Welcome everyone to the TFB Armorer’s Bench! As mentioned in the little blurb, this series will focus on a lot of home armorer and gunsmith activities. In this article sponsored by Wheeler, Tipton, Caldwell, and Frankford Arsenal, I decided to take a look at the Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit. It has been a hot second since we have done much in relation to AR-related stuff. A lot of that has to do with me planning out future “assembly/reassembly” articles since we took apart a Smith & Wesson Sport II last year. I was thinking today about how integral this kit was to that string of articles and that I should make sure to do a closer look at it. If you are curious about those aforementioned articles you can find Part One: The Lower, Part Two: The BCG, and Part Three: The Upper at their respective links. That all being said, let’s dive right into this closer look at the Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit!

Note: I am still compiling a list of AR15 upgrades that are common or cool to cover and demonstrate on the rather generic (and disassembled) Sport II. Please feel free to mention some in the comments!

TFB Armorer’s Bench: Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit

Welcome to our recurring series of Armorer’s Bench which is made possible and brought to you by Wheeler, Tipton, Caldwell, and Frankford Arsenal who are our sponsors. Here, we at TFB hope to inform, entertain, and even inspire any would-be gunsmith or armorer out there. Ideally, with the information I provide and with the help of our sponsors, you can have some useful knowledge pertaining to the conservation and improvement of firearms technology while at the same time sharing experiences and teaching each other new tips and tricks along the way in the comments. Digging deep into what it is to be an armorer or gunsmith has significance but what is important is what those people do to show they’ve earned that title. I am happy to share my experiences and knowledge and hope it is informative!

Make your personal safety a priority:

1. Practice proper gun safety. Always make sure before the firearm hits your bench that it is unloaded and safe to be handled.
2. Wear the proper safety equipment. The main one would be safety glasses (decent ones) since parts are often under spring tension and you may work with high RPM tools. Other honorable mentions would be latex gloves or a respirator when working with potentially harmful solvents and oils. Also hearing protection when working with loud machinery or test-firing firearms.
3. Modifications, alterations, and customizations will void your firearm’s warranty 9.5 times out of 10. Please take that into consideration before attempting any at-home gunsmithing.
4. If you are unsure about proper safety practices, disassembly procedures, or warranty standards, stop, put down the tools, and consult a competent gunsmith.

Brief Overview: Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit

As I mentioned in the initial blurb, the Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit was essential to my earlier AR15 disassembly articles. I’ll make sure to be more specific on what it includes later below but as of right now, let us go over it in brief. The Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit is one of three AR15 armorer kits that Wheeler Engineering offers. The base level is called the “Essentials”, the mid-level is called the “Professionals”, and then this one is the top tier option being the “Ultra”.

The Essentials kit comes with a nice carry case, vise block, lower and upper blocks, a wrench, and some smaller tools. Escalating from there, the Professionals kit comes with the same stuff I just mentioned pulse a gun vise, bore guide, mat, a strap wrench, and a few odds and ends related to cleaning. The Ultra is those two on steroids. The box that this thing came in was giant and the bag (as well organized as it was) was overflowing with products.

I personally found a whole host of useful items inside the carry bag. I really like the bolt disassembly/reassembly feature built into the mag well vise block. The carbine forend wire tool (I forget the technical name) was super handy and I can see using that quite a bit in the future helping folks upgrade to free float or just different handguards.

The hammer and included specialty punches were vital and priceless. Those are tools that are not included in the other kits which makes me sad they are not included in the Essentials kit. The addition of a foot-pound torque wrench is a welcome thing also since up until this point I had not had one for my own use. The bit end plus an AR wrench with a corresponding cut-out was neat cause that helps a guy make sure things like a barrel nut are torqued down to whatever standard foot-pounds are. The AR wrench actually lists all the common foot-pounds for different things which is a considerate touch!

Specifications and Highlights: Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit

The box the kit comes in displays all the contents and lists it also. The back of the box showcases the different tools in action. You will find this same sort of setup in the manual to help explain things. Overall, the detail put into the packaging seems really well done and at the very least as a consumer it would grab my attention. The  Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit includes:

• AR-15 AR Armorer’s Vise

• AR-15 Combo Tool
• Torque Wrench

• AR-15 Armorer’s Bench Block
• AR-15 Roll Pin Installation Tool Kit
• Upper Vise Block Clamp with Gas Tube Alignment Tool
• Maintenance Mat with Exploded AR-15 Diagram

• Pivot Pin & Roll Pin Installation Tool
• AR Front Sight Tool, Delta Ring Tool
• Strap Wrench
• AR-15 Bore Guide

• AR-15 Adjustable Receiver Link
• .22 Cal Bore Brush
• Bolt Carrier Brush
• Chamber Brush
• Magazine/Upper Receiver Brush
• Nylon Brush Handle
• Double-ended General Cleaning Brush
• Cleaning Pick Set

• Custom Fitted Carrying Case.

The Wheeler® Delta Series AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit contains all of the essential tools a gunsmith or armorer needs to complete a full rifle build, or make repairs or perform normal maintenance on AR-15/M16 platform rifles. Each of these Delta Series tools is designed with application specific features to perform specific functions with precision and ease. Each tool is constructed of the highest quality materials to deliver the best performance at a great value. All of the tools fit inside the durable carry case for convenient storage and transport.

Closing Thoughts: Wheeler AR Armorer’s Ultra Kit

At the end of the day, this “ultra” kit is not entirely necessary to be capable of working on AR15s. Typically you just need an AR wrench, punches, hammer, and maybe a gun vise. The rest is all quality-of-life tools that you should have no shame in using. Take as much pain and hardship off of you so you can focus on a good quality build and one that turns out the way you want at that!. All of the tools that come in this kit are sold separately on Wheeler’s website which I encourage you to check out. They have sales going on all the time. Lastly, I recommend checking out the manual for more helpful pictures and information.