When upgrading or repairing an AR, stuff can happen...
Many AR owners myself included, love working on and upgrading their ARs. That is why 80% lowers continue to be very popular items. The allure of “manufacturing” your own rifle is strong. I have done a few myself. It’s a lot of fun and brings a certain sense of accomplishment. However, if you are not slow and methodical with your approach to this you can make a mess out of a lower really quickly.
The most common mistake we see is the end mill getting sucked out of the router and blowing out the floor of the lower receiver. In our case, we overtightened the screws while installing a drop-in trigger. This malformed the floor of the lower making it impossible to truly tighten the screws without totally blowing out the floor of the lower. If you really blow it out you can’t even install a mil-spec trigger because the trigger spring rests on that floor.
So you messed up the floor, what do you do now????
Anti-walk pins are your new best friend. For about $20-$40, you can get a set of anti-walk pins that will lock a drop-in trigger in place and allow you to still use that lower. They are very easy to install and have a clean look. We bought a set of Guntec anti-rotational pins for just under $25. While we’re at it we bought a few goodies to upgrade our lower. These upgrades include:
- Ambidextrous safety selector from Phase 5 – $45.00
- Magpul B.A.D. lever (Battery Assist Device) – $30.00
- Guntec extended take down pins – $17.00
So in total, we spent about $125 on some nice little upgrades and a way to still use a drop-in trigger after we had damaged a lower receiver. You can watch the video of us installing all these goodies here.
All these little things that are inexpensive upgrades can really set your rifle off. If you’re a competition shooter or fancy yourself to be one, as you run through your own backyard 3 gun range, these little things make your gun a lot more fun. And for me, it’s all about having fun. I make no claims to know if some of these items are legal for competition shooting as I do not shoot competitively.
As always stay safe, shoot straight, and have fun!
Have more questions about AR hunting or building your next AR?
