Looking for MY AR.

What do you intend to DO with this rifle?

You sound uncertain about whether you want a flat-top or not.

Does this mean that you don't want to spend the additional money on an optical sight?

I see rifles with iron sights as being a completely different breed from rifles with optical sights.
I think you need to make up your mind with some certainty as to this issue before you start spending money.

Paying "less" for the wrong tool is no bargain by any standard.

I wanted a fairly priced rifle to get into the AR game and settled on a Doublestar.

I say "settled", but it has more than outdone my expectations.

For $650, this gun shoots MOA out to 200 yards (haven't pushed it past that) and has not had a single malfunction in over 3,000 rounds (even with steel cased ammo).

Doublestar makes 16" carbines and 20" rifles, but finding them aren't always easy.

Buy cheap and you get cheap. AR's are like pigeons in a big city, they are all over the place and every one says it can eat the most stuff. You need to narrow down what you want before you start shopping at the mall. The bare AR will need sights as bare means "nuttin comes with em except the upper and lower". Gas or Piston? Optics=Big Assortment that cost anywhere from $50 junk to 2K top of the line stuff. You gonna shoot paper or plan on hunting something? The list is endless. Bushmaster was taken over by a conglomerate as were a few other weapon manufacturers. I have an AR but if I were looking for another I'd probably check out Windham Weaponry as I've heard tell their customer service is outstanding and they can build you just about anything you can imagine.

My first build was a Del-Ton. I love this rifle. Everything fit the first time and all together I have about 800 into it, including optics and rings. It is easily the most accurate rifle I own. I have put well over 1000 rounds through it with only one stoppage that was caused by a faulty magazine.

I am in the process of building another one now. I wanted to build another Del-Ton, but most of the parts are out of stock right now.

On the second build, I went with a Delaware Machine lower, A YHM upper with a heavy 16" barrel, Spikes stock, and am waiting on the rest of my parts to come in. Hopefully it is half as good as the first one

Unless I read it wrong, the last Shotgun News said that Windham Weaponry took over Bushmaster . I have heard nothing but good things about Windham and haven't had a bad Bushmaster except when they first started up in the early '90's . For general paper punching and varmint hunting, a DPMS Flattop would be fine at less than $700.

Ronin8451 said:

Unless I read it wrong, the last Shotgun News said that Windham Weaponry took over Bushmaster . I have heard nothing but good things about Windham and haven't had a bad Bushmaster except when they first started up in the early '90's . For general paper punching and varmint hunting, a DPMS Flattop would be fine at less than $700.

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Bushmaster was bought by Cerberus the same folks that bought Remington, Marlin, DPMS and others. Windham was started by the old owner of Bushmaster, Richard Dyke and some Maine investors.

S&W sport is probably the best value hobbyist AR out now. Id rather a PSA for a small bit more but on a strict budget S&W sport has it goin on.

You can buy a REALLY GOOD AR15 with A2 iron sights for the same money that you will spend on a low-end flat-top equipped with a medium-quality optic.

You can't build an A3 flattop as inexpensively as you can buy one. But they are better than a carry handle, simply because you can add an optic. Consider that they are military standard on combat firearms these days, irons are no longer minimum standard - just a backup. Bolt guns went that way twenty years ago.

If it's just a paper plinker, any will do. And as said, HD is better served with other firearms.

So - aside from paper - what ranges and targets will it be used for? Spec your features to support that. Will you use this for hunting at all? Caliber and mag capacity are about the only things that could be affected there.

I'll go out on a limb and spec a generally useful recipe: A3 flattop, 16" barrel, midlength gas. If ammo costs are important due to high consumption, stick to 5.56. All the alternate calibers have a negative - either commercially priced ammo costs, or in the case of 7.62x39, not being optimal for the straight mag feed.

Furniture really adds nothing to accuracy unless the barrel is already shooting under 1MOA - which means an A3 flattop with expensive scope.

Which goes back to what range, what target. "Plinking paper" doesn't cover it well enough, simply because there is a huge difference between 50 yards at the dump and 600 yards at a Match.

If just having an AR is the only reason, then $750 and the roll mark that impresses you the most is all that's important. Any one of half a dozen at that price will do the job. Avoid Brandinista rants, simply because that's what they are.

My recommendation is to get the flat-top. I went with carry-handle on mine and severely regret it. If you get the flat-top you can always get a carry handle that attaches via the rail later on to give you iron sights.

With that said, it's really up to you. My AR is mostly an assemblage. I bought the cheapest stripped lower I could find (Stag for mind - you can find tons of various brands for $80 or so), put in a DPMS parts kit, and a cheapo collapsing butt-stock that I don't even remember the brand of. If you have a few decent punches and are the slightest bit mechanically inclined all that stuff goes together pretty simply. There are lots of Youtube videos that show how to put one together. There's not really much hand-fitting and such on the AR15 (ie - completely difference experience vs trying to just throw together something like a 1911).

My upper I bought assembled from Del-ton. Just checking, it appears that they currently sell a "rifle kit" for $470 that includes every part needed to build one up from a stripped lower. Works absolutely fine (as I said - I regret going carry handle, but that's just a preference issue not any fault of the gun).

http://www.del-ton.com/ar_15_kits_s/1.htm

$470 for that + $80 or so for the stripped lower (even less sometimes) and you can have a perfectly functional AR15 for less than $600.

And planned to go 5.56 anyway, so.

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You won't find an AR in your price range that won't handle 5.56. For shooting out to 4-500 yards, you will want at least a 20" to do so accurately and consistently. I originally recommended Double Star, and I still do, but I am having a hard time finding one of their 20" rifles for sale.

I own two DPMS rifles and neither have ever given me a lick of trouble with factory and reload ammo.

Nothing wrong with these rifles and are under $700....

Buy expensive get expensive... but not necesarily better.

Armalite.

BCM, Colt, DD are all quality AR's. Spikes would be about as low cut as I'd care to go. If you can't afford a quality AR how can you afford to get training and ammo to shoot it? You're better off with a 10/22 if you just want something to plink with.

1.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/ar-15-05/psa-20-hammer-forged-cl-mp-a2-upper.html

2.

http://palmettostatearmory.com/inde...arts/complete-psa-ar15-lower-moe-edition.html

3. Connect.

4. Profit!

Errr, I mean, enjoy!

In the $600-700 range PSA is going to be one of the best options. PSA has a FN barrel, mil-spec BCG (shot peen, HT, HPT, MPI, and 8620/C158 steel) and a mil-spec diameter RE. Most others in this price range use commercial quality parts. Nothing wrong with commercial parts, just different materials and manufacturing.