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  • BuzzinSATX

    Well-Known
    Rating - 100%
    6   0   0
    Dec 20, 2013
    1,776
    96
    New Braunfels
    80% of the price gets you 98% of the performance in many areas of life. Chasing that last 2% can take all your money and all your time. The older I get, the less I think it's worthwhile.

    I’ll agree with this post.

    All I’ll add is that some components are more important than others, some by a lot! Skimp on the barrel and you may not get accuracy or longevity. Some components like BCG and gas tubes may impact reliably. Figure out your desired outcome(s) and buy/build accordingly


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

    DD130

    Active Member
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Aug 21, 2017
    522
    46
    Devil's Backbone
    Nope....plug and play. Quite easy if your mechanically inclined. Need a couple of specialty tools just to make it easier. 25 bucks for an armorers wrench. Punches and nice small hammer. Vise block set if your gonna do an upper. Torque wrench is a nice plus.

    Now....dont get me wrong. You can spend gozillions puttin one together and I admit I shop super hard for components (price wise)
    Agreed. I only 1 that I bought off the shelf, and a pile of them I've assembled from part, the last one I did had nothing pre-assembed. I did buy a set of headspacing gauges just to be 100% sure the upper went together right, and it did. ARs are about the simplest guns you can assemble, IMHO. I price surf for a good deal on a barrel, or upper and just collect that parts I want to put it together once I've found them all; easy-peasy.
     

    HKShooter65

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    I have both preassembled and home-brewed-concoction ARs.

    I find a great pride of ownership of the ones I assembled.
    Knowledge of building a "from-scratch" AR is simply a good life skill to have IMO.

    Higher end parts are more likely plug and play. Seems to me it's the bargain bin stuff that has more tolerance problems and issues. Still, fiddling with an out of spec part and getting it working is another life skill to have.
     

    baboon

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    May 6, 2008
    22,455
    96
    Out here by the lake!
    I had several different uppers for my M16A2 that were not on any lowers. I started my first assembly when Primary Arms had a deal on Aero stripped lowers.

    I could have bought a complete lower for what I put into that stripped lower. Now I have 5 Aero lowers that I put together. Putting them together is something to do when I get bored & got a little spare cash.

    Everyone should put at least one together. It teaches you a few things you might not know about them.

    I missed out on a Aero .308 upper & lower that was listed here cheap when I had a doctors appointment on the day the deal was to go down. I still have not assembled a .308 AR, nor have I ventured into a 9mm.
     

    easy rider

    Summer Slacker
    Lifetime Member
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jun 10, 2015
    31,489
    96
    Odessa, Tx
    I had several different uppers for my M16A2 that were not on any lowers. I started my first assembly when Primary Arms had a deal on Aero stripped lowers.

    I could have bought a complete lower for what I put into that stripped lower. Now I have 5 Aero lowers that I put together. Putting them together is something to do when I get bored & got a little spare cash.

    Everyone should put at least one together. It teaches you a few things you might not know about them.

    I missed out on a Aero .308 upper & lower that was listed here cheap when I had a doctors appointment on the day the deal was to go down. I still have not assembled a .308 AR, nor have I ventured into a 9mm.
    I get a bit crazy at times to call it spare cash. My problem is that once I see those "Oh Cool" parts, it's hard to downgrade.
     

    Pops1955

    Well-Known
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Mar 10, 2015
    1,378
    96
    I am building a quality AR with an 80% lower. A real challenge for me but well worth the experience. Building it the way I want it. Not cheap for sure but for me it is about the doing it for myself. Having a GS for a friend has helped.
     

    Pops1955

    Well-Known
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    0   0   0
    Mar 10, 2015
    1,378
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    20170829_161457-1.jpg


    this is NOT my build
     
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jul 24, 2018
    119
    26
    East Texas
    Considering the OP is planning on feeding the AR steel case ammo, I'd say he doesn't want or need "top of the line" parts. I may be projecting here but I'm betting he's looking for a cheap AR that he'll probably never attempt to shoot over 100 yards. With that being the case, AR parts are very cheap, at the moment. I could replicate my last AR for less than $400. If I went parkerized/phosphate it'd probably be in the 350 range.

    Here's an easy recipe for a cheap reliable AR:

    Anderson lower ~$50
    PSA lower kit on sale right now $100
    Nitride PSA complete upper $220
    Rear sight of choice $20-50

    So for less than $400 you got an AR that will more than likely do everything you will ever ask of it. Oh and I found all of that just now in less than 5 minutes of searching. I'm sure you can shave a few dollars off the price by waiting on deals. PSA also has a complete kit (sans stripped lower) that saves a lot of time and is also usually a good price as well.
     

    Pawpaw40

    Member
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Jan 5, 2009
    157
    11
    East Texas
    Build or buy?
    My experience is if you just want a basic AR, just go and buy one. You can buy one at a gun show, there are a bunch of builders that sell at them. You can usually save a few bucks there, but quality can be sketchy, you have to know and inspect the parts they use. Check for a properly staked BCG, look down the barrel (they have been known to install old worn out barrels), look for quality parts. You can go to a large retail store like Academy, they usually have some AR's like S&W, Ruger, Windham, DPMS for sale, usually at decent prices. The build option is best if you want some upgrades. Better barrel, different flash suppressor/muzzle brake, non-rotating pins, extended or ambidextrous mag release, nickel boron BCG, upgraded trigger, etc. If you are going to want these upgrades, it is generally cheaper to build. If you buy a price leader AR and end up upgrading, you end up paying for all these parts twice, and you end up with a bunch of spare parts. After that you will say "I've got all these AR parts, I need to build me another to use the parts up". Thus begins another cycle, and you end up with 5 or 10 AR's.
     
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