Let’s face the facts, it isn’t hard to ruin something if your primary tool of destruction is a Dremel. Over the years, table top gunsmiths have ruined more firearms than I care to think about using JB Weld, paint, welders and even carefully applied Duck tape to hide their sins. But what if you didn’t run a firearm at all and had only ruined your 80% receiver?

Post it to Facebook of course!

I was so graciously added to the 80%Builder Facebook group by my friend Yale to check out some of the carnage. The next thing I knew a few hours had passed and I had a small collection of photos that make me giggle a bit.

Sure there are some builds on there that look like they turned out just fine and there is nothing from with someone building an 80% lower if they feel like it and it is within the law. I think the failures are kind of funny but don’t know enough about machining or what happened in each case to provide any insight past “Would ya look at that. Just look at it.”

First up is a lower build that looks like it was sorta going in the right direction until the bottom of the trigger pocket broke through. Could this be a dull drill bit? Probably. It could also be a very poor quality 80% lower that was made from recycled Matchbox cars.

I just don’t even know what to say about this one ….. I kind of wonder if the builder punched through the bottom of the lower and then decided to keep going since there was no way that he could jack it up further.

The importance of making sure the jig is positioned in the correct place and not crooked is painfully apparent in this one. I have a feeling that the selector switch might be a bit sloppy.

I. Just. Can’t.

It looks as though the builder used a drill bit designed for woodworking or maybe even the wrong size? I am not really sure, but it hurts to look at. I feel like the money spent on this lower and the tools used to gnaw the trigger pocket would have been better spent on a factory produced lower.

Now not all of the receivers are ruined in this post, although I feel that the Glock frame below is a little bit ruined. Sure it isn’t anywhere as jacked up as the AR lowers above, but the windows on the side of the grip are pretty dumb. The weight savings is so small that the user would never even notice if they hadn’t been cut. The actual stippling work isn’t complete poop though.

Not all 80% receivers are complete trash, this Type 91 build is pretty rad I think. The only thing that stops me from buying a ton of these and going on some crazed clone building spree is the fact is the lack of space in my gun safe.

Personally, I don’t see the allure of MOST 80% lowers (clone lowers excluded) even though they allow some people to acquire a rifle in an area that is otherwise hard to do so. I guess living in Texas has jaded me a touch.

Being able to buy the things I want without crazy legal hassles is nice.