This is the AR-18/180.

And a close up of the [...]]]> In part 2 of making the AR-180 we will be looking at the upper receiver and the steps necessary to make one. There are a number of rifles that use the same basic design concept. So this build concept would work for any of them.

This is the AR-18/180.

And a close up of the upper receiver.

A number of other weapons have the same basic upper receiver design. This includes the AR-180B

The early Bushmaster rifle

The Leader rifle

And the Vulcan V15

Some of these have strengthening ribs while other do not.

This is what the flat would look like after the initial pressing. The holes would be alignment holes for set up and the groves would be pressed in.

This pressing shows the unnecessary sheet metal cut away and the remainder of the holes in the receiver.

The other side of the same pressing

At this point there were probably 2 or three ops performed between this pressing and the last one.  The hole has been cut into the receiver for the ejection port and for the bolt operating handle. In addition the first and second bend has been completed.

The other side of the same pressing.

You can now see the upper receiver completely bent and welded.

These 4 holes on both sides of the receiver are to tig weld the barrel extension to the upper receiver.

The vertical run of holes is to tig weld the “u” channel that the bolt runs along into the receiver.

Close up of the welding performed to close the upper receiver together.

Our next post on this type of rifles will be the smaller parts and how they were made.