ar-180C – Page 7 – AR180S.COM

August 3, 2015

A Visit to the GunLab – AR-180 Parts

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to visit Chuck at GunLab.net and it was an awesome and overwhelming experience. I wished I had taken the time to take more pictures but I think I was a little in shock at all the cool guns, parts, and equipment. By far the best part of the trip was the company, Chuck and Shirley are two of the nicest folks you could ever have the pleasure of meeting.

We chatted at length about his work on the AR-180 parts he is building. The lower parts that he is making to fit your AR-180B and Nodak NDS-18S lowers were at heat treating and should be back this week. Parkerization and final inspection along with one final operation on the springs will finish this phase. They should be ready to ship very soon.

Next up he is working on uppers. We are hoping to have them available in several configurations from flats to complete uppers with trunnions and rails. He sent me some pictures of his solid model of the stamping die he is building.

Trunnions have also been modeled and those should be coming shortly after the upper sheet metal.

I also gave him one of my original prototype AR-180C railed front sight bases and I am hoping that we can get a few of those made.

The AR-180C flat top might become a reality after all!

Finally yours truly with the only picture from my visit, holding an MP-44 for the very first time. I find it astonishing that they were able to crank these out in the numbers they did, with allied bombs dropping all around them, and that the complexity of manufacture I see in this gun was actually a time saver compared to older weapons.

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July 30, 2015

More AR-180 Upper News

Chuck at GunLab.net has been working on AR-180 uppers and has reverse engineered the trunion and has put up a very interesting article.

AR-180B Trunnion Design

I on the other hand, lacking any semblance of expertise in CAD took a differing approach when I reverse engineered my AR-180B upper.

Good friend of the site, Carl, sent me some square tubing that he has successfully used in his home builds. I decided to duplicate my upper using this material. It is much thicker wall than the original and I will have to shave this down at least on the bottom surface to get it to work with my lowers.

I did this for two main reasons. I wanted to refresh my skills on the mill as it has been many years since I last used one, and secondly, just to see if I could.

I made my first trunion out of 6061 aluminum just to test my measurements out and I have found that a few needed to be adjusted.

I learned a lot from this project and I find things like this much more rewarding than the usual beginners projects.

I will continue to tweak this until I am happy with it then I will start a new one using the first as a template. I think I will make the trunion out of 4140 unless y’all have any advice.

Some pictures that show what I have been up to for the last two days.

Some things to note if you attempt one of these yourself. The interior of the tubing is not perfectly square so some hand fitting will be necessary. The tubing spreads open once the bottom is cut. Some method of squeezing it back before welding would have to be considered. Lastly, all of this will be rendered moot once Chuck makes new uppers and flats available. Until then I will use this as a way to improve my machine skills and better learn my tools.

May 29, 2015

New AR-180B Parts are Coming

Big shout out to Chuck over at GunLab.net who has started work on AR-180B parts. First up is the safety and he has worked out an awesome two piece design.

First some pics from Solidworks.

Here is a video of the safety lever being made.

And a couple pics of the actual part.

Yep, there will be a few available.

The plan is to offer a set of parts that will supplement your AR-15 lower parts kit and allow you to fully populate a Nodak NDS-18S. Previously the only way to do that was to buy a complete AR-180B Rifle and strip out the lower parts. This will allow you to buy a lower, AR-15 lower parts kit, and this lower kit and get a working lower for your AR-180B, AR-180, or Vulcan V18 upper.

May 27, 2015

What’s New at AR180S.com

Things have been busy around here and I think it will only get busier. Just the way I like it.

My new job has me out of town during the week but I love to travel and weekends with the family can’t be beat.

Next stop the San Francisco bay area then on to Oklahoma City and Amarillo TX.

The parts lot that I purchased is leading to a potential new project. (Don’t they always)

Thinking about building an AR-180B in .458 SOCOM. Why not, right.

I’m thinking a disapator with carbine length gas and full length handguards in a 16″ barrel.

Mods may have to be done to one of the guide rods and ejection port as the clearance may not be enough to clear the larger case.

Tony Rumore turned down a case head to fit the bolt and snapped this pic to show how little clearance there is.

I have a stripped Bravo upper and bolt carrier group, front sight bases and all the piston parts. Everything to build an upper but the barrel but how boreing would it be to build a stock one. First thought was .300 Blackout but then it struck me. Go Big or go home.

Maybe I can fit the 180C gas block under the hand guards and use a stripped 180B front sight base at the end of the barrel.

I’m going to be moving ahead with this project as funds and time allow. (As I get back to work I gain more of one and less of the other)

By the way I still have a few complete bolt carrier groups available for sale from the parts lot. Pick one up for your next project or as a spare. I don’t have to tell you how hard the bolts are getting to find.

Made up a new flash hider from an original print that I was given access to. (Sorry it’s not anything I can share or publish at this time)

You can see how it differs from the one that I reverse engineered from a picture. I do believe, however that the one I used as an example was not built to the same specs as the one that later made it into production

The new to me AAA SAP is begging to be made into an SBR and I am trying to find an original stock.

The rear of the reciever was cut off when it was made as a pistol so some type of adapter would have to be made.

I am also considering the left over Vulcan V18 stock as shown in the teaser pics from my last post.

I still have to get it to the range to test fire it before I even consider sending off for a stamp on this one.

As always I am watching my local craigslist to see if I can find a bigger lathe and possibly a small milling machine.

I am also looking for someone with a Leader T2 MkV that is in southern AZ so I can take some side by side pics and show the differences that were made when AAA took over production.

Thanks for the feedback on the new mail system. It seems to have worked other that the fact that I sent out basically a blank message.

I hope the email you get for this one will be much improved.

May 16, 2015

Subscriber Pictures #4

These come from a self professed AR-180 Fanatic, John.

With 14 rifles I would say his diagnosis might be accurate, at the very least, he has a severe case of RBRD.

That’s Retro Black Rifle Disease for those who are unfamiliar with the acronym. A disease that I too, suffer from.

Here is just a sampling of some of his collection from the last time he pulled them out of the safe.

I especially like his early Howa. I hope to have one of those myself someday.

He likes to shoot his ,which is what they were made for, and reports great success with steel case ammo.

He also has a surplus of parts, accessories, and guns for sale so send me a message via the contact form if you are looking for anything and I will put you in contact with him.

Thanks again for all the e-mails and suggestions. Keep them coming and don’t forget to subscribe and comment.