Build of the Week

The US Presidential Election may still be up in the air, but the results for Build of the Week’s Set 1 are in! (too soon?)

Now that we have had a solid four weeks of submissions (and time to digest them) it is time for you all to vote on your favorites.

The fourth entry named “Corona Light” by Doug is the lightest (and quietest) build of the bunch. Stuck at home under quarantine, he wanted to make a lightweight, suppressed rifle suitable for training and plinking.

The third build is our first pistol caliber carbine of the reboot. In lieu of waiting for (I presume) a preferred B&T GHM9, Charlie decided to build his own PCC, patterning after Noveske’s Space Invader. Warning: if you are a delicate flower, some of the colorful item descriptions may cause you to wilt (personally I like the spice)…

Welcome to the second installment of the reboot of Build of the Week.  This week, we have the aptly named “Now you see it, now you don’t” by Wolfgar.

We are off to a great start and have our first volley of submissions. First through the gate is Clay with his big game hunting build named “The Hulk”. I am very impressed that the first build is not YAAR (Yet Another AR). Note: I’m not hacking on AR builds, but this series would get old pretty quick with nothing but variations of a “black rifle”.

A little over two years ago, we started a little series called Build Of The Week. Many of you readers enthusiastically participated and we had a ton of submissions. Enough that we turned it into a contest with a chance to win real prizes – culminating in the giveaway of a rifle to Jim R at SHOT 2019.

What happens when companies like Strike Industries, Primary Weapons Systems, Holosun and The Firearm Blog collaborate? Cool things like the Build of The Year giveaway! Today, we announced the winner at a live social media stream from the Strike Industries booth at SHOT Show 2019. And the winner is – Jim R with his Higgins Shotgun (45% of your votes). He will get an AR-15 rifle built with components manufactured by the mentioned companies.

UPDATE: 1600 PST, Jan 23

Drumroll…..And the winner for the sixth set was Jim’s Higgins Build with an overwhelming 45% of the votes (Kevin’s AR9 build came in second with 27% of the votes). The randomly picked winning voter was Zach C. I think Jim’s build won because of the Walter White picture…

We just saw our 24th installment of Build of the Week and we have plenty more submissions to go.  As we mentioned, we have a plan in mind for some interactivity with this series to keep it a little more fun and lively.

The 24th Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Jim.  So basically this is the Craftsman Tools of shotguns… Pretty interesting collector’s piece (with a little bit of the history), and even more interesting that Jim modded it (there is always the question of keeping it for the collector’s value or for the utility). I think this is also the first shotgun we have seen in this series! I’m not sure why there is a picture of Walter White on the wall, though…

The 23rd Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Kevin.  I really like the look of that hand guard. If you all can’t tell by now, I really set this series up to get good ideas for the stuff I want to do. Pete finally convinced me to em-brace PCC builds and this is a nice clean one. It does need a can. And the backdrop needs a nice marinara sauce… How does it shoot, Kevin?

The 22nd Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Matt.  Thank goodness it is not another FDE gun. Honestly the hottest thing I like about this build is the Rail-Rap (see what I did there?). How did I not know about this product. You’d think by this point I’d have seen pretty much everything, at least in print… Otherwise this is a nice short package, and would make a good travel pistol. Matt submitted this back in July and had never shot it. Matt, how did it perform?

Drumroll…..And the winner for the second set was Michael’s Predator Hunting AR with just over 43% of the votes (Jodie’s Rebel Scum came in second with Noshpatu and Valorius at a dead tie for 3rd). The randomly picked winning voter was Todd W.  I would guess that having the most complete build to date along with a ton of clear pictures helped Michael out.  Take note future submitters…

The 21st Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by JG.  I believe this is the first build that has been submitted where one of the components was actually 3-D printed by the builder. While everything else was off the shelf as JG mentions it is not bad looking. I think it has that “I’m-wearing-leather-straps-with-a-mohawk-and-a-dog-collar-while-chasing-after-water-thieves-in-my-spiked-and-armor-plated-charger-across-the-desert” look. JG should build a second one to wield them akimbo. And I disagree about the pistol grip–I think it complements the whole piece.

Last week saw our 20th installment of Build of the Week and we have plenty more submissions to go.  As we mentioned, we have a plan in mind for some interactivity with this series to keep it a little more fun and lively.

The 20th Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Jodie P.  This build is pretty straightforward. It has a decent optic, a Faxon barrel, and Strike should be happy to see a build with one of their stocks. What makes this build stand out is the paint scheme which clearly identifies its use as a terrorist weapon against the Empire. I will concede that it is probably more effective than a bunch of Storm Troopers armed with Reformations. Shots fired…

The 19th Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Valorius.  I only called it “Glorious” because it was kind of poetic. Overall a pretty clean build, and good integration of the Cobalt Linear Compensator—it looks good here. Valorius has been a long time contributor in the comments and discord so feel free to dig in on this build.

Drumroll…..And the winner for the second set was the 6.5 Grendel Pistol Build by DJ with 32% of the votes (I’ve noticed that the votes are getting much closer; I’m assuming because the individual builds appeal to some segments of all of you. It could also just be coincidence…). The randomly picked winning voter was Ryan M.

The 18th Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Noshpatu.  I think this submission beat the whole “Space Force” announcement a few months ago so Noshpatu may have something. That said, anything with the Hera CQR is going to look science-fictiony. The drum actually looks pretty good with the build—normally it looks, shall we say, um, dumb? I do think this build deserved a laser rather than a light, though…

The 17th Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Michael G.  This is one of the most complete submissions to date and includes prices.

Two weeks ago (my apologies for not getting this out last week) we saw our sixteenth installment of Build of the Week and we have plenty more submissions to go.  As we mentioned, we have a plan in mind for some interactivity with this series to keep it a little more fun and lively.

The sixteenth Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by BKKSW.  I have just recently embraced the 300 BLK (after constant hounding and derision from Pete). I went with a very much “off-the-shelf” SIG MCX Rattler PSB, and now that I am part of the cult, I wonder why I waited so long… BKKSW’s 300 BLK weapon is well loaded and, based on the write up, is very well thought up (note: I named it “Riot Buster” for him; it somehow seemed fitting).

The fifteenth Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by DJ.  I personally have no experience with 6.5 Grendel. One of the things I am enjoying about this series is seeing the variety of not only modifications but platforms. DJ has provided one of the more detailed write-ups for his build.

The fourteenth Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by M Bear.  Any mention of “Project Nemesis” immediately brings up visions of Milla Jojovich and a genetically engineered zombie apocalypse. This build would probably serve well in putting down the lower undead, but may not fair as well against the actual Nemesis. Unless it is meant as a backup weapon FOR the Nemesis?

The thirteenth Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Steve.  This is Steve’s FINAL submission. Submit early and often and you too can showcase your works. Honestly I like most everything on this build–it is pretty clean and has a nice aggressive look to it (without going overboard). My only hang up is the silly Ugg boot stock.

Drumroll…..And the winner for the second set was William C with his AR “In All It’s Glory” build. The randomly picked winning voter was R C.

Last week saw our twelfth installment of Build of the Week and we have plenty more submissions to go.  As we mentioned, we have a plan in mind for some interactivity with this series to keep it a little more fun and lively.

The twelfth Installment of Build of the Week was contributed by Woodrow.  I have personally not had any experience with Aero Precision components, but I have generally heard good things. The Faxon barrel is a solid choice–can’t really go wrong there. That suppressor looks heavy as hell, but probably has decent enough volume to reduce the pew by a bunch (I’ll leave suppressor technical stuff to Pete). While I wasn’t a huge fan of the original EOTechs we had downrange many years ago, I do really like the XPS-2 line (and honestly all of their new stuff). Honestly this is the type of build I would likely do myself–keeping it fairly brand loyal with some decent quality components.  This rifle is also a contender for being featured on the @fiftyshadesoffde IG account. I would like to see some more pics, though…