Toying with the idea of building an AR

For just a plinker? I'd buy it.

Magpul furniture - great. I don't like their pistol grip because it's fat and I have small hands, but some people with bigger hands hate the stock A2 grips and swear by Magpul. If you decide you don't like it, small A2 grips are availble for literally a dime a dozen. Their buttstock and rail are very good IMO.

Free float - great to have for $400.

MBUS sights - guess it depends if you plan to scope it. On their own they'll be fine, if you have a scope, you won't be using them much.

EPT trigger - never heard of it.

You don't have to have any reason for a new gun. The psa stuff is good, bca is good to and cheaper.

The EPT trigger is very nice. I have a bunch of them.

That kit has a Nitride barrel, it’s not chrome lined. I prefer a Nitride barrel over a chrome lined one.
The EPT triggers are better then milspec triggers, but nothing to write home about. Buta nicer trigger will cost you from $90 to $200 more.
I have built three rifles using that same kit and all are great shooters. These were builds I did for friends with there lowers. They are all very happy.

If you want my opinion: Don’t do it.

Here’s why: you’ll buy all the parts, and then you won’t like one... so you’ll buy another.... and another.... and then you’ll have your AR and be pleased with it... but now you have two spare parts... so naturally you’ll recycle those parts by assembling a second AR.... you’ll justify it because it will be for a different type of set up. it’s a vicious cycle, and in the end you’ll have more AR’s than you can dual wield and a parts bin to boot.

Or just do a cannonball down the rabbit hole... and before you know it, you’ll be assembling them for friends because there’s no more room in your safe. Just ask the Gunny above.

StationOps said:

Hi,

I've been thinking of building an AR recently, not exactly sure why. Maybe to practice offhand shooting?

Is this a good kit? https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...weight-m-lok-moe-ept-rifle-kit-516446780.html

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StationOps said:

I like the Midlength, Freefloat, and Magpul Furniture. Psa has been good to me, bad to my wallet.

It has the chrome, free float barrel, mlok foregrip and carpenter steel bolt carrier. Comes with EPT trigger and the MBUS sight set.

Are the EPT trigger and MBUS sights worth it?

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The MBUS sights, if you like Iron Sights are "Adequate". They are backup sights. They do not have an elevation adjustment if you like them. I was skeptical of the plastic, but I have a set, and they have held up fine for several years...which is more than I expected. The EPT is much better than a Mil-Spec trigger, slightly less than an ALG ACT (it is modeled after it.) A LaRue, Geissle, or PSA 2 stage is better, especially if you have been bitten by the 2 stage bug. The EPT is an above average trigger for a first AR.

They say it's a memorial day sale, but pretty sure its the same price as it was last week.[/QUOTE]

Welcome to PSA. They have 2 prices - normal prices and "sale" prices. When they have a lot of an item, it goes on sale and stays there until the stock runs down. Could be tomorrow, could be a month from now. When it goes "off sale" you will watch and wait and panic until it goes on sale again. Could be a week, could be a year.

With PSA, if you want it, get it on sale. When it goes out of stock, it will probably go off sale, and may never go back on sale.

I would buy that if I wanted another AR right now. Get yourself an inexpensive lower and you have a decent AR for general use for under $500. What’s not to like?

StationOps said:

Hi,

I've been thinking of building an AR recently, not exactly sure why. Maybe to practice offhand shooting?

Is this a good kit? https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...weight-m-lok-moe-ept-rifle-kit-516446780.html

It has the chrome, free float barrel, mlok foregrip and carpenter steel bolt carrier. Comes with EPT trigger and the MBUS sight set.

Are the EPT trigger and MBUS sights worth it?

They say it's a memorial day sale, but pretty sure its the same price as it was last week.

Click to expand...

I see no reason to not buy this kit. Good price, good parts. Add this lower- https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-stealth-lower.html

You can get the proper H or H2 buffer and proper extractor spring later. Buy the kit & receiver now now before they're out of stock.

Once you build one complete rifle upper and lower, you’ll realize how simple it really is.

I remember just a few years ago when new, unfired Mosins were $99. I think that’s where we are with AR rifles right now.

I’m 68 and downsizing. If I were 40 and single, I’d be buying AR’s, .22 ammo, or PMAGs every paycheck

I just built my first at the beginning of month from psa kit 516444983. It went out of stock the day after it arrived. I built mine on an Anderson lower. The kit you are considering is one that I looked at before I bought mine. One reason I bought a different one from you is it was listed at 329.99.
I have been looking at more builds one that I'm considering is kit # 516449790. I has a retail of 799 but is sale priced at 379 Iirc.

I like my ept trigger it has a smooth pull and with use it has gotten better. It's not as good as my after market bolt guns but quite good.

It's not a bad kit. I helped a friend put one together not too long ago. Here's the thing regarding this build: you're only really building the lower, as the upper is already built for you (this can be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences).

This is a relatively cheap way to get into a decent AR-15 for plinking and home defense. The AR platform is very adaptable though, and you may find that you want something different after you've had this one for a while. But, unless you've had one before you may not have any idea what you actually want until you own one for a while.

My AR-15's have spanned the range from cheap truck guns for plinking and camping, to home built precision rifles with more than $2K in parts in them for distance work. You can do an SBR for suppressed shooting, you can make an ultralight gun just for fun, you can make a clone of many service weapons, you can build a hunting gun, a range toy, or basically anything you want. In that sense AR rifles are a lot like potato chips: you can't have just one.

So, get a few tools, build an AR-15, and then embrace the sickness like the rest of us.

One thing I just noticed is their "normal" price of $739.99. I call BS on that price. I don't think that kit has ever been priced over $450 from them, and that looks like a marketing ploy. I've bought a few Palmetto kits over the years, and they specialize in the $300-500 price range for kits. If now isn't the right time to buy it, don't feel rushed because of the alleged discount you're getting here. This is pretty normal pricing for them. It's good pricing, but I don't see anything noteworthy about the price, because I don't think I've ever seen this kit going for anywhere near $740 (and it isn't a deal at $740).

Keep us posted andfollow up with range report.

I look at it another way. If you've never felt compelled to buy one, you may not really want one.

Mine was bought for political reasons, thought I wouldn't be able to later.

Shot it a few times, found I'm really not into it, and sold it.

Hopefully you'll have more interest in it than I did.

StationOps said:

I've been thinking of building an AR recently, not exactly sure why.

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I highlighted the above statement to offer a caution to you: YOU are the would-be AR owner who is destined to be disappointed in your AR build.

I made a business for several years building custom AR’s, and still instruct a class here and there to guide new AR buyers/owners/builders through their process of selecting, building, tuning, and operating their AR’s. I’m sharing with you the same caution I offer all would-be AR buyers - if you don’t have a use for something but buy it anyway, you will most likely find yourself not using it. For the average civilian, there aren’t a lot of ways to make use of the typical mil-spec carbine other than blasting at the range. While it’s a fine pursuit, a lot of guys realize it’s not enough to justify ownership of their AR, and they end up with buyer’s remorse. Some folks love going to the range every month and making noise with a 1.5-2moa carbine, and that’s fantastic. Other guys want more from their AR, and if they’d have bought/built a different type of AR from the beginning, they might have found more use of it.

Personally, for a “I don’t know exactly what I want” AR buyer, I recommend an 18-20” barreled flat top AR with a free float handguard, your preferred flavor of carbine stock, and a NON-mil-spec trigger (Geissele G2S or SSP are my “budget” options I prefer). This set up is versatile and capable, and not specialized towards any particular use which might limit its capacity in other uses.

Speedo66 said:

I look at it another way. If you've never felt compelled to buy one, you may not really want one.

Mine was bought for political reasons, thought I wouldn't be able to later.

Shot it a few times, found I'm really not into it, and sold it.

Hopefully you'll have more interest in it than I did.

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We were typing at the same time - but this is EXACTLY the reason I mentioned what I did above.

I often tell people - think about an AR like a welder. Lots of guys want to have a welder, but not many of them really have use for one.

Varminterror said:

Personally, for a “I don’t know exactly what I want” AR buyer, I recommend an 18-20” barreled flat top AR with a free float handguard, your preferred flavor of carbine stock, and a NON-mil-spec trigger (Geissele G2S or SSP are my “budget” options I prefer). This set up is versatile and capable, and not specialized towards any particular use which might limit its capacity in other uses

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This. I have no desire to buy a firearm simply to turn money into noise. I fully expect my rifles to shoot sub 1” or they go away. My last AR build has a 18” Wilson Match Grade barrel. It’s handy enough that it works for HD.

If you wanna buy milsurp ammo by the crate and blast away, knock yourself out. Not my thing. Mine have good barrels, very good to great triggers, high end optics

I have three friends that bought ARs for prairie dogs. They had seen my Varminter shooting as well or better than very accurate bolt rifles. I can assure you that theirs aren’t nearly as accurate as mine. We had multiple impromptu shooting competitions and I smoked them every time. I should. I’ve got a 6-20x40 VX-III scope, they had cheaper 3-9s. They have run-of-the-mill barrels. Mine is 24” air gauged, match grade. They use regular ammo. Mine are hand loads.

Point is, not all ARs are created equal

Varminterror said:

I highlighted the above statement to offer a caution to you: YOU are the would-be AR owner who is destined to be disappointed in your AR build.

I made a business for several years building custom AR’s, and still instruct a class here and there to guide new AR buyers/owners/builders through their process of selecting, building, tuning, and operating their AR’s. I’m sharing with you the same caution I offer all would-be AR buyers - if you don’t have a use for something but buy it anyway, you will most likely find yourself not using it. For the average civilian, there aren’t a lot of ways to make use of the typical mil-spec carbine other than blasting at the range. While it’s a fine pursuit, a lot of guys realize it’s not enough to justify ownership of their AR, and they end up with buyer’s remorse. Some folks love going to the range every month and making noise with a 1.5-2moa carbine, and that’s fantastic. Other guys want more from their AR, and if they’d have bought/built a different type of AR from the beginning, they might have found more use of it.

Personally, for a “I don’t know exactly what I want” AR buyer, I recommend an 18-20” barreled flat top AR with a free float handguard, your preferred flavor of carbine stock, and a NON-mil-spec trigger (Geissele G2S or SSP are my “budget” options I prefer). This set up is versatile and capable, and not specialized towards any particular use which might limit its capacity in other uses.

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That’s where I’m at with my AR10, but I fully expected going into it that I didn’t need it and probably wasn’t going to use it for anything. The reason I built it is I like to challenge my own perceptions from time to time. I felt the exact same way when I built my AR15 and I turned out to really really like that platform, but the AR10 doesn’t do it for me. I’ve found several times in life that I like something I never thought I would, so I try to keep an open mind and take chances.

The most important rule in building ones first AR is to make D^*# sure you don’t have any extra parts left over! It’ll cost you!

Varminterror said:

I highlighted the above statement to offer a caution to you: YOU are the would-be AR owner who is destined to be disappointed in your AR build.

I made a business for several years building custom AR’s, and still instruct a class here and there to guide new AR buyers/owners/builders through their process of selecting, building, tuning, and operating their AR’s. I’m sharing with you the same caution I offer all would-be AR buyers - if you don’t have a use for something but buy it anyway, you will most likely find yourself not using it. For the average civilian, there aren’t a lot of ways to make use of the typical mil-spec carbine other than blasting at the range. While it’s a fine pursuit, a lot of guys realize it’s not enough to justify ownership of their AR, and they end up with buyer’s remorse. Some folks love going to the range every month and making noise with a 1.5-2moa carbine, and that’s fantastic. Other guys want more from their AR, and if they’d have bought/built a different type of AR from the beginning, they might have found more use of it.

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Honestly, I don't know of too many folks with buyer's remorse on AR-15's. I'm sure it happens, as at least one person described here, but I don't think the OP's inability to articulate a need for the AR doesn't mean that he shouldn't build one if he's suddenly caught the bug to do so.

In truth, very few of us need most of the guns we own. We own them for an infinite variety of reasons, but the odds are strong that once someone gets beyond a handful of guns they aren't really owning them because they *need* to own them, as much as they *want* to own them. If I tried to articulate some of the silly reasons for which I bought certain guns in my collection, some of you would probably think it was ridiculous. But, I don't necessarily regret having them, even though I'm far more in the "shooter" than "collector" category in terms of my reasons for owning them.

The thing that makes the AR platform really special is that the OP can build this gun however he wants, and if he later decides that he wants something else he can turn that gun into the thing that he then desires. My AR building journey kind of started out in that way. I wanted to make some changes to my duty gun, and I wanted to know how to do these things myself. Ultimately I decided to just build a second rifle instead of changing my current rifle. I later found myself wanting some changes to that design, and rather than just building another upper, I built another rifle. At that point I had three rifles that I liked and used for different purposes... the sickness took hold, and I went from there. I've built quite a few rifles, and each one was built with a different vision in mind. But, had I wanted to only own one, I could have easily just converted the original rifle I owned.

coloradokevin said:

Honestly, I don't know of too many folks with buyer's remorse on AR-15's.

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Honestly, I made a business out of profiting from the buyer’s remorse literally hundreds of carbine buyers experienced. Either by buying cheap and reselling from them, or by rebuilding the rifles for them into something they would find more useful.

I absolutely did not, and do not ever say folks don’t NEED their AR’s. But there’s a huge gap between “needing” something and “having use for” something. Or “having interest in making use of” something.

I could never make up my mind on what I liked more so, I built a few, then sold a few so that I could build more. I still have a few and want to build more.