I started out with a receiver casting that was 80% finished. I got it from William @ the Tannery Shop . He's one of the good guys, but he is a working stiff like the rest of us and very busy. Be patient. You will likely have to wait to get your casting. Mine was the cheapest one (aluminum) and it looked like this when I got it:
William also supplies them in various other materials at higher prices.
You can also get a drill jig to help with the really crucial holes for the fire control group. Again, you can find info on who sells them as well at AR15.com, but in my particular case, I waited a really long time for it to arrive. (I don't want to leave anyone with the wrong impression here. The guy who makes these up is also a very busy working lad, and he was doing his best to get it to me as fast as he could. And I know through the various e-mails he and I exchanged, he spent a long time making sure he had it as user-friendly as possible.) So being an impatient fellow, I figured I would tackle the whole lot, then I could truly say I did it all. So I started from the blue print and laid out my own template and finished my receiver about two weeks before the drill jig arrived. For that reason, I cannot comment on how accurately the jig is prepared, but in terms of how it's made, Alex has done a nice job. I know he lays his out from an actual working rifle, not from drawings.
So here is what needs to be done to finish your receiver, and the tools, drills, and taps required. This list originally came from William, with a couple of things added which I found were missing from his list added (as the "a"s). Comments on how it went, and how I would do it differently, follow in the next section. Note that this is the list exactly in the order it was given to me. It is not necessarily the order you have to do it in. But no matter what else you do, make sure the order of the takedown pin holes (front first, then back), followed by the trigger, hammer and selector holes are in that order. You'll see next why that makes sense.
