AR15: Purchasing a new rifle, but which and why?

I don't see the poll.

For a lower, I would go with the cheapest stripped lower you can find... brand doesn't matter. There are Surplus Ammo & Arms lowers for $80 online (plus shipping and FFL fee), or at least around here you can find them at a LGS for around $100 or not too much more.

For the upper, I would go with PSA because they have great prices, and meet or exceed the mil specs on everything. While that isn't strictly necessary, especially since you said it isn't going to see a high round count, the extra quality assurance is a good thing. HD is a pretty serious role, after all. Their chrome lined barrels in particular are very nice, being made by FN.

I would go with one of their "fall madness" uppers while they're on sale. I would go with a 16" barrel for your stated role, since you mentioned home defense, and you didn't mention a need for any longer range work. I would go with a mid-length gas system since they have the optimal dwell time for a 16" barrel, give you a little more sight radius and handguard length, and are easier on recoil and on the internal parts. For barrel profile, I would go with the lightest you can get, for ease of handling in tight quarters and for being nice to carry around the farm. I would prefer the pencil profile, but as of right now it looks like they aren't in stock. The mid-length light profile premium madness looks nice too, and is a great price at $279.99. I actually just ordered one of those myself for my Dad's AR build.

Get one of their discounted premium classic lower build kits to finish off the lower, one of their M-16 BCGs, and their discounted mil spec charging handles, and a Magpul MBUS rear sight and you are in business. Spend the rest of your budget on a good red dot sight, a flashlight + mount, and maybe some different handguards to mount the light on.

I'm no AR expert, but it's my understanding that for the $1k market, the Colt 6920 is about as good as it gets for a new rifle.


/unhelpfulness

He has something against Colt and is not considering them, for some reason.

I voted for the only option with parts from what I consider to be a Top Tier manufacturer. (PSA mid with BCM BCG)

Get the Del Ton off the list/poll.

If you get a Smith and Wesson, get the M&P, maybe even the MOE edition. Not the sport. (since you list HD as a use, you cut fewer corners vs the Sport)

Drinking that hateraid? lol


I've heard no complaints about DT, though. Handled a few at the store when I was about to get one, and they were nice little rifles from what I can tell.

henschman said:

... For a lower, I would go with the cheapest stripped lower you can find... brand doesn't matter. There are Surplus Ammo & Arms lowers for $80 online (plus shipping and FFL fee), or at least around here you can find them at a LGS for around $100 or not too much more.

For the upper, I would go with PSA because they have great prices, and meet or exceed the mil specs on everything. While that isn't strictly necessary, especially since you said it isn't going to see a high round count, the extra quality assurance is a good thing. HD is a pretty serious role, after all. Their chrome lined barrels in particular are very nice, being made by FN.

I would go with one of their "fall madness" uppers while they're on sale. I would go with a 16" barrel for your stated role, since you mentioned home defense, and you didn't mention a need for any longer range work. I would go with a mid-length gas system since they have the optimal dwell time for a 16" barrel, give you a little more sight radius and handguard length, and are easier on recoil and on the internal parts. For barrel profile, I would go with the lightest you can get, for ease of handling in tight quarters and for being nice to carry around the farm. I would prefer the pencil profile, but as of right now it looks like they aren't in stock. The mid-length light profile premium madness looks nice too, and is a great price at $279.99. I actually just ordered one of those myself for my Dad's AR build.

Get one of their discounted premium classic lower build kits to finish off the lower, one of their M-16 BCGs, and their discounted mil spec charging handles, and a Magpul MBUS rear sight and you are in business. Spend the rest of your budget on a good red dot sight, a flashlight + mount, and maybe some different handguards to mount the light on.

Click to expand...

I have to agree with everything Henschman said. I ordered a PSA 16" midlength upper during their Labor Day madness sale and they have another sale now. $280 for that good of an upper really is madness! If their $140 milspec BCG is in stock it should be fine, they do have an AR-15 BCG for about $10 less but I'd go with their M16 version instead. You'd save $20 + $10 shipping over BCM and it should be as good. (I did go with BCM's BCG because the PSA was out of stock.) The PSA charging handle is a good deal at only $15 or you could splurge for a BCM Gunfighter Mod 4 (I have two). The M4 handguards are pretty fat and a MOE handguard is a good upgrade.

The MBUS2 rear sight is indestructable and weighs only 1.3 oz I believe. I also use the 5.9 oz Bushnell TRS-25 (have two) and they work fine. Daniel Defense used to put them on a value M4 package sold to law enforcement!

If the pencil barrel is out of stock (like it was when I ordered) their midlength light profile premium madness government profile barrel only weighs a couple ounces more than my BCM pencil. (That surprised me since I expected more like 4-5 oz.) I have a picture of that upper naked in another thread if you want to see under the handguards.

As far as the stripped lower, I'd buy that locally and look at as much inventory nearby as you have time. Any 7075-T6 lower should be fine but I tend to kick in a little more to get a rollmark I like. I figure an extra $25-50 is a drop in the bucket considering the price of entire rifle, say $1000, so why not get something you're proud of! I just couldn't put a DPMS or BM rollmark on one of my builds but of course it shouldn't make a bit of difference. Locally I've bought S&W M&P-15, Valkyrie, Charles Daly and ArmaLite lowers. The first three are great and have flared magwells, the ArmaLite was rougher cosmetically but no functional issues (but I wish the magwell was flared better). I did order a Quentin Defense US Army Edition billet lower which is amazing but never built it up.

As Henschman said the PSA lower build kits are great, all milspec. The BCM receiver extension is a bit smoother but both are 7075 alloy and proper dimensions so you might as well save $25-35 here. Get their H-buffer, it works fine with midlength gas. And BTW he's right on the advantages of a 16" middy, it has the same dwell time as the 14.5" M4 and 20" M16 (about 7" from gas port to muzzle).

Spikes lowers have a lot of fans. No doubt they're good but I've never seen one first hand.

S&W for the warranty and customer support.

I have a BCM upper with a BCM BCG on a PSA lower. Everything that is supposed to be staked is staked, everything that is supposed to be torqued is torqued, and everything that is supposed to be HP/MPI is HP/MPI.

Lots of rounds through it with no problems at all.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Y'know one other thing I really like about my S&W lower, it proudly says Made In USA (in addition to city/state). None of my other lowers have that.

One thing odd about it, the S&W lower doesn't have the caliber marked. And when I originally had an ArmaLite upper on it I actually had a rifle where the caliber wasn't marked anywhere! Now it has a Daniel Defense upper which is marked 5.56.

I know a guy, on another forum, who put a BCM upper on a lower of his choice. It failed first time out. Hammer spring.

You know you like the s&w sport, it'll be less expensive, and it'll do what you want it for really well.

Not sure I would look at a gutted upper. Carriers are starting to be hard to come by as parts.

A PSA middy upper, BCM BCG, lower to be named "franken rifle"

I voted for this one because that's what I did with my first AR build.

My lower was from Spike's Tactical.

Warp said:

I know a guy, on another forum, who put a BCM upper on a lower of his choice. It failed first time out. Hammer spring.

Click to expand...

Isn't the hammer spring in the lower?

WinThePennant said:

Isn't the hammer spring in the lower?

Click to expand...

Bingo.

You know the theory...the upper is what really matters, the upper has all the important parts, the upper is where you should spend your money...just get a lower from some 'other' manufacturer and save some money.

Well, I believe that you get what you pay for, and trying to cut corners and go cheap absolutely increases your chances of having something like that happen.

I still can't get him to admit who made the lower, so sorry, but I don't know that.

Oh, I see your point now.

Yes, I agree. Always buy quality parts for your lower. I love Stag's LPK. Also, use KNS Anti-Rotation pins. Great combination.