You'd have to look around, I don't remember how much my rra was before the eotech and other goodies, but I believe stag and Windham have options much lower than a grand and you can always use money saved to customize your rifle.
Oh BTW the cheaper models won't have a dust guard or a forward assist. Not that they are crucial or anything. I've used my forward assist only a few times ever and that's because I had shot almost 1000 rounds.
I have heard a lot of good things about Colts AR's Thats all I have for you bud. Good luck with your purchase!!
That's why I got two stripped lowers. I can always assemble everything later the lowers have the serial number. Sent from iPhone
First thing I'd do is head to your local gun store and buy yourself a stripped lower receiver. Should cost between $100-$200 depending on what brand you choose. I've used lower quality ones and higher quality ones and the only real difference I've found is that the finishes tend to be a lot more durable on the higher quality ones. If your looking at $800 I'd buy a cheaper lower receiver and put the money into your upper, that's where the accuracy and reliability comes from. Once you get the stripped lower, you will need a lower parts kit. Cost can vary from $70ish to $250ish depending on the trigger you choose to put in the gun. I will tell you in advance that factory military two stage triggers are TERRIBLE. Expect 8-10lbs and creepy as heck. I've upgraded all the guns I've built with Timney 3lb triggers, but that is something that can always be done down the road. A good compromise between the stock trigger and a Timney is the RRA two stage match trigger. Not as good as the Timney, but pretty decent for the $$$. The link below you can see three different RRA lower parts kits. Stock trigger, RRA match trigger, and Timney trigger. Pick your poison. http://www.pkfirearms.com/Lower_Receiver_Parts_Kits/34/c Next you will need the stock and buffer tube assembly. This is another area where you can pick what you want. A regular A2 buttstock kit will cost you $70ish. I don't know the laws in anyones local state other than NY but if you are allowed to have a collapsible stock there are some good options out there form Magpul, etc. Here in NY we aren't allowed to have them as they classify as one of the features of an assault rifle and we are a no assault weapon state. I wanted as light as possible, so chose the ACE Skeleton stock. It's the lightest stock I know of and perfect for hunting, plus it's not that expensive. I've included a link below, it's the first option on the list. http://www.model1sales.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=468 If you want a regular A2 stock PK Firearms is really good to deal with and has them in stock, it's the second line item on this list. http://www.pkfirearms.com/Fixed_Stocks/8/c After you assemble those parts per these instructions, your lower receiver is done. Unless you have built and handled several AR's I'd likely not recommend building your upper receiver. Buy something complete. Based on my personal experience I REALLY like RRA products. I also don't think anyone needs more than a 16" barrel for anything. I've owned 16", 18", and 20" barreled AR's and they simply get heavier.....velocity is so close it doesn't matter and a 20" barreled AR is heavy enough to anchor a mid sized boat (like 8.5-9lbs). I have a 16" Coyote Carbine upper in 6.8 SPC and I've handled and built other RRA guns with their .223 wylde chamber as well. I highly recommend this upper as it will absolutely shoot less than 1" groups with quality ammo, plus since it has the wylde chamber you can also shoot military surplus 5.56 rounds. To be honest at this point based on what I've seen with a lot of guns, unless I were building my own upper I don't think I would buy something other than RRA. Right now those Coyote Carbine uppers are hard to come by, but if you watch gunbroker for an auction for a week or so I imagine you will find one. You don't have to do an FFL transfer on these either, they can ship direct to your house. If you watch www.pkfirearms.com they will get them in stock, if it's on their website they have it so keep an eye out there too. I guess also if you order direct from the RRA website they are claiming a 90-120day wait time right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took drastically longer than that. If you are looking to build an upper, I'd pick a www.ar15performance.com 16" scout profile barrel and bolt assembly to build it around. Pick up a flat top upper receiver with m4 feed ramps, a hogue midlength overmolded floating handguard, an RRA bolt assembly to put the ARP bolt head into, their Eliminator muzzle break, a DPMS Picatinny top gas block (.750 barrel diameter), and then a mid length gas tube plus the roll pin needed to attach to the gas block. Assemble per these directions....... http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_4/226782_.html
If you watch Palmetto State Armory, they have 'blemished' forged lowers (stripped) for around 59.00 every now and then. (last ones I bought were $67.00 shipped.) You'll need an FFL for the transfer.... but unless you have an outrageous FFL fee, it's a cheap way to go. They are excellent lowers. And I can't see the blemishes. We built the lowers but bought assembled uppers. I went with a gas piston Adams Arms upper. It's nice. I have the cheap DPMS lower build kit. Trigger isn't as nice as a National Match or Timney or ATC or Geissele of course... but it's still fine for my purposes. (Good triggers will really raise the price of the build) I'm going to build a 300AAC Blackout next. May put in a spiffier trigger on that one. ...or the next one.
I second the Palmetto State lowers. I built two 6.8 ARP's (6.8 SPC spinoff) for buddies to deer hunt with this year on those receivers. Decent uppers for the $$$. Who cares if it has a blemish anyhow, these are working guns and get marked up anyhow if your yote hunting, etc with them.
Thankyou for all the info. My plan is to search the local gun shops around here for a stripped lower ( most online shops are sold out). Then most likely going to pick up the stock RJ mentioned and a lower kit from dpms and upper from RRA arms. That will put me right around in my budget.
I just bought a DPMS with 20" bull barrel and upgraded trigger today over lunch... Pretty much this gun except with an upgraded trigger. http://dpmsinc.com/BULL-20_ep_142-1.html Initially I went in with the hope of just buying some stripped or complete lowers depending on what they had but they didn't have any lowers in stock and the gun I bought was the last AR bull barrel they had (which is what I wanted)... They said they sold over 100 AR's over the weekend and a lot of the time frames on parts and guns are unknown with some of the vendors putting their resources towards fulfilling complete gun orders and not parts until further notice.... So after all that I called the other main gun shop in town and low and behold they had some stripped Rock River Lowers in stock. I stopped by and picked up two after work. Interesting that by the time I picked mine up they had the lowers marked up $50 over what they had first quoted me - guess they were told not to expect any more lowers for a while (they did honor their initial price for me at least)... Was talking with the guy and he said they set a shop record for sales over the weekend. They also sold over 100 AR's and had about 70 lowers late last week - they were down to under 20 left tonight... Looks like supply is getting tight...
I would go with an HK, MR556A1. No other AR style rifle can come close to this gun. It was also the gun that killed OBL.
I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. Worst Customer Service in the industry and there are better American made companies out there making superior products you can buy for a build.
I understand...I have a (friend ) That has not put 1,000's...but 100's of 1,000s of rounds through this gun and it does not fail. If you ever need customer service I would be VERY surprised. Ive never needed them and dont believe I ever will, that's prolly why there customer service is so bad. Very rear that there is a need for customer service...If/when my life is on the line, this is the gun I want in my hands.
Well picked up a S&W m&p lower tonight. Going to add a RRA arms upper to it. I really like the Stock RJ put up here to add to it, and more then likely a DPMS lower kit. My question is what else am i going to need?
Ready to rock out the box I would buy a Daniel Defense or a Colt. I have no interest anymore in piece milling anything together.
