How to legally build an AR-15, at home, by hand.

There is a legal way to build your own AR-15, using basic tools. The casting on the right is a virgin 80% lower, which is the part you must register when you buy a gun, but if, and only IF; it is 100% machined.

If it is 80% machined, as this virgin 80% lower is, not only can it be shipped directly to your house, but it needs no registration as a firearm. You can legally finish the other 20%, using drills and a file, FOR YOU OWN PERSONAL USE. The cavities do not have to be pretty inside, this is fairly forgiving; and is a lot of fun to build!

Here is a picture of a virgin 80% lower beside a finished lower I borrowed from a young man, for these pictures:

Lowers can be purchased already black anodized, but I prefer raw aluminum so I can anodize it when it is finished.

Here is a picture that shows the rough surface he left, that will not harm the function of the firearm once assembled:

There are some holes that must be accurately positioned and sized. The people that sell these 80% lowers make drill jigs they sell fof a small up charge, that allow you to drill these holes accurately, with a hand drill.

Drilling the perimeter, with many small drills, taking care with drill depth; then drilling the center ouf with larger drills, will help clear the cavity. Depth is your only concern here.

Once the drilling is done, a file or a dremel can be used to clean up the cavity. I recommend drilling the holes after the cavity is finished.

One more picture:

The drilled holes are easier to see here.

There are a lot of videos that will show you how to finish the AR-15 build. It can be a lot if fun to finish one of these.