BCL 102 assembled

So, against my better judgement, I decided to slap the thing together.  I'm still missing a pile of parts, not to mention the barrel nut tool, but I figured I'd just "mock it up"

The barrel nut was tight going on.  At first, I thought maybe the barrel nut had the wrong threads, and I was worring about cross threading the receiver...but I took a chance and spun it a few turns and realized it was just really tight because of the cerakoting.  

I could actually make quite a few turns by hand, but eventually, it got too tight and I had to start using tools....though not the correct ones.  I used a regular AR15 wrench, but was only using one lug insterted into the barrel nut.  But since I was just mocking it up and not really torquing anything down hard, I figured this would be ok.  When the Armalite barrel nut wrench arrives, I will torque it down properly.  

I also improvised using an AR15 receiver block wrapped in cloth and it seemed to clamp down on the receiver just fine.

I actually got the barrel nut on there pretty good.  Thought I was pretty smart until I realized I'd left off the locking ring for the hand guard, lol!

So off came the nut, and back on again.

And that was my uppper slapped together.

Next, I had to tackle the issue of not having any spare lower parts kits.....so decided to butcher my 10.5" shorty with the stripped KAC lower it was assembled using the Armalite Tactical Two Stage Trigger kit, and I would need the trigger for the 102 anyway.  

It was the first time I'd ever stripped a lower of all it's parts.  To be honest, it wasn't that hard.  The only thing I left was the front pivot pin since the 102 has it's own. 

Reinstalling all of the parts was almos second nature at this point, and it was basically exactly the same as any other AR15.

Since the receiver set was cerakoted, and I had experienced tight threads earlier with other sections of the receiver, I was careful to put dabs of CLP wherever I thought friction would be involved, in this case roll pins. 

Trigger guard done.  I was thinking about using an aftermarket "enhanced" trigger guard, but since this was supposed to be some sort of clone of an existing military rifle, I decided to stick with a standard AR trigger guard.  

Next was the left side of the bolt catch, basically where I left off last post.  Since the other side was done, all I needed to do was drop the plunger supplied by BCL.

Next was the spring from the regular AR LPK.

Then the plunger for the bolt catch that came with the LPK.

The last thing to do is lock it all in place using the screw supplied by BCL (all this could have been avoided....read previous post)....and here's where my nightmare began.  I was careful to give dabs of CLP, but it wasn't enough.  because the hole was so tight, I really wasn't sure if I was cross threading the thing or what.  I decided to push through, and the allen wrench slipped.  Fuck.  A few more attempts to turn it, and it just kept on spinning.  

What I didn't realize at first was that it wasn't the receiver that was stripped, it was the screw.  The allen key was made of harder steel than the screws and I ended up stripping the head, not the threads, that's how tight the hole was.  I managed to back the thing out and put it aside.  I backed out the screw I installed on the other side, and started to spin it in on the left side.  It got tight again, so instead of cranking on it, I tightened a bit, then backed out, then tightened, then backed out, sort of like the same thing as cranking on a muzzle device onto a crush washer.  

Anyway, I got the screw all the way in, with no issues, but I still had the semi stripped screw for the ambi side of the bolt catch 

I managed to get the screw in part way into the hole for the ambi side of the bolt catch, but then the screw head was so far gone and stripped that the allen key just kept spinning inside it.  I ended up super gluing the key in the screw and I'd let it sit while I worked on the rest.  

The Armalite trigger dropped right in, using AR15 size pins.  I have heard that lighter AR15 triggers might not have enough mass to move the firing pin on AR 308s, so we'll see if this one will work or not. 

Next was the selector switch and rear take down pin.  Those slipped right in, but BCL/NEA has always been quirky about their rear take down pin detent and spring location.  Instead of using the rear plate, they use the pistol grip to capture the spring.  

So, from the bottom, you have to insert the rear takedown pin detent, then the spring.

Then insert the selector switch detent, then the spring into the grip.  I remember my buddy Alex's selector switch was unusually tight, so I made sure I used plenty of CLP to lube the selector and detent. 

Actually, it really wasn't that hard to install this way.

Next, I had to go back to my fuck up.  That stupid stripped screw.  

I managed to get a few more turns in, and was down to the last 1.5 threads when it just wouldn't turn anymore.

So I taped it all up and took a file to the friggin' thing.  This thing was never coming out anyway, so I started filing.  

I did a pretty good job I'd say, but the ambi side of the mag catch is never coming out.

I slapped the rifle together, though I'll need to finish the thing properly when a few more things come in.  I also have to decide whether I want to take the Krylon to the stock and hand guard.

The selector was way smoother than my pal's.  I'm not sure why, but I'm quite happy with it.

Anyway, that's it for now.  Still need the gas block, gas tube, a different grip that I ordered, as well as the Armalite barrel nut wrench to to torque down the barrel nut properly.