Almost done

I have one small chamfer up by the charging handle to do, and one small hole to drill and tap in the threaded portion of the buffer opening. Then, just the bluing and engraving.

I finished threading the buffer area. Had issues mid threading with the drive belt on the motor. Always adds a bit of fun to the game. Picked back up on the thread and finished it. Next one, I am going to thread mill the buffer end.

I used the extra long end mill to finish pocket. I got the mag well where a magazine would slip in, but the 9mm mag adapter would not slip in. had to file it until it would slip in. Made sure 9mm mag slips in and out with ease as well. This one will stay a dedicated 9mm lower. I want to map the opening and make another lower with the 9mm mag opening in it, without having to use adapter. I have extra blank forgings. They are only $20 a pop at the machine gun shoot. I picked up some upper blanks as well, thought they look a bit more tricky on the machining. I am going to try and do at least one upper. Would like to do a whole upper, lower and trigger assembly from metal stock just to have a gun I made from scratch.

Here is the mag fitting nicely in the lower. At this point, the magazine slid in and out nice, but, the 9mm adapter was too tight. I filed the opening until the adapter fit in snug, but not too tight. It will come out only to blue the lower, then it will go in to stay.

Right hand side done. The blank forging like the one it started as is above it for comparison.

Left side done. Again, the blank above for comparison.

And a shot of the top. A lot of work, but it was fun and productive. I will finish the couple minor items tomorrow and dry assemble the whole trigger assembly, buffer tube, upper and magazine to make sure all fits are good. I tried the magazine release hardware earlier and know that works well as does the handle assembly. Upon checking out the pictures as I am doing this write up, I noticed I forgot to mill the bottom trigger guard groove, which is no big deal. I left it flat so I could hold on the flat bottom in the vice. I no longer need to mill off of surface, so I can finish it now. If I get it done tomorrow, I will post pics of the finished product. May take it to the club later in the week to try out before bluing and engraving. Like to make sure it works. Anxious to try out the 9mm upper and see how it works. Have a lot of 9mm ammo.