The Spartan Build- Upper

Out of the multiple AR's that I have owned over the past few years every single one has had an upper that had already been assembled before I ordered it. But with all of the searching that I was doing looking for the "right" upper to go on my build I finally decided that I just wasn't finding the upper that screamed "put me on the spartan build!". Now I consider myself to be competent enough to assemble parts to rifles, but I had always been a bit hesitant to build my own upper, mainly because I just had not done it before. So this has been a whole new experience for me, thankfully I have quite a few friends out there who have built their own uppers and they were more than willing to help me out with the list of parts that I would need to do my build.

Upper Receiver- I picked up a Wilson Combat Upper receiver to be the base of my build. One of the biggest reasons was because of the name that Wilson has created for itself in the firearms industry.

Charging Handle- Because I have never really cared for the Mil-Spec Charging Handle I decided that I wanted to find something that was ambidextrous and would make it easier for me to grab even when I am wearing gloves. In stepped the Rainer Arms Raptor, this charging handle is exactly what I have always been looking for when it came to an extended and ambi latch, with a gloved hand or a single finger I can easily get enough contact with the Raptor to be able to unlatch the handle and begin the charging of the rifle.

Bolt Carrier Group- I have been a bit fascinated with the concept of the Nickel Boron coating on the Bolt Carrier Groups so when I ran across this deal, I didn't have to think long to toss it into my shopping cart and proceed right on over to checkout. So far I am very impressed by the quality of this BCG from RGuns.

Hand Guard- For this I had to think about all of the things that I have not liked about the other hand guards that have been on the other uppers that I have owned. I wanted something that was lighter weight, but still have the ability to have "mobile" sections of rail to add accessories if and when they may be needed. When I ran across the Midwest Industries 15-inch Gen2 SS-Series One Piece Free Float Hand Guard it fit the bill of what I had been looking for.

Barrel- With the barrel being by far one of the most important parts of the upper build I felt that I didn't need to skimp on it and just grab whatever was available. Knowing the reputation Rainer Arms has I decided that I wanted to look into getting one of their barrels. The Rainier Arms Select 5.56MM Barrel in matte stainless was exactly what I was looking for in a barrel, with the polygonal rifiling, 416r stainless steel, mid length gas system, and a 90 day satisfaction guarantee I decided that this was the barrel for me. I went with the 14.5" barrel so when I added on my muzzle device it would be right at 16".

Muzzle Device- Every other upper that I have had has always had the traditional Bird Cage on them, so this time I decided that I really wanted something that would help keep muzzle rise down while at the same time look gnarly. After reading reviews on several different types I ran across the 556 Tactical Stryker Comp which fit the bill for both the control of muzzle rise, and overall looking gnarly.

Gas Block- Most any low profile gas block will work for every application, but I wanted to have the adjustability that the Kies Adjustable Gas Block offered up, and with as highly as this gas block comes from the reviews I have read I am expecting to see great results from it.

There were the other "small" pieces that are needed to finish a build for the upper, the dust cover, forward assist, gas tube, and the parts needed to install them. These parts can be found on Brownells, or any other company that sells parts for AR's.

Now being that I am using a 14.5" Barrel on this build I had to permanently attach the muzzle device to the barrel to make it legal length. Pinning the comp to the barrel was the method that was used for mine.

I must admit that building the upper from pieces is quite satisfying, and really leaves you with a sense of accomplishment. I have a whole new outlook on building AR's and I am looking forward to building the 2 uppers for the other Spartan lowers that I have. Here is a picture of the upper all assembled and ready to go. There are multiple accessories on it in this picture but I will get into those and the reason I picked them in a later post.