used the wrong size punch dinged it up, the forward assist works, as you can see it sticks up not completely flush... should I buy a new pin? or can ibuy sand paper and somehow get rid of the marks? 

Chicks dig scars.

you could probably grind that down using a cut off wheel on a dremel -- need to go slow and grind it away not cut it off

does it look derpa derpa? or is it okay? 

sell it and get another one

I'd buy the bargain, damaged upper -- I'll put in together on the broken trigger guard tab lower I picked up for a song -- no one would ever know

 

 

the lower cost me $50 -- I'll give you $50 for the upper

sell it and get another one

what im thinking

Throw it on the ground. Step on it. Tie it to a string and drag it behind your car down a gravel driveway. Slap it back on the lower and call it your working gun. It ain't supposed to be pretty, it's supposed to go bang when you press the trigger and hit what you are aiming at.

Throw it on the ground. Step on it. Tie it to a string and drag it behind your car down a gravel driveway. Slap it back on the lower and call it your working gun. It ain't supposed to be pretty, it's supposed to go bang when you press the trigger and hit what you are aiming at.

but but but ,,,,,,,,,,,, 

He who has not messed up has not lived.

Throw it on the ground. Step on it. Tie it to a string and drag it behind your car down a gravel driveway. Slap it back on the lower and call it your working gun. It ain't supposed to be pretty, it's supposed to go bang when you press the trigger and hit what you are aiming at.

 

+1

seriously, go to psa and buy a stripped upper for 40....

I bet you won't do that twice.

Now, take High Exposures advice (it's good advice), and install it on your lower, shoot it, and forget it.

I bet you won't do that twice.

Now, take High Exposures advice (it's good advice), and install it on your lower, shoot it, and forget it.

 

 

Exactly.  Is gun.  Is shoot. 

 

You should see the first lower I put together (without the right tools).  It's since been sold and its new owner is continuing to beat it up. 

Buy a birchwood touch up paint or use a sharpie and call it a day.  Lesson learned.

cant really see once together

if it bothered you enough to post it, it will bother you enough when you shoot, show it, or look at it.....buy another upper and keep this for a 'beater' build, that's what I would do.  can't have too many...lol

ouch.

Before I mangle mine some day. Was the problem a punch too large or too small?

Before I mangle mine some day. Was the problem a punch too large or too small?

When installing mine, I start the pin by holding it in my hand and using a plastic hammer to get it started.  Then use the plastic hammer to drive it most of the way.  Finish it off with a 1/16" center punch with one quick little hit.

Shoot it and don't worry about it. If you get really annoyed by it, buy a new one and use the old one to build a .22 practice upper.

 

Edited to add: Also this is a good reason to buy BCM demo uppers. They are good, they are cheap, and they may or may not have a scratch or two so you won't give a rats bottom if you scratch them up some more.

So thread drift here but still topical... Someone school me on what material scratch what. Like when do you use brass tools and when do you use plastic ones?

So thread drift here but still topical... Someone school me on what material scratch what. Like when do you use brass tools and when do you use plastic ones?

Basically, if the punch is harder than what it contacts, you'll scratch it.  Steel will scratch anything on an AR.  Brass will leave some material in anodized aluminum (think of a shell deflector).  Plastic is pretty much the only way to not mar something if you hit it accidentally but you can only hit something so hard with plastic before the plastic deforms.

If it is functional it is functional. 

So it has a little character now..  *shrug*

Someone said it before... chicks dig scars. (And sometimes SCARs as well. LOL.)

 

My buddy dinged up the receiver on his brandy new stainless 10/22 15 minutes after taking it out of the box. Just a little scratch but... well... you know.

 

I told him, "Good... you got the first one out of the way... now you can stop worrying about the rest that are inevitable, and you can go shoot it."

I always tell people when they get a new car to go to the supermarket and put a ding from a cart into their car, why should a stranger be the first to break your car in? Its going to happen, might as well be the first of many to come.

Guns are manly.  Real men have scars. 

 

I never trust a metro sexual gun.