I purchased a complete PA-15 a while back and decided I wanted to try a PA-10 build from kit.
I purchased a BLEM Gen3 PA10 Stripped Lower Receiver and a BLEM PSA Gen3 PA10 18" Mid-Length .308 WIN 1/10 Stainless Steel 15" Lightweight M-lok ACS-L 2-Stage Rifle Kit.
I can not find any sort of build guide and no instructions came with the kit. I understand there are differences amongst AR-10 style brands. Is there a recommended guide to follow to build this kit?
Thanks!
The take down pins and bolt catch are the only differences as far as parts for the lower. They install the same as an ar15 but are ar10 specific.
Here is the blog post:
https://palmettostatearmory.com/blog/how-to-video-series-building-an-ar-15-lower-receiver.html
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Thanks for the link!
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Welcome. If you run into issues please ask. We are here to help.
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I see PSA has a meme pa10 gen 2 on sale for less than the gen 3, what are the differences from gen 2 to gen 3
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Bcg relief cuts in the buffer tube threading. Otherwise they are the same.
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welcome to the forums @rewithey !! glad to see you here!
it sounds like you have a build kit for the rifle, which should include the lower parts kit for the stripped lower. that should be what you build first. the upper should be built already, and as such once you get the lower built, you can put the upper on top and are good to go hopefully. there are a lot of videos out there on youtube about assembly of an ar10 or ar15 you can use.
Oh also, if you dont have a lower parts kit in that build kit, you’ll wanna buy a PSA lower parts kit for the ar10. only buy PSA parts for the AR10 because they are proprietary, and as such no other company’s ar10 kit will work perfectly with your PSA AR10 lower. they may kinda work, but not as perfectly as a psa lower parts kit would.
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is there a cheaper way to put the upper receiver in a vice other than using these expensive bar things? i always used a super cheap vice block for my ar15… would this work its the cheapest thing i could find anywhere:
any suggestions would be appreciated before i jump in building my upper, thanks in advance
there are ar10 upper vice blocks available … psa used to carry this but i havent seen it on their site so here it is from midway :
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I second this option.
WHEELER DELTA SERIES UPPER RECEIVER ACTION BLOCK & PICATINNY RAIL VISE
I ended up buying one of the same and it worked awesome to completely tear down both my PA-10 and PA-15. Including both the PSA over torqued barrel nuts.
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Yes, my PA-15 was a complete rifle.
My PA-10 was a upper with lower build kit I used with my stripped G3 lower.
All assembled and performed great at the range.
Have since broke both down completely and reassembled with Loctite, anti-seize and proper torques where appropriate.
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awesome!!! your a bit of aperfectionist too huh? thats great. I am too.
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almost bought a $150 bar… this works? it’s all I need to assemble my ar10…
thank you 
did the same build 4 years ago without any of the things you used in the assembly. made my own pin holding tool. wasnt too bad and cost me nothing but time. get 1.5 in group 100yrds with silver bear ammo in a a frame front sight barrel. someday ill try the good ammo in her.
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LOL
Just watched my gunsmith complete a barrel install on my PA-10 by hand tightening the barrel nut. When I challenged him on this, he took out the torque wrench and confirmed 35 ft-lbs. Runs great and shoots 1.5 (mostly on me).
I’ve never used a torque wrench on my barrel nut…
What’s this torque wrench thingy you guys speak of? What ever happened to finger tight, hand tight, wrench tight and super tight that we all grew up with?
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And then there was “Gas Patch Tight”, “As tight as you can get it, then a quarter turn past that!”
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That video is great and nearly all of it applies to building a PA 10 just the same as the PA 15, but there is one major exception.
When building the PA 10, you need to put the rear take down pin together and onto your lower at the same time you are installing the fire control and the pistol grip. The reason is, the spring and the detent that retain the rear takedown pin have to be put in from the bottom of the lower receiver under the pistol grip.
In the PA 15 video, the rear take down pin is one of the last steps, installed with the buffer tube. That is because on the PA 15, the spring and detent for the rear take down pin are inserted from the back of the lower receiver (as the video shows), not from underneath like on the PA 10.
If you miss this, you will discover later that you have to take your pistol grip back off, because there is no way to then install the detent and spring for the rear take down pin. I learned the hard way, using a very tricky-to-install Tyrant Designs pistol grip, that was a pain to put on, remove, and reinstall.
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