I want an AR...Which is best?

[CAMPMEAT]

I've had DPMS and Oly Arms and now have a Rock River. I like the Rock River the best just by the feel of it. I don't know why, maybe it's the collapsible stock. Makes a fit better for me, solid.

[MP123]

Are there compatability issues with the various uppers/lowers?  I guess I'm wondering if some manufacturers are more flexible and compatable if I want to build my own.  I'd hate to get the wrong lower and find that I didn't have much choice about which upper/barrel to use.

[vmkeith]

The best thing you can do if you don't know what you want is to go to AR15.com and look at the picture threads.  That will show you the many different variants around.  Once you've done that, look around the other threads on AR15.com and read up on the different parts, ie...barrels, handguards/free floating tubes, gas blocks, sights/optics, upper/lower receivers...etc.  This will give you an idea of what's out there and what to avoid.  This should only take you a day or two.  Once you have that down, shop around for complete lowers and complete uppers...sometimes you can find better quality and better prices if you shop around like that.  The biggest thing that you need to consider is what caliber do you want and what the purpose is...just yotes, eventually deer, a combo of both, and don't forget just plain old plinking.  Keep in mind, for big game hunting here in WA you need at least a .24/6mm centerfire rifle.  Good luck.

[Elk-aholic]

Depends how much money you want to spend plain and simple. If its a SHTF rifle and money was no object I would buy a FN SCAR 16 in a heartbeat, Equip it with a Trijicon Acog or maybe a nice Aimpoint with a 4x magnifier. If my Budget was slightly less I would go with a Colt 6920 or a Armalite M-15 carbine. Armalite and Colt have excellent customer service and offer a lifetime warranty. Having a AR-15 built for your specific needs is a good way to save money but keep in mind if you ever want to sell the rifle "Custom" AR's usually take a pretty good hit on the used market. I own a few AR's and the ones I have that are built for accuracy are not the ideal "Bug-Out" SHTF type rifles, they are heavy and awkward compared to a M4 style carbine but realistically you can make it work, its better than nothing. My first ever AR was a Armalite M-15 and they are a good buy! You can find them NIB for around $850, they come with a good scope mount so all you have to do is toss a 3-9x40 on top and you're in business!  

[Suncrest Sniper]

The other cool thing is you can use one lower and but different uppers if you feel you would like to try say another caliber or barrel layout. Don't worry about fit issues all the lowers and uppers are built to or eceed military specs for the original. Inter mixing brands isn't an issue.

SS

[BlackRidge]

Are there compatability issues with the various uppers/lowers?  I guess I'm wondering if some manufacturers are more flexible and compatable if I want to build my own.  I'd hate to get the wrong lower and find that I didn't have much choice about which upper/barrel to use.

There may be a slight difference between uppers/lowers from differing companies, but it will only show in the fit/finish, i.e the seam where the upper & lower come together. Other than that, one of the universal things about the AR platform is the ease of swapping out parts w/ new and or different components

[KillBilly]

I highly recommend Tactical Innovations machined lowers with the stainless bushings and pins. You can't beat machined for quality.

Here is a link if you are interested   http://www.tacticalinc.com/t15bdxtrade-patented-receiver-with-stbatrade-installed-p-1163.html

[grundy53]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I'm very un educated when it comes to black guns. I just started to get interested in building one. They seem fun and building one seems like it would be a fullfilling and fun project. I have 2 questions for you more experianced folks out there. 1) If I buy all of the parts un assembled is there any part  which you need to ship to a liscensed FFL?  2) I would be most interested in a bigger bored gun. So what would you guys recomend? .458 Slocom, .450 Bushmaster, .325wsm? Reasons?

[BlackRidge]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I'm very un educated when it comes to black guns. I just started to get interested in building one. They seem fun and building one seems like it would be a fullfilling and fun project. I have 2 questions for you more experianced folks out there. 1) If I buy all of the parts un assembled is there any part  which you need to ship to a liscensed FFL?  2) I would be most interested in a bigger bored gun. So what would you guys recomend? .458 Slocom, .450 Bushmaster, .325wsm? Reasons?

The only part that would require an FFL would be the lower receiver, wether it be complete or incomplete (i.e missing parts kit). According to the ATF, it is the firearm. Upper receivers can be purchased and shipped freely

As far as big bore cals go, the 450 is come common among AR's, though not very common in the grande scheme of things. But more common than the other cal's listed. It's the most crucial thing to decide before buying IMO, just because the cost of ammo itself plays a fairly large role.  That and its intended use.

If you'l simply be doing some big game hunting and won't be going through many rounds, any of the cals you listed will suffice. But if you'l be using it often and don't plan to reload, I'd go with a readily available caliber that won't break your bank to shoot

The other thing to look at would be the ballistics of each and figure out which round best suits your needs. Most 450/458 aren't too accurate out past 200yrds from what I hear

I have friends who have WSM builds and absolutely love them (25 & 300wssm/ossm)

[JimmyHoffa]

I believe only the receiver would require the FFL.  Not sure but if you were to get an actual M4 bolt if it requires FFL and Class 3.  Everything else you can buy piece by piece and sent to you.

[grundy53]

Thanks guys!

[KillBilly]

Blackridge is correct, the lower is the serialized part and requires FFL. You can have the manufacturer transfer it to your local FFL.

[FALFire]

Stay away from the Bush/Rem models. Bushmaster is considered the low level brand and the Rem's which made by bush have had issues. Also If memory serves me Bushy is no longer.

The web if full of tutorials.

SS

Huh, bad stuff? Gee the Remington R15 I was shooting two weeks ago grouped 5 rounds under 3 inches at 300 yards and never missed a beat. Out of the 200 or so Bushmasters we had on the Sheriffs dept before I retired never seemed to be a problem, maybe we just got the good ones and everyone else gets the crap ones. I have personally used several configurations of Bushmasters and they all functioned perfectly except for the 308 version. Must be the luck of the draw I suppose. Bushmaster is still very much in business and doing quite well.
 
http://www.bushmaster.com/index.asp

Maybe you are referring to them being purchased by Cerberus which now owns many of the nations firearms companies and many other companies as well they also happened to invest big dollars into the company for new toys.  

But I could be wrong    

However, many of the problems associated with any AR is bad magazines, I prefer Magpul and standard GI issue 20 round mags. The original gas impingement system is a proven and reliable gas system but it does make things like the bolt group dirty and the carbon does build up in the bolt carrier over time.  A good cleaning on occasion will keep it running like new. The newer piston driven upper is newer but not necessarily better, some people like bling over function, to each their own . A good setup for all practical purposes is a 20" barrel with standard rifle length gas port location and your choice of stock. I prefer a floating handguard and standard A2 stock but it certainly is not mandatory. My Armalite 20" A2 is a shooting fool and it has yet to be fitted with a float tube. I would highly recommend an A3 or A4 (for some) flat top upper, you will be happier when you mount your favorite optic on top and retain reasonably good cheek weld.

A good trigger is a must have, the stock triggers suck, no.....they REALLY SUCK. There is a guy known as Bill Springfield that has a good following for those that wish to use a massaged stock trigger, he can be found on the Internet search engines.  There are several good triggers out there that are sure to please most any AR user, Timney, Chip McCormick, Jewel, Rock River Arms, etc. Then you can get into two stage triggers which are pretty nice if that works for you.

As far as receivers go, both upper and lowers can be purchased as a set as they should be if you are buying the billet stuff which is very cool and the prices seem to be getting better as the competition grows. However a standard forged upper and lower will see many thousands of rounds and abuse before it should fail. Purchasing a one brand set will prevent any mismatched colors and ill fit. Many of the uppers are all made from only a few casting companies around the country and many are machined by the same companies with another brand or moniker roll marked into it.

You may also hear the Olympic Arms are junk and can break, well it used to be years ago, when they were SGW they used a non forged cast upper and lower receiver and many did in fact break. Oly Arms has for several years now, provided all AR's from the PLinker model on up with forged recvr's and only under extreme cases can one fail or break as will any other forged cast recvr.

Barrels can be purchased from a bazillion sources these days and many are good, some are real good, but like anything you will get what you pay for in most cases and barrels are no different. There are also dozens of calibers to choose from, the AR is the most hot roddable firearm on the planet with support all over the world. The sky is the limit but for a working gun or a hunting rifle you really only need a few good parts, mainly the barrel and bolt group and functioning recvr's, the rest is just stuff.

[jgregg]

Thanks for all the info guys! There seems to be plenty to go off of!  Can't wait to start looking around

[halflife65]

This is great - I've just started researching this in the last couple of weeks.  The timing of this thread couldn't be better.

I want to use it primarily for plinking but also wanted something that was good around the house (just in case.)  I've been struggling with barrel length, etc.

RRA is a company that I'm interested in.  Does anyone know much about the Wylde chambering (I think someone mentioned it above)?  Wondering if it was good (seems to be).  I also heard White Oak barrels are supposed to be pretty good.  What's the deal with the chrome lined barrels?  Just a durability thing for someone who shoots a lot?

My neighbor has had 2 Olys and both functioned fine for him (still has one that's closer to the A4 with a 16 inch barrel).  I'd heard not good things about them but he's had no trouble at all.

Kind of the problem that I've had with all this stuff is paralysis by analysis.  There are so many options that I can't keep track of them all. For instance, do I want a flash suppressor?  What's the difference between an A2 flash suppressor and an A2 Long flash suppressor?  Do I want a barrel with a 1:8 twist?  1:9?  Aaah. My head.  Of course, that's why I want to build one rather than just buy one.  It'll force me to find out what all this stuff is rather than just buy something and shoot it.  I just like knowing the background and options because it's interesting.