9mm AR questions

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Storz

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Howdy

I've got a birthday coming up and was thinking of buying an AR lower and starting a 9mm AR build as a present to myself :)

This would be my first AR rifle and I have a few questions. I would like to build it as a 9mm and was wondering if I have to get a specific 9mm lower, or will a 'regular' lower work, same applies for the upper. I know the hammer and buffer are 9mm specific. Any recommendations on what to look for in an upper/lower? Places to purchase? This is my first centerfire rifle so its all sort of new to me, I had previously done quite a bit of rimfire target/silhouette shooting.

Thanks!
 
Stick with one manufacturer for parts. They'll tell you what you need. I have a Colt but there are many other manufacturers.
 
The RRA is a good rifle , uses the Colt system . I'd avoid the ones that use Sten mag's .
 
I have the Olympic that takes Glock mags... runs great and with my G17/G19 combo the same mags work in all of them.

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I've seen a few guys running 9mmP ARs at local matches. The Oly lower tat takes Glock mags seems to be the most reliable. The other types can be finicky to get and keep working.

That said, I went with a semi-auto Uzi instead. Mags and parts are cheap plus it was designed to use 9mmP instead of being retrofitted.

The tax stamp was just a bonus. BSW

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I am very happy with my RRA 9MM AR. It works with modded UZI mags or the C-Products mags.
 
I've got one of the Oly's that takes Glock mags. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think I may have even cleaned it once.
 
I am very happy with my RRA 9MM AR. It works with modded UZI mags or the C-Products mags.
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As does mine, it also works with the plastic Pro-Mags after I removed the molding flash from the feed area. I had to file some of the C-Products followers to get then to come up high enough to lock back after the last shot. The modified Uzi mags do not lock back.

--wally.
 
jerkface11 said:
I've got one of the Oly's that takes Glock mags. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think I may have even cleaned it once.
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I currently have two of the Olympic 9mm GL-1s and they are flawless. Anyone who owns/shoots/carries 9mm Glock pistols would be silly to look any further for a 9mm AR IMHO.

Prior to that, I had an older Oly 9mm AR for many years and many thousand s of rounds that ran great with the Sten mags and a SOCOM block. The Sten mags were a pain to load, but the combo ran very reliably (contrary to comments above).

My chief complaint was having a different manual of arms for mag-release/reload than a std. AR and the lack of bolt-hold-open with an empty magazine (both "problems" that they addressed with the GL-1s).

I've had good experiences with others' factory Colt 9mm ARs over the years, but don't have any experience with the newer rifles and conversions (RRA and such) that use the Colt-style setup and mags.
 
Storz said:
... This would be my first AR rifle and I have a few questions. I would like to build it as a 9mm and was wondering if I have to get a specific 9mm lower, or will a 'regular' lower work, same applies for the upper. I know the hammer and buffer are 9mm specific...
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Standard AR lowers work just fine for 9mm unless you want to use the Glock mags.

The hammer and buffer only have to be changed out if using the Colt-style system (Colt, RRA, and others) -- Olympic Arms pistol-caliber conversions use the standard hammer and buffer and you can swap uppers back and forth (rifle-pistol-rifle) without any changes.
 
Storz said:
The other option I am thinking about is picking up a kel Tec sub2000 in 9mm, if I can find one somewhere...
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We also have two Kel-Tec PCCs, both in 9mm -- an older (and better) SUB-9 that uses S&W mags (my wife's) and the current SUB-2000 that uses Glock mags (mine).

They are nifty little carbines that stow in small places and fill a niche, and are IMHO a good value for their cost... but they do not compare to a 9mm AR in quality, capability, or reliability IMHO (YMMV).

(Not a KT-hater -- in fact, I am a big fan of the company and their products. Owning both for years, I just don't think their folding carbines are in the same league with a quality AR in the same caliber. Again, YMMV.)
 
The hammer and buffer only have to be changed out if using the Colt-style system (Colt, RRA, and others) -- Olympic Arms pistol-caliber conversions use the standard hammer and buffer and you can swap uppers back and forth (rifle-pistol-rifle) without any changes.
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That maybe right for semi auto's but the select fire M16 that I have shot went back and forth between 5.56 and 9mm by just changing the upper and taking the thing out of the mag well that held the 9mm stick mags in place.
 
Darthbauer said:
That maybe right for semi auto's but the select fire M16 that I have shot went back and forth between 5.56 and 9mm by just changing the upper and taking the thing out of the mag well that held the 9mm stick mags in place.
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I wasn't clear enough -- my fault.

IIRC, with the Colt system, once you change out the buffer and hammer you can then switch back to 5.56mm without changing those parts back again -- you just have to switch to the 9mm parts initially, one time.

With the Oly system, even that initial switch was unnecessary.
 
I think I am going to go with one of the OLY stlye/ Sten magazine lowers as cost is a factor and I am trying to keep it as low as possible, any particular brand to look for, stay away from?
 
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