Build your own AR-15 Cleaning-Assembly Cradle
You see these for sale and they run between $20 and $50. I decided to build my own, from stuff I had around the house. You’ll need one long board (mine is 40 inches by 12 inches), one small board, two wood screws and some sort of sealant. I cut the small board (1′ by 3′) six inches long and 2.5 inches wide (2.5 inches is roughly the magazine well’s measurements). However, the fit was too tight. So, I sanded it down with the electric sander until it fit smoothly. Next, I placed the small board 16 inches from one end and used the two wood screws in the bottom of the big board to attach it to the long board like so:
In hindsight, I probably would have made the small board 8 inches tall in the event I get an AR with a longer barrel. You should use some sort of sealant (polyurethane or other water proofing sealant) because gun cleaning products are rough on bare wood. I used some cheap polyurethane I had in the garage. So far, this gizmo has proven very useful in assembling AR-15 lower receivers. No need to wrap the lower in a towel and stick it in a vice. Also, the 6 inch rise allows me to remove the rear pin to drop the upper receiver down. This is particularly handy when cleaning the bore. Basically, I’ve made myself a third hand. Here it is in action:
Update: BTW, doesn’t work for lowers with 9mm mag blocks installed for folks who may need to know that.
March 15th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Umm, when I was cleaning M-16s (with the penalty of pushups if it was not cleaned properly), my cleaning and assembly stand was my lap and a table!
What is it with you civilians and all the gadgets? Knock the front and rear pins out with your nuckle, take it apart, clean it and put it back together.
March 16th, 2006 at 11:44 am
Now if only your board had a nail sticking out of it. Then it would be an “assault board.” Then I’d have to build a bigger board with a bigger nail and we’d have that arms race Kang mentioned on the Simpsons.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Carnival of Cordite #52 (part two)
Now that you have finished reading our re-cap of The Year in Cordite, let’s take a stroll through two-weeks worth of new material! There’s so much stuff here that it’s hard to put it all into neat categories, so let’s