Generalities about good/bad cheap ARs

[DeoreDX]

I spent about 4 months building my first AR15. That was my introduction to the platform, never having owned an AR pattern rifle before I built mine. It came with long hours of reading, research, and plain ole bargain hunting. I would wait for bargains on parts to show up and I slowly assembled the components I needed. $30 here. $50 there. Browsing the swapshops on various forums for cheap components. Keeping an eye out on various deal alert threads on various forums. Including the optic but not counting tools I built my rifle for $470. The lower in this picture I got for free from posting a review online about the 80% arms Easy Jig which I used to machine my lower. If you take that into account that bring the price to $440 including optic for this rifle. The one questionable part I used would be the cheap gas block. Other than that everything else is MilSpec from good quality vendors. Things like 7075 buffer tubes instead of the cheaper 6061 buffer tubes can be easy to miss without a lot of research. It's been quite reliable over it's first 1000 rounds. I think as long as you get quality milspec parts it's pretty hard to screw up and build a bad AR15.

 

[Skribs]

I'm not saying I want the cheapest. I'm just saying if paying more won't get me much increased quality (in other words, if I'm hitting diminishing returns) then there's no point in paying more. If I'm paying for quality I need, I will pay more.

 

[Gtscotty]

Funny someone should mention the XM177, an XM177 clone was probably the most fun machine gun I've ever fired.

That said, for home defense I would stick with one of the multitude of 16" models available from reputable makers.

 

[benEzra]

, most decent RDS require you to turn them on.

Aimpoints don't. Leave them on and replace the battery every 3 to 5 years.

I can't afford an Aimpoint right this moment, so I am currently running a Primary Arms Classic 30mm red dot, basically a $70 Aimpoint knockoff. Even with that, I can leave it on all the time on an indoor setting and change the batteries every month or so.

 

[Goosey]

I'm not saying I want the cheapest. I'm just saying if paying more won't get me much increased quality (in other words, if I'm hitting diminishing returns) then there's no point in paying more. If I'm paying for quality I need, I will pay more.

It seems any time someone asks about budget ARs, they will, at some point, be told they should pony up and buy a 6920 because according to "the Chart" anything "less" is inadequate and will get them killed.

 

[MistWolf]

It seems any time someone asks about budget ARs, they will, at some point, be told they should pony up and buy a 6920 because according to "the Chart" anything "less" is inadequate and will get them killed.

Your post is the first in this thread to bring up The Chart or choice of AR to be life or death

 

[Goosey]

Your post is the first in this thread to bring up The Chart or choice of AR to be life or death

I've seen things along that line in a few threads here recently. And especially on the internet in general. I just thought I'd mention that common opinion since it's something that often bugs me and the OP specifically said "I don't want to spend any more than I have to in order to have a quality HD rifle."

 

[Skribs]

I also wouldn't consider a LE6920 at $1000 or $1100 to be too expensive. The ones I consider to be in the more expensive category are things like SCAR, POF-USA, SR-556, ARX, etc. Things in the $1800+ range are what I consider to be the more expensive items. I'm okay with $1000 or so for the rifle.

 

[jdavis123]

In your situation, I can not imagine why you would want and AR15 for home defense in your environment. A small condo without brick or block separating the units would be an invitation to a disaster.
You would be far better served with a 20 gauge pump shotgun loaded with 7.5 or 6 shot. It would be deadly at your ranges without any spread to speak of and no worry about penetration into your neighbor's space.
In final analysis, it's your decision to make and not mine. So, do as you will.

 

[agtman]

I also wouldn't consider a LE6920 at $1000 or $1100 to be too expensive.

You can find 6920s running in the $850-$900 range.