budget Service rifle upper?

[Detritus]

Ok, i'll cut to the chase, what if for lack of a better term your just a little too dang poor to fork over $720 for a White Oak upper (teh advise i keep getting) but want to start shooting as soon as possible.
what "DCM/CMP legal" (since terminology varies from Maker to maker) uppers on the market right now are worth even pulling the trigger on??

I know RRA has a decent rep btw and that's my most likely route.

anyone have experience with the service rifle uppers from DPMS, Olympic,and so on??

thank you for your time and any info.

 

[lycanthrope]

I had a White Oak Armament upper and it was superb, but I wouldn't feel undergunned with a DPMS, RRA or Olympic. The local range guns are DPMS and several shooters use RRA well enough for Expert-Master. I never shot an Oly CMP gun, but my Flat top Oly is the second most accurate AR in my lot besides the Clark Gator. I eventually went 3 gun and sold the WOA upper for like $550 which brings up another point: You may be able to find a nice used one on the equipment exchange over at www.ar15.com or other board.

Short answer? Whichever is on sale, then get a good trigger and more ammo.

 

[Detritus]

then get a good trigger and more ammo.

current plan involves a stripped lower and a parts kit including a RRA 2-stage trigger. already build one lower so i figure i can do it again. does the RRA triger change how the lower goes together any?

i would perfer a WOA, but am currently leaning toward a RRA or similar for bugetary reasons, plus if i upgrade the "factory" (WOA=custom to me) upper can be sold to another new shooter at a reasonable price to let someone else get a start.

thanks for the info.

 

[lycanthrope]

The RRA two stage trigger isn't hard to put in. I found www.eaglefirearms.net to be cheapest for lowers. The Stag lowers are my favorite for builds since they are identical to RRA save for the rollmark and they mate up tight to the upper so you don't need an Accuwedge.

 

[Swampy]

detritus,

My preferred rifle is the M1 but I did buy a Rock River DCM upper about 4 years back and stuck it on a lower that I had. With the RRA 2 stage trigger it's been a very good shooter Across the Course. Even though I don't shoot the AR much, I have shot several Master class sorces with it.

For the money you can't go wrong with a RRA DCM upper..... If you do your part it'll get you your Master rating easily enough.

Best regards,
Swampy

Garands forever

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

Well dealer cost for a rra's dcm upper is like 525 or 550. Now thats if you get it at cost if you can find someone who is a dealer with them who does not make money on any deal. Then if you buy it at a local shop theres tax and mark up so how much are you going to save by buying the rra upper?
List is $625 and I believe me there is not much difference between list and dealers cost on those as they consider it a part.

If you get it for $100 cheaper than the WOA don't you think the extra little in diference from one of the best gunsmiths out there is worth that?

 

[BlindRat]

Jon,
I had tried to post a response twice now with the posts somehow not going through. Good thing because I like yours better... I was going to point detritus to some of the "cheaper" DCM/CMP Uppers...but in the end, if he sticks with the sport, they'd probably end up costing him more money in replacing parts that aren't quite up to speed...

I'm not familiar with every single match AR, but some of the examples of this historically has been CMP Bushmaster...the trigger usually get's replaced after the 1st or 2nd match. DMPS Float tube and a few others used to be of insufficient diameter to take replacement match Heavy Barrels from folk like CLE or WOA/WOP. Want to upgrade your sights...DPMS and more than a few others used parts that were not up to snuff. After you get done replacing those parts, you're usually at the level that you would have paid for a WOA.

If you're only wanting to dabble and don't think you'll be doing it very long...use whatever AR you have (non-match, carbine etc). Upgrade parts as budget and interest permits...that's the beauty of the AR...modular builds.