AR 15?

I have not had luck with Anderson products. For very similar price you can get a rifle from Palmetto State Armory (PSA). Also note that buying the upper and lower separately will save you some money as manufacturers get charged a tax on complete rifles.

This is currently on PSA "daily deal" page for 499. Add a 75 dollar stripped lower and a little bit of time putting it together, for under 600 bucks you'd have a rifle with a red dot.

Obviously this exact "daily deal" wouldnt be around when you buy, but they have similar deals pretty much every day.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...kit-with-vortex-strikefire-ii-5165502312.html

Or buy a complete lower for 150ish bucks and a complete upper for 400ish.

Ive built a number of guns from Anderson lowers and parts kits and they were fine, but have no experience with their complete rifles.

I have basic, no-frills guns from Del-Ton and PSA and they have been flawless. My buddy has a S&W M&P 15 and has had no problems as well.

The cool thing about the AR rifle system is you don’t need a bunch of high end stuff to make a very accurate rifle. Brand-name upper end pieces make one feel good on the range or in the clubhouse, but a decent barrel and trigger can easily make even the lower priced upper and lower receiver sets shine if they’re assembled well.

Don’t sweat the $$, most of these guns shoot better than we do. Find one within your budget, learn it, shoot it safely and you’ll be back for more before you know it.

Stay safe.

Ive built several PSA-15s over the years from Stealth uppers and lowers found on sale, many blems, which had no discernible blemishes. All ran fine and shot well enough. Each was done in the $500 neighborhood. Good luck!

Don’t feel pressured to snatch up “deals”. There’s always time for a little research first and it does make a difference.

I have built several AR’s using stripped Anderson lowers and they have all been fine. Good fit and finish. I’ve also built using Aero Precision, Spikes Tactical, Black Creek Precision and High Standard lowers. Never had any problem of any kind with any of them…..none!

I would do a little homework before buying one. This way you will have a better idea of what you are buying.
The Anderson rifle you linked to is what is called an optic ready carbine. What this means is that there is no front sight and the gas block has the rail for mounting a front sight if you decide to use one.
The carbide is just a basic plain Jane that you will need to put some type of optic on.

I much prefer a carbine with a front sight tower like this.


You might prefer a carbine with a handrail. You can go short or long. Here’s two of mine. One with a 12” rail and the other with a 15” rail.


The good thing about an AR is that you can change out furniture very easily at home, even if you are not a guy that works on guns. And you can always change things as you grow with the rifle.
My favorite setup is a carbine with a mid length gas system and Magpul furniture with slim handguard. I also like a front sight tower on my work gun.


If you have questions, no matter how minor you may think they are, please ask. Someone here will be more then happy to answer your questions. This is how we learn about things.

GunnyUSMC said:

If you have questions, no matter how minor you may think they are, please ask. Someone here will be more then happy to answer your questions. This is how we learn about things.

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Better still, if you have a question, click on Gunny’s avatar (picture), then click “Start a conversation” and ask direct. He’s on here fairly often, knows at least 8 things about ARs (maybe a wee bit more than 8), and is pretty darn reliable when it comes to helping people.

x_wrench said:

I am in a place now that I can buy a new, lower priced gun. I only know 1 person who owns an AR 15, and we are not close. I have decided I am going to find a range where I can rent one to make sure I actually want one before spending $$$ I have been looking on GunBroker, and i have seen several listings in this ball park price range ( https://www.gunbroker.com/item/911794587 ). i know little about AR 15's, so I don't know if Anderson makes a decent product or not. i realize that this would not be a "tack driver", and it would not have high end parts in it. but I would like to know if this is a decent bang for my buck so to speak. I don't hunt anymore, and with the exception of an occasional "target of opportunity (aka coyote)", I will just be shooting paper with it. at this point, I am looking at this AR, and a Hi Point pistol caliber carbine.

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OP, buy this instead

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...pper-with-bcg-and-charing-handle-7780181.html

plus this

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-ar15-freedom-classic-lower-odg-7779347.html

it’s about $70 dollars cheaper and a better deal in my opinion.

If I were new to ARs, I would run over to the PSA website, find a complete upper that is on sale and a complete lower that is on sale, get them ordered, then connect the upper and lower when you get them in for a complete rifle. You'll a little money and you'll have a good platform to start out with. You can get a front sight tower upper and a lower for about $450 from PSA. Or you can opt for a free-float rail upper and lower for about $550 from PSA. These are your best budget options in my opinion.

My only advice is to purchase an upper with a mid-length gas system if you want a 16" barrel.

Speaking of PSA Sales…
Upper $300
https://palmettostatearmory.com/ble...015&utm_term=morning&utm_content=51655114071B

Lower $140
https://palmettostatearmory.com/ble...0211015&utm_term=morning&utm_content=7780991B

No dispute with the various recommendations that have been given. Choosing the set up/style you want is part of the fun and also a bit of a headache. Haha. My first AR was an R15 that shoots very well. Since then I have assembled or helped assemble several on stripped lowers using economy parts. ALL OF THEM have been shooters keeping most decent ammo under 1.5 moa. At this point in its development the platform is inherently pretty accurate and reliable. I did get one trigger group that didn't like one another much (bad combo of tolerance stacking I think) but swapping it out for a different one yielded a great trigger pull and reliable reset for $45. .
Find what you want and buy with confidence.. it will probably be great!

My only complaint about Anderson lowers is their logo. It's a quality product but the graphics could be better.

Talk about timing!
“Are all ARs created equal?”

Consider also additional costs - ammo, optic, gun range... For example i would be quite happy with my guns, but i cant get my rifle (vz 58) into "action style" gun range due its limits. Just tunnel gets boring after time and i dont have car or gun interested friends to actrually travel to outside range. This type of thing can limit you quite a lot

I too am about to take possession of my first AR platform rifle, but decided to buy once, cry once instead of starting with an amateur homebuild or budget OEM build. So I ordered a WWSD2020 rifle from Brownell's, developed in conjunction with Ian and Karl from InRangeTV/Forgotten Weapons, and KE Arms, which provides the KP-15 monolithic polymer lower receiver and smooth side (no forward assist) upper. https://www.brownells.com/guntech/wwsd2020/detail.htm?lid=17958

It also happens to have full ambidextrous controls out of the box, for those lefties among us.

Odd Job said:

I found out that I can't abide by the "sproing" sound, at least the sproing sound from that buffer tube.
If I ever own an AR-15, it will have an after-market silent buffer, smooth handguard and a low profile picatinny rail with a reflex red dot on it. At that point it will be a great rifle for me.

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The WWSD rifle uses a JP Silent Captured Spring, which eliminates that AR sproing sound.

Granted I'm aware it costs 3x what an entry level AR-15 does. But it is easily greater than the sum of all its carefully considered and selected parts.

https://gunstreamer.com/watch/wwsd2020-final-production-specifications_Vp4EYQLZM52fMkd.html

General Geoff said:

decided to buy once, cry once instead of starting with an amateur homebuild or budget OEM build.

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The recipe for building a solid functioning, accurate AR-15 rifle is a simple one to follow and believe me, it can cost whatever you can imagine. My last 2 ran well over $1,200 each. No crying at all.

I am no stranger to budget priced guns, AR's in particular, I have a couple PSA builds, Spikes, Anderson and BCM. If I could make a recommendation it would be to buy a lower from just about any manufacturer and buy a BCM upper.

On the other hand, I've got no reason to believe that any of the other entry level AR's aren't up to the job, especially your stated task.....I've had good luck with PSA but if you can spend a few more bucks get a BCM or if you buy off the rack, Colt is a good quality benchmark.

I will say, I'm not one to scoff at a budget build and have had basically no malfunctions to speak of out of quite a few lower priced builds and an off the rack M&P and I would conclude that they are good for general duty plinking, hunting, home defense, etc...

But, if you wanted a true duty grade rifle and you were planning on running a pallet of ammo through it and I would suggest spending a lil more than $500-$600 on an AR.

Although, it's impressive how much use and punishment a bottom dollar rifle like a PSA can withstand, they will go the distance. I don't necessarily agree with those that say there is no difference between a Colt and a PSA besides brand recognition. They are quantifiably better, built with better QC standards and materials generally speaking.

DustyGmt said:

I will say, I'm not one to scoff at a budget build and have had basically no malfunctions to speak of out of quite a few lower priced builds and an off the rack M&P and I would conclude that they are good for general duty plinking, hunting, home defense, etc...

But, if you wanted a true duty grade rifle and you were planning on running a pallet of ammo through it and I would suggest spending a lil more than $500-$600 on an AR.

Although, it's impressive how much use and punishment a bottom dollar rifle like a PSA can withstand, they will go the distance. I don't necessarily agree with those that say there is no difference between a Colt and a PSA besides brand recognition. They are quantifiably better, built with better QC standards and materials generally speaking.

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But for Average Joe Civilian, the differences will not likely ever been seen in the original owner's lifetime. Not to mention, extractors, extractor springs, and barrel replacements are pretty dang cheap and that little PSA budget build will keep on running for likely another Civilian Joe lifetime.

Olympus said:

But for Average Joe Civilian, the differences will not likely ever been seen in the original owner's lifetime. Not to mention, extractors, extractor springs, and barrel replacements are pretty dang cheap and that little PSA budget build will keep on running for likely another Civilian Joe lifetime.

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Agreed.