Project EBR: First Look
More Options Than Mickey D's, Pizza Hut, & BK Combined!
OK, here's the first peek at Project EBR, the next LOLA bonus gun.
EBR, for you non-gunnies, stands for "Evil Black Rifle". It's the name jokingly used for AR-15's, HK 91's and FN FAL clones, to name a few. Basically it's a semi-auto sporter rifle based on a military design, feeds from a box magazine, and is typically called an "assault rifle" by the thumb-suckers and pantywaist gun-hating crowd.
Naturally, I had to add one to my gun collection. (Which, according to the aforementioned thumb-sucking pantywaisted gun-hating crowd, would be called a sizable arsenal!)
I decided to build it myself instead of buying one off the rack. I won't save any money, but I'll get to pick exactly the options I want.
And therein lies the problem. You can spend WEEKS researching all the available permutations of your basic AR-15 setup. You want a 600 yard coyote laser with a scope and a free-floating bull barrel? No problem. You want a short-barreled door-buster? Pay your SBR fee, and it's yours! The possibilities are endless...
To build your own, you start out with a stripped lower receiver. This is the lower half of the rifle's action, and the only part regulated by the BATFEIEIO.
I picked up one made by Spike's Tactical at Collector's Firearms. I could have gone for a cheaper version, but this is their Zombie-themed lower, which tickled my fancy.
Lower Receiver Pic:
The Zombie logo:
Check out the fire selector options!!
I bought a lower parts kit (all the fiddly bits in the action) at a gun show, and ordered the stock from Midway, and the buffer tube, recoil spring and buffer from Rock River Arms, and commenced to building.
Total cost at this stage is just a hair over $300, and the result looks very much like this:
That's the Spikes lower, an ACE skeleton stock, and a Magpul 30 round magazine. I used the spiffy AR Builder from Brownell's to do the mockups, then tweaked it in Photoshop.
Eventually, as I reach another LOLA milestone (and save up some serious $$$, the upper is by far the most expensive part) I'll add the barreled upper and have a shootable rifle. Adding a scope or a holographic sight will come later.
I've decided on a 16" barrel, in the configuration known as a "Dissipator". This is a shorter barrel than the standard 20" GI issue, with the full length handguards and the front sight shoved out towards the end of the barrel. This gives you a better sight radius, and the metal shields inside the handguards help deflect the heat from the barrel, hence the "Dissipator" name.
The big question that I haven't figured out is, which receiver do I go with?? A traditional A2 with handle and sights, or an A3 with a rail??
Here's the two options:
A2
A3
The A2 has a more traditional look, and I kinda prefer it, but the A3 with the rail makes it SOOO much easier to mount optics.
I imagine I'll do 90% of the shooting over iron sights in broad daylight. Let's not kid ourselves, I'm not an SEAL operator or SWAT wannabe needing a $1000 ACOG scope, or even a $600 Aimpoint.
I may split the difference, and get the railed A3, and buy a detachable handle with National Match sights.
So, there it is, Project EBR. I hope to get it finished up by this summer!
Let me know what you think!!
OK, here's the first peek at Project EBR, the next LOLA bonus gun.
EBR, for you non-gunnies, stands for "Evil Black Rifle". It's the name jokingly used for AR-15's, HK 91's and FN FAL clones, to name a few. Basically it's a semi-auto sporter rifle based on a military design, feeds from a box magazine, and is typically called an "assault rifle" by the thumb-suckers and pantywaist gun-hating crowd.
Naturally, I had to add one to my gun collection. (Which, according to the aforementioned thumb-sucking pantywaisted gun-hating crowd, would be called a sizable arsenal!)
I decided to build it myself instead of buying one off the rack. I won't save any money, but I'll get to pick exactly the options I want.
And therein lies the problem. You can spend WEEKS researching all the available permutations of your basic AR-15 setup. You want a 600 yard coyote laser with a scope and a free-floating bull barrel? No problem. You want a short-barreled door-buster? Pay your SBR fee, and it's yours! The possibilities are endless...
To build your own, you start out with a stripped lower receiver. This is the lower half of the rifle's action, and the only part regulated by the BATFEIEIO.
I picked up one made by Spike's Tactical at Collector's Firearms. I could have gone for a cheaper version, but this is their Zombie-themed lower, which tickled my fancy.
Lower Receiver Pic:
The Zombie logo:
Check out the fire selector options!!
I bought a lower parts kit (all the fiddly bits in the action) at a gun show, and ordered the stock from Midway, and the buffer tube, recoil spring and buffer from Rock River Arms, and commenced to building.
Total cost at this stage is just a hair over $300, and the result looks very much like this:
That's the Spikes lower, an ACE skeleton stock, and a Magpul 30 round magazine. I used the spiffy AR Builder from Brownell's to do the mockups, then tweaked it in Photoshop.
Eventually, as I reach another LOLA milestone (and save up some serious $$$, the upper is by far the most expensive part) I'll add the barreled upper and have a shootable rifle. Adding a scope or a holographic sight will come later.
I've decided on a 16" barrel, in the configuration known as a "Dissipator". This is a shorter barrel than the standard 20" GI issue, with the full length handguards and the front sight shoved out towards the end of the barrel. This gives you a better sight radius, and the metal shields inside the handguards help deflect the heat from the barrel, hence the "Dissipator" name.
The big question that I haven't figured out is, which receiver do I go with?? A traditional A2 with handle and sights, or an A3 with a rail??
Here's the two options:
A2
A3
The A2 has a more traditional look, and I kinda prefer it, but the A3 with the rail makes it SOOO much easier to mount optics.
I imagine I'll do 90% of the shooting over iron sights in broad daylight. Let's not kid ourselves, I'm not an SEAL operator or SWAT wannabe needing a $1000 ACOG scope, or even a $600 Aimpoint.
I may split the difference, and get the railed A3, and buy a detachable handle with National Match sights.
So, there it is, Project EBR. I hope to get it finished up by this summer!
Let me know what you think!!
posted by El Capitan | 7:59 PM
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