I posted about the fundraiser that Palmetto State Armory was doing for Gun Owners of America few weeks back. They’re selling lowers with a the GOA logo on them and a special ENDNFA serial number for $59.99. That’s pretty reasonable to begin with, but the best part is that PSA will donate $25.00 to GOA for every receiver sold. GOA is using the funds to support their lawsuit to end the National Firearms Act, at least as it applies to suppressors, SBR’s, AOW’s and SBS’s.
If they manage to get machine guns added to that in the process that would be great as well, but I’ll take suppressors and SBR’s for sure. The fundraiser is still going on if you want in on it. In the meantime I got my lower in the other day and immediately headed to the work bench to see what I could put together with it.
The GOA-15 Parts Bin Build
I really didn’t have a specific plan for this lower. I mostly got it as an excuse to donate to GOA, but as I noted in my other post, my intention was to build something I could SBR. Mostly so that I could make ATF approve my Form 1 with an ENDNFA serial number lower. I’ll pay the tax for spite rather than wait until January.
I knew I had a couple Anderson lower parts kits on hand so I started putting my GOA-15 together. Being that I was going to SBR it, I threw on a carbine buffer tube and a double sling loop end plate. Since it isn’t SBR’d yet, I used one of the HAR-15 braces from Harrington & Richardson. I added a Mean Arms Echo grip from my parts bin. They’re a fat A2 profile grip with a carbon fiber finish. They’re comfortable and very affordable.
For the upper I actually had a PSA MOE Marauder on hand. I got it in a trade a while back from a buddy, and it had been sitting in my parts bin waiting for a build. It’s a 7 inch .300 Blackout with a flash can and Magpul MOE handguards. It was perfect for the PSA GOA-15 lower. I added a KAK Industry Big Latch charging handle and Toolcraft bolt carrier group and called it good.
Finishing Touches
I’m actually out of spare optics, and the Marauder upper won’t take iron sights (no front Pic rail), so I had to swipe a Bushnell TRS-26 from an older build. I just got some Magpul TMAG’s and the 20 rounders fit with the compact nature of this build well. Magpul does make .300 Blackout specific mags, but the TMAG’s worked fine. The look cool too, which doesn’t hurt.
For a gun quickly thrown together with what parts I had laying around I’m actually pretty happy with the results. The gun runs well, and .300 Blackout out of a short barrel is a lot more pleasant to shoot than 5.56mm out of a 7 inch barrel. It’s a light, compact pistol that will be a great platform to SBR. The HAR-15 brace actually works quite well with it as is, so it’s a good place holder until I get around to doing the Form 1. If you were thinking about donating to one of the lawsuits fighting the NFA, the PSA/GOA lower is a great way to do it.
Does the suppressor get hot enough to affect the Magpul handguard? Seems pretty close to the handguard internally in the pic. (Is that a Magpul handguard?)
It’s not a suppressor. I mentioned in the column that it’s a flash can, so just a muzzle device to direct blast forward. And yep, Magpul MOE handguards, as also listed. The flash can just screws on like any other muzzle device so there’s nothing under the handguards other than barrel and heat shield like normal.
Ok, I see that now…was just skimming as doing something else also at the time and got interested in the pic instead of reading the whole thing.
No problem! While I certainly want folks to read our stuff here at SNW, I get it! I’m guilty of it on occasion as well!
I see the manual safety is properly named/labeled.