The Gun Counter

A little background first.
I have a friend that is dying. (lets just call him Chuck) He found out in August that he had brain cancer and has been given 1 to 2 years. At first his doctors did not paint a pretty picture when they told him that he had a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball.
He giving away a lot of his guns to his family. He gave three ARs away, one of which was a Tiger McKee Katana.
He made it through surgery and radiation treatments like a champ. The doctors were amazed at how well he did.

About two weeks ago Chuck asked me what I would charge him to build him a lightweight AR. I told him I would do it for whatever it cost. He said he wanted a pencil barrel and a short stock. So we jumped on the internet and started looking for parts that he wanted.
We ordered a 14.7 inch retro barrel from Brownell's, Aero Precision upper receiver without the forward assist and a EXO Nickel Bron BCG from Aim Surplus. I had a complete PSA lower at the house along with the rest of the parts. While looking for parts Chuck saw a picture of the UTG Entry stock and said that was the stock he wanted. Hell, I had one at the house too.
Now Chuck is about 5'3" tall with short arms and he's a fighter. He's a combat vet and retired LEO. I told him one day, while picking on him, that he was more like a runt T-Rex then a Velociraptor. Because Velociraptors go after the weaker, but a T-Rex is a fighter and never backs down.
So I'm calling this build The T-Rex. Here is a pic I took the other day. Since the pic was taken I got the BCG and Triangle hand guard in.
The barrel is at the shop right now having the flash hider pinned and welded.

I told Chuck I was going to have a T-Rex engraved in the right side of the magwell. He told me he would kill me if I did.

Sounds like he's got plenty of fight in him.

I know he already had treatment, but I want to put out a plug for what is the best thing for cancer in the brain since, well anything.

Aizik Wolf in Miami at Larkin Neuroscience. He is a neurosurgeon who uses gamma knife to obliterate the tumor cells without having to go inside the brain. The machine breaks the cell walls of tumors one 1 mm sphere at a time with absolute precision. Most doctors who have a Gamma Knife machine do not have the knowledge of the brain to use it properly as they are only radiation oncologists. Being a neurosurgeon he does. Most will only do 5 tumors or less because the use the 1cm aperture and melt good parts of the brain. He has done over 100 tumors with ZERO ill effect.

He gave my wife almost 2 years of zero side effect life extension. If only the other doctors had been half as competent in their fields...

But I digress.

Congrats on you for making your buddies life fuller and better.

With a project name like that I hope the caliber is a worthy of it. Something beginning in 3, 4 or 5.

As some of you know, I had Tonsil cancer back in 2006. Since then I have had 7 friends diagnosed with cancer of one type or another. Five of those friends have died and two are still undergoing treatments. I'm starting to fill like the only one that has made it back from the war. Chuck will be starting chemo in a week or two. I hope to have the barrel back in 3 to 4 days to finish the build and go to the range with him.
To help Chuck with the build my Gunsmith was only going to charge $50 to pin and weld the barrel. I ended up doing some horse treading for the work so the cost of the work will be $0.00.

It is chambered in 5.56. Chuck is a shooter and will most likely have over 1000 rounds through it in the first week.. The rifle will also be his car gun. He's the type of guy that carries no less then two handguns on his person and keeps an AR in his vehicle.

I picked up the barrel on Thursday and finished the build that night.
The grip is an A2 grip that I cut down and stippled. The rifle is only 31 3/8" long.
I was off on Friday, but brought the gun to work to get to Chuck so that he could have it for the weekend.
Chuck was very happy with the build. I will see him later in the week to find out how it shoots.

That's really nice work! I love the short stock.

That looks smart! I'm sure it will make Chuck happy, and I hope his happiness will help his health too. Well wear, and good for you, Candyman.

A small arms project.

Am i the only one who came in here looking for a 577 t-rex build?
Nice AR build and may he enjoy it for years to come.