases. Then he filled it. I'm assuming he didn't seat the bullet with the powder topped off like he showed. I also assume the case volume was much less than a factory case as it looked like he only bored a straight hole in the case the size of the neck.
I was thinking this too. There is a reason they don't make pure aluminum cases. Then he filled it. I'm assuming he didn't seat the bullet with the powder topped off like he showed. I also assume the case volume was much less than a factory case as it looked like he only bored a straight hole in the case the size of the neck.
not exactly an unknown amount - he said he pulled the projectile from a commercial cartridge (presumably .223) and dumped out the powder. He then puts less than the full load in the case because (as noted) it's just a straight-walled hole.

Not saying I'd do it, but I see how he'd feel comfortable with it.
 
Yeah, you can make the lower, but if you don't do it on a CNC, it takes forever and isn't worth the time compared to what a lower goes for. Seriously, if you make at least $15/hr, you're better off buying a lower.

If you guys want to make your own stuff, stick with "fake" suppressors.
There's 4473 reasons for 80% lowers. Nor everybody lives in Mass.
 
Yeah, you can make the lower, but if you don't do it on a CNC, it takes forever and isn't worth the time compared to what a lower goes for. Seriously, if you make at least $15/hr, you're better off buying a lower.

If you guys want to make your own stuff, stick with "fake" suppressors.

I just finished an 80% lower even stopping for the Patriots game and it didn’t take forever, just a few hours. I know what my time is worth and I would have spent it on the couch so it would have been worth $00.00 dollars.

And, nobody has it in their data banks.
 
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