Building a new gun shop for Highlander Arsenal – Part 5

I've done some work off and on on the shop over the past few weeks as another building project has been consuming a lot of my time.  The next step after getting the walls up was to put up the joists for the second floor.  These are 16 foot 2x10's that span the entire width of the building front to back.

Getting this heavy lumber 8 feet into the air was a chore.  There are 24 joists down the length of the building and 4 more rim joist that needed to be placed at the end of the joists.  The hardest ones to place were the rim joists.  I dropped one of them 5 times trying to get it into place. 

I still need to install 2 more joists at this time. One of the rim joists and one of the joists that go across the building.  I had 2 bad pieces of lumbe,r one was twisted pretty bad and the second was bowed width wise.  I put the bowed one up hoping that is wouldn't be so bad but the center was bowed up a good 4 inches in the middle compared to the joist next to it.

I'll get the replacement lumber soon and finish out this part of the project.

View of second floor joists.

I also framed for the stairs. I was able to use some of the more warped pieces of wood to frame out this opening as the warp was less noticable in the shorter pieces. So I only had one wasted piece of 2X10.  Still an expensive hunk of lumber, but maybe I find a use for it.

Stairwell opening framing.

As the building was starting to get a little shakey, with all of the weight of the joists on the top of the wall, I decided that my next step needed to be the installation of some of the siding.  I went to Lowes to get 12 of the 22 pieces that I needed, this would do the back wall and the plain side wall.  They only had 11 pieces down on the lower rack but they had a bundle of 15 up high.  I took the 15 and lucked out on the fact that one was a little damaged and they gave it to me for only $2.  Since these things cost $19.98 each I was happy.  I will place the damage so it go in a doorway opening and gets cutoff anyway.  So, BONUS for Ronnie!!!

Yesterday I got 6 panels on the back wall put up in the morning and then got 5 panels put up on the front wall and one on the side wall in the afternoon. This really made the building rigid. 

I went back to do some more this morning but my nailer had started acting up yesterday so I only got one more panel up today.  More on the nailer issue in a minute. 

I used my router to make the cutouts in the siding for the two front windows and the PTAC.  That went real quick and smooth, much better that putting the panel up, marking the cutout, taking the panel down, cutting the panel, and then puitting it back up.  Working alone makes you thing of better ways to do things some times. Below are some photos of the current state of construction.

Front view of the building

Front wall from the outside.

Front wall from the inside.

Back wall from the outside.

Back wall from the inside

About the nailer.  The problem was that the piston was not retracting enough the pickup the next nail.  So I took the nailer apart to find that the piston bumper, a rubber compound, had crumbled into uselessness.  So I cleaned out the inside of the nailer and put it back together less the bumper so I wouldn't lose any parts.  Came home and found the parts I needed at eReplacementparts.com.  I ordered the following parts:

1 x Urethane Retainer (890725) = $1.81

1 x Piston Bumper (901901) = $25.68

1 x Washer (886149) = $3.93

Shipping was $5.64

The retainer I need because it holds the trigger pin in.  It disapeared about 3 days into the build and I have been working around it.  The washer goes behind the bumper and as the one that came out of the nailer looked bent I decided to go ahead and get a new one. I hope that the parts get here soon!!

Building a new gun shop for Highlander Arsenal – Part 4

There has been a lot of progress on the shop in the past few days.  All four of the walls are now up.

The back wall took about 3.5 hours to build, it was far less complex than the front wall with only one door opening.  I did go ahead and frame it for another opening that would be used should I decide to ever expand the shop later.  It is easier tio do that now that after the building is complete.  building out the  back would allow me to add more space should it ever become needed.

The third was went together really quickly as it had no openings.  It was light enough that I stood it up by myself.  Getting walls that join together to fit correctly can be a challenge but careful measuring made this wall fit like a glove.

I decided for the fourth wall to make an opening for a garage door.  As this end of the shop is desiganated to be the gunsmithing area I decided that I might need to get big stuff in and out of there.  At the very least I plan on putting in a lathe and the big opening will make that easier.  Planning now for the future is easier than haing to do a big tearout later to make a change.

The completed walls. Note the PTAC shell test fit in its opening.

The next step is to complete the upper top plate to tie this all together and then I will start on the second floor.

Total cost to date for materials is now $1392.23.

First Gunsmithing job

I've been so busy with building the shop I forgot to report on my first gunsmithing job.  I had a guy call me wanting to have his shotgun fixed.  The gun is a Western Field XMA-560-8A.  So do I know what a Western Field XMA-560-8A is? No!! S0 I had to look it up, and that took a while.  It seems that Western Field was a brand name used my Montgomery Wards for their guns.  The big problem was that Western Fields were made by many different manufacturers over the years.

So further research, love Goolge, revealed that this particular model was made by Noble Manufactuting that was in business from 1953 to 1971.  So the guy brings me the shotgun and the problem is that the shells come shooting out of the tube as soon as you cycle the pump.  Not a cool thing to have happen.  So I told him that I would give it a try.

The obvious issue is that the shell lifter is flapping in the breeze.  This could not be good.  So I took the gun apart and found that the lifter spring was weak and brittle.  So brittle in fact that it actually snapped while I was working with it.  Here was hoping that I could find parts.

Despite being at least a 41 year old gun I did find parts for it. After a few days the part showed up in the mail  so I installed it into the gun and put it all back together, not easy as there are a LOT of small parts inside a shotgun.

Afer loading in some shells I cycled the action and the shells fed out into the gun one as at a time as they were supposeed to. What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
It's amazing how such a little part like that spring can bring an entire gun to a grinding halt.

I waiting on the customer to come and pick it up but I'm sure he will be pleased.

Building a new gun shop for Highlander Arsenal – Part 3

Well I now have a wall!
The shop is starting to go vertical with the completion and rasing of the front wall of the shop.

The wall has an opening for the front door on the left.  To the right of the door are two openings.  The one on the top is of course for a window and the one on the bottom is for the PTAC that will provide heating and cooling.  To the far right is an opening for another window.

If you don't know what a PTAC is, it stands for Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner.  These are the units you see in the walls of motel rooms.

This wall took about 6 hours of labor to complete.  The basic structure was pretty simple and easy to construct only taking about 2 hours or so.  The long drawn out part was cutting all the parts for framing the openings.  The openings for the PTAC and the window above it was the most complex.  You don't know how many parts go into framing out an opening until you actually have to do it.

Rasing the wall is the only thing I have had to have help doing so far.  It took three people to raise, plumb and brace the wall.  Thanks to Kevin and Hootie for the help!

Coming next will be the back wall.  Fewer openings so it should be easier.

Building a new gun shop for Highlander Arsenal – Part 2

I worked on the shop yesterday morning and got the floor done.

The first step of course was to get insulation installed.  As I said in the previous post I used a plastic mesh fence product to keep the insulation from sagging out from under the floor system. Below is a picture showing this mesh.

I bought 10 rolls of unfaced 2 x 6 insulation. Each roll was 39.2 ft. long so 10 rolls should have been enough plus a little left over. So I began laying out the insulation into the cavities between the joists.  in a short time I had half of the insulation installed into the floor.  This went really fast as this step probably only took about half an hour.  Doing alone meant a lot of running from one side to the other.

To break up the monotony of installing the insulation, and to see more progress :-) I started putting down the decking. 16 sheets in total were needed to deck the entire floor.  One thing I found out about 4 x 8 tongue and groove sub-flooring is that when installed it is less than 4 ft. wide due to the tongue going into the groove.  So I have a gap on the back side that I will have to cut a strip for to fill in.  Oh well, it will be covered by the bottom plate of the wall so it will not be a problem.  Below is the decking half done.

I started on the left side of the building so I could keep in shade as much as possible.  That was another reason why I did one half and then the other.  Now that the first half of the floor was done I moved on the finishing the insulation on the other half.

And now on to completing the decking installation.  The wood was starting to get real heavy by the time I was done.  Notice how the shade has moved across the floor in the picture above.  Planning is GOOD!!!

The floor in the picture above is complete.  512 sq. ft. of new flat space.  I started this phase at 8:30 on Saturday morning as was done at 2:30 pm.  That included breaks and about half an hour for lunch.  Lumber cost for this phase was $267.94 and the cost of the insulation was $108.03.
Next will be the walls, and I can't wait as this will really start to show progress.

Building a new gun shop for Highlander Arsenal - Part 1

Well I have decided that I want to get more out of my FFL so I am going to build a shop. This will allow me to actually have customers! While a home based business is great, it is really hard to run a retail business that way. I have at this point built the foundation for the shop and below are some pics of it.

I'm hoping to keep the cost of the finished building to around $4000. So far I have spent a little less than $550, but this is some of the most expensive lumber as it has to be pressure treated.

The shop will be 16' x 32' and will be two stories. The first floor will house an area for gunsmithing with a workbench, and later a lathe and a mill along with other tools, and the retail space. The gunsmith area will be 16' x 10' with the remainder being reserved for the retail space. I will also add a concrete block structure that will be attached to the back of the shop to act as a gun vault. I'm thinking 8' x 8' outside dimensions for the vault will be plenty.

Second floor will be office and storage space, or maybe some class room space. I am hoping to teach some classes, starting with some ammo reloading training.

So I will keep you updated on the progress of the shop as time goes on. The next step is to put in the insulation for the floor and then deck this assembly so I have a floor. I know you can't see it but I put a plastic mesh under the joists to both support the insulation and keep the critters out.

By the way this is about 10 days into the process of building. There is probably only about 16 hours of actual work to this point but I have to spread it out. I only tend to work on it in the morning when it is cool!! BTW, I love my framing nailer. ;-)

LW-15 Polymer Lower Receiver for AR-15

From New Frontier Armory comes the LW-15 polymer lower AR-15 lower receiver. So why a polymer lower for an AR-15. Well look at the number of handguns that use polymer, Glock, Taurus, Springfield, just to name a few. So I say why not polymer on an AR.

I see three major advantages in a polymer lower, tougher construction, lighter weight, and lower cost. In this post I will look at all three of these factors.

First is toughness. Now let's not confuse strength with toughness. While I believe that the LW-15 is a strong lower I doubt that it is AS strong as an aluminum one. I would probably not want to use it under a .50BMG upper. But with that in mind I would not hesitate to put it under a .50 Beowulf or a 6.5mm Grendel. Toughness is the ability of the part to take punishment and not deform to the point that it fails to operate. The polymer lower can take stresses, that while it may cause the part to bend as much or more that its aluminum counter-part, it will bounce back to its original shape unlike an aluminum lower.

Second is lighter weight. In it's all polymer configuration as the complete lower comes from New Frontier Armory,the LW-15 lower is only 1.6 lbs. That is 7.2 oz lighter that a standard AR-15 lower.

Lower cost. This is the big one folks! We at Highlander Arsenal sell the LW-15 complete lower for $115.00. A STRIPPED aluminum lower can cost that. A complete lower can cost $250 and up. With the low cost of these lowers we at Highlander Arsenal can offer a bundle that includes a complete DPMS upper in .223 ( several to choose from), a complete NFA LW-15 lower, and a TAPCO 30 round mag for $580. Try to beat that!

Here are some of the features:
Complete* Lower - ready to pin onto upper and fire!!!
Lightweight – weighs in at 1.6 lbs – That’s 7.2oz lighter than a standard lower
Lightest most durable composite polymer lower on the market today
Low maintenance / easy cleaning / scratch resistant
Accepts all standard MIL SPEC uppers and lower parts
Features the accu-group composite fire control system with 4.5lb trigger pull
Can accommodate any brand MIL SPEC LPK upgrade
Reversible safety to accommodate left or right hand shooters
“Zero Slop” fit eliminates the need for wedges
Lifetime warranty against any manufacturer defects when used as directed

So if you want to try one of these lowers on an existing rifle, or are looking to start an AR build, give the LW-15 Polymer lower a try. We have them available on our site at www.highlanderarsenal.com.

Or if you want a low cost bundle that you can put together in a few minutes and take to the range, check out our site at http://www.highlanderarsenal.com/ for ordering and pricing.