Radical AR'S decent for the price?

Unless Radical Firearms has drastically improved their quality then I would stay away from any of their products. I know a few years ago they had some major quality control issues.

I made the mistake of purchasing a Radical 10.5" upper. Groups at 50 yards looked like a 12 gauge buckshot load at 25 yards. It was the most inaccurate barrel I have ever owned.
 
My Radical 450Bushmaster upper needed a gas port reaming to cycle. The pilot drill had been done but the reamer only went half way. I like it now, but it needed some modifications out of the gate.
For the price, one could look elsewhere and find as good a deal, without the quality control mishaps.
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However, if the rifle functions, it’s as “good” as any other.
The particular rifle in your picture, @CoalCrackerAl , is about the going rate for a brand new one with that furniture set, so if there is much wear at all on the rifle just buy a new one.

Nature Boy said:
I don’t know anything about the company but I’m not the targeted consumer for something marketed as “Radical”
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$217 for a complete free float upper with BCG and Handle.
I was their target consumer and they hit the mark!:D

They aren’t terrible, but we shouldn’t reward lazy efforts. I am, not rich, but mechanically inclined and knew what I was getting into. Someone else would be just as well getting a trouble free brand.
 
@CoalCrackerAl

keep an eye out on the PSA daily deals. For budget rifles I think PSA is king. Also remember that that there is an 11 percent Federal tax on manufacturers when they sell complete rifles. So buying a lower and upper separately will save you some money too.

Currently they have this rifle for 489 bucks.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/ble...c-ar-15-rifle-with-13-5-m-lok-rail-black.html

You can regularly pick up their complete lowers for 150 or less and complete uppers for 350 or less.
 
CoalCrackerAl said:
I took a look around over at PSA. Lots of choices. I like they have a daily deal too. :thumbup: Checked the warranty policy too. Looks good. :thumbup: When you buy a complete lower and upper. Do they just get put together then? Like when you take a gun down for cleaning.
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Yes, if you buy complete, they assemble them. The lower must go to an FFL, and the upper can be shipped directly to you. You will save some money if you buy Blem parts. They're fully functional, you'd have a hard time finding the blem.

Hope this helps.
 
It’s pretty hard to screw up building an AR. Easy to overpay for stuff which doesn’t actually improve performance, easy to miss a few important things when building (like installing hammer spring backwards, or losing pivot pin detent pin), but in general, most of the “list” and “chart” crap is just crap.

Throw a good barrel and trigger into any cheap free floating AR and feed it decent ammo and it’ll likely pull down 3/4-1moa, and will run reliably for thousands and thousands of rounds with only the most modest of maintenance and lubrication.

Honda Civic’s successfully transported millions of commuters over millions and millions of miles for many years. Nobody hung posters of Civic’s on their garage walls, and maybe most of them felt like you were driving a shoebox at 200mph whenever you hit 75 on interstate, but they did what they were supposed to do. Sure, if you get an AR with a defect, it may need a trip back to the mothership to be remedied, or if you use a $50 tomato stake of a barrel and an 80lb mil-spec trigger, you can’t expect supreme precision, but the online bashing of “poors” and “junk brands” is mostly just brand bashing BS.
 
Varminterror said:
It’s pretty hard to screw up building an AR. Easy to overpay for stuff which doesn’t actually improve performance, easy to miss a few important things when building (like installing hammer spring backwards, or losing pivot pin detent pin), but in general, most of the “list” and “chart” crap is just crap.

Throw a good barrel and trigger into any cheap free floating AR and feed it decent ammo and it’ll likely pull down 3/4-1moa, and will run reliably for thousands and thousands of rounds with only the most modest of maintenance and lubrication.

Honda Civic’s successfully transported millions of commuters over millions and millions of miles for many years. Nobody hung posters of Civic’s on their garage walls, and maybe most of them felt like you were driving a shoebox at 200mph whenever you hit 75 on interstate, but they did what they were supposed to do. Sure, if you get an AR with a defect, it may need a trip back to the mothership to be remedied, or if you use a $50 tomato stake of a barrel and an 80lb mil-spec trigger, you can’t expect supreme precision, but the online bashing of “poors” and “junk brands” is mostly just brand bashing BS.
Click to expand...

Truth.
I can compare my $600 PSA AR against my $1800 semi-high budget AR vs my buddy's no limit $3000 AR, and they all do exactly the same thing with no discernible difference between them as far as accuracy goes.I'm actually surprised by that, I didn't think the PSA chrome lined FN barrels I've got on mine would run side by side with whatever premium name brand barrel he's got on his.
For reliability, it took my buddy 2 years of tinkering with port sizes, extractor springs, and buffer weight to get his $3000 AR to run as good as my $600 AR did the day I slapped it together.
 
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I decided im not going to wait until the fall to get one. I'll just put off getting my car for another month. Im figuring May i'll get a AR. That way i'll all summer to enjoy it. If i can hit clays set up at 200 yards with it. Like i can with my mini 14. I'll be a happy camper. I'll probably put a Burris drop tine on it. I have one on the mini.
 
 
I've built a bunch of ARs. Like others have warned, once you build one, you'll build more.

I'm up over 20 now.

I started with PSA, I've used Anderson, Colt, BCM, Aero.....

My latest build, which I call the "Brand Snob" gun..was an experiment.

I spared no expense...the top on the line, best, most expensive parts.

Giessele lower, all Giessele parts, including buffer and spring, Giessele enhanced trigger, BCM upper (I have a Giessele upper, but the BCMs heat fit is a better feature) White Oak SPR 18" barrel, JP Rifles BCG, Odin works tuneable gas block..Leupold Mark 3HD scope, Warne mount.

The result down range? Matches, the same as my PSAs. Dime sized groups at 100 yards (using my own hand loads in both rifles).

Moral of the story...don't get caught up with brands.

If everything is Mil Spec...all you pay for is the name stamped on the parts.

So..don't be afraid to go PSA. They are as good as any other brand for 1/3 the price.
 
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