$2,000.00 AR vs. $500.00 AR

In order to start appreciating why an 2,000$ AR is generally superior for some, you have to be well educated and practiced on that platform. You have to do some serious shooting and maintenance with it.
It's not the right choice for most because they don't know why it is better. So it's not. Nobody buying a JP has any doubt if it is worth the money, because they have an understanding of what differentiates it from an BCM or M&P.


Assembling is where the fun is, imo.
When you start running these a lot and learn how they work, you can then pick each part, down to the pins! I love it. Perfect for a nerd control freak.

I think you and Tarowah hit on something pretty key...you have to not only know >why< its better, but know that it actually matters to you. I know absolutely nothing about cars, engines, or anything under the hood. So when someone starts talking about how their new ride has a 500xl supercharger with a rebounding agstermeter with 4 florocarbin rank meter booster...its all just mumbo jumbo to me...I hit the pedal on the right and I go, I hit the one on the left and I stop...so an extra $500 for a special superboosting carborating magic gasket does nothing at all for me. I know a guy who spends more on his hot rod than I have spent on my home in the past few years. None of the updates he has done make much sense to me...it make it go faster...or something.

So when it comes to ARs, most all of us really want/expect is that when we pull the trigger it makes a bang and the shooty thing goes where we want it. So, for someone who doesn't understand whats going on, spending an extra $2k to make the shooty thing go somewhere more better doesn't really make sense to me. I totally understand that some things are, in fact, superior...no doubt in my mind...but the extent to which that superiority influences my shooting is minor if not completely wasted on me.

Now, in time (and as I am experiencing) I am learning more about the platform, what I expect from it, and what I want it to do. So I have slightly upgraded my "Anderson is just as good" attitude to "Anderson is fine, but PSA would be better, and AERO even better than that..."
 
I think you and Tarowah hit on something pretty key...you have to not only know >why< its better, but know that it actually matters to you. I know absolutely nothing about cars, engines, or anything under the hood. So when someone starts talking about how their new ride has a 500xl supercharger with a rebounding agstermeter with 4 florocarbin rank meter booster...its all just mumbo jumbo to me...I hit the pedal on the right and I go, I hit the one on the left and I stop...so an extra $500 for a special superboosting carborating magic gasket does nothing at all for me. I know a guy who spends more on his hot rod than I have spent on my home in the past few years. None of the updates he has done make much sense to me...it make it go faster...or something.

So when it comes to ARs, most all of us really want/expect is that when we pull the trigger it makes a bang and the shooty thing goes where we want it. So, for someone who doesn't understand whats going on, spending an extra $2k to make the shooty thing go somewhere more better doesn't really make sense to me. I totally understand that some things are, in fact, superior...no doubt in my mind...but the extent to which that superiority influences my shooting is minor if not completely wasted on me.

Now, in time (and as I am experiencing) I am learning more about the platform, what I expect from it, and what I want it to do. So I have slightly upgraded my "Anderson is just as good" attitude to "Anderson is fine, but PSA would be better, and AERO even better than that..."

Yeah, I need a Honda Civic. I admire Porsches, but my transportation needs are a Civic.

And, your Anderson has served you well, for what you have asked of it.
 
IMHO you start hitting diminshing returns at the $1000 mark. Excluding optic I have $750 in my go to rifle which is a LWRC M6A2 upper on a PSA EPT Lower with I caught on sale. IMHO it is cheaper to buy something decent at the start than buying a $400-$500 rifle then swapping out parts and fixing little nagging problems. It doesn't make sense to me to buy a $350 PSA/Radical/BCA etc upper when you can get a stripped LMT carbine upper for $450.
 
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In order to start appreciating why an 2,000$ AR is generally superior for some, you have to be well educated and practiced on that platform. You have to do some serious shooting and maintenance with it.
It's not the right choice for most because they don't know why it is better. So it's not. Nobody buying a JP has any doubt if it is worth the money, because they have an understanding of what differentiates it from an BCM or M&P.


Assembling is where the fun is, imo.
When you start running these a lot and learn how they work, you can then pick each part, down to the pins! I love it. Perfect for a nerd control freak.


I couldn’t agree more man, yes I am a huge BCM fanboy and I love their products, but if I knew then what I know now I would have gone a different direction.

The products and industry has changed a lot since I got my BCM and I honestly believe I can build an AR that is just as reliable and accurate for 1/3 of the price I spent on the BCM.

You can take a basic no frills Anderson stripped upper & lower and stuff them with quality components and build a solid rifle, as NKD said above, building a rifle for 1/3 of the cost that performs as good as someone’s $2k “name brand” is a ton of fun.
 
Agree with @NKD and @Tarowah. My frankenrifles with the upgraded internals run like a cat shot in the ass with a BB gun! And the one with the binary trigger is a HOOT!![emoji1]


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Rough analogy, a $1,000 AR may be twice as "long term reliable" than a $500 AR, but a $5000 AR isn't necessarily 10 times more "long term reliable".
5 years ago Inwould have agreed with this 100%, having messed with a lot of different brands for customers I cant say that its true all the time.
The brand that has disappointed me the most has been ruger. A customer wanted a new handguard, I went to remove the barrel nut and it wasnt budging... at all. Gave it a little heat, still nothing. Called the customer and told him what I ran into, and gave him the options. He said go for it, so I cranked down, full body weight, and it cracked the upper.
I ended up cutting off the barrel nut and found that the nut was gaulded to the upper. Called ruger and they were absolutely useless.
I think the market has become so saturated that big box companies have cut a lot of corners. So now more then ever I would say you pay for what you get and pay attention to the manufacturer. I would run a 600.00 dollar PSA before I ran a 600.00 ruger.
 
5 years ago Inwould have agreed with this 100%, having messed with a lot of different brands for customers I cant say that its true all the time.
The brand that has disappointed me the most has been ruger. A customer wanted a new handguard, I went to remove the barrel nut and it wasnt budging... at all. Gave it a little heat, still nothing. Called the customer and told him what I ran into, and gave him the options. He said go for it, so I cranked down, full body weight, and it cracked the upper.
I ended up cutting off the barrel nut and found that the nut was gaulded to the upper. Called ruger and they were absolutely useless.
I think the market has become so saturated that big box companies have cut a lot of corners. So now more then ever I would say you pay for what you get and pay attention to the manufacturer. I would run a 600.00 dollar PSA before I ran a 600.00 ruger.

So...you still agree then...


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So...you still agree then...


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Yes, but I would say now more then ever pay attention to the brand. Just cause your buying a 800.00 ar doesn't mean there isnt a better one at the same price, and by better I dont mean more doodads lol
 
Yes, but I would say now more then ever pay attention to the brand. Just cause your buying a 800.00 ar doesn't mean there isnt a better one at the same price, and by better I dont mean more doodads lol

I totally agree bud. Again, I’m no expert , by far, but just going by what I have experienced, I think the massive amount of inexpensive options has really done a great thing for the AR quality as a whole. There are so many options for people going for a $400-800 AR that companies in those ranges actually have to pay attention to quality again. They can’t get away with the “well...what do you expect...we have the only cheap AR out there...so...buy what we have or go without.” Now there are so many options they have to pay attention for people to keep coming back.

And for the hobbyist like myself, companies like PSA are amazing. I can enjoy building 5-6 ARs of multiple styles, lengths, attachments, calibers and so forth for the price of one super duper “operator special” rifle that I will get zero actual utility out of except the praise of strangers on the internet when I show off the pictures.


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Yes, but I would say now more then ever pay attention to the brand. Just cause your buying a 800.00 ar doesn't mean there isnt a better one at the same price, and by better I dont mean more doodads lol

So the point of your post is,

Specialized experience trumps general knowledge? Or, if one is to buy a factory built AR, buy it from an AR centric brand?
 
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hobbyist like myself, companies like PSA are amazing. I can enjoy building 5-6 ARs of multiple styles, lengths, attachments, calibers and so forth for the price of one super duper “operator special” rifle that I will get zero actual utility out of except the praise of strangers on the internet when I show off the pictures.
Your whole post is exactly on point and I fall into this category myself. My favorite ar right now is the last one I built a while ago, a little t91 upper on an 80% lower.
Probably have 650ish in the whole package, its seen around 2k put through it in the last year and has yet to give a hickup.
Specialized experience trumps general knowledge?
The exact opposite, knowledge is key, and no 2k Gucci ar will make you a better shooter. Buy or build one that is reliable for half the cost or less and shoot the dog piss out of it in training classes, matches, training classes, or training classes.

Or, if one is to buy a factory built AR, buy it from an AR centric brand?
I dont know thag it has to be an ar centric brand, but I dont think it hurts. My post was mostly trying to simply say pay attention to what your getting, anything under 800.00 in cost is going to be highly competitive with other companies in that price range. Also, that there is no tool that is instantly going to make you better, and no matter what you slap on that rail you still need trigger time, and not just bench trigger time.
 
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AR-centric brands like:

Colt, DPMS, and Bushmaster?

o_O
I'm not a bushy fan personally, just my personal preference.
I really like FN, LWRC, dpms, colt, if were talking budget try to pick one up used or maybe a s&w sport II, or build a psa.

Remington owns bushmaster and the remington quality control has really fallen off in the decade
 
I'm not a bushy fan personally, just my personal preference.
I really like FN, LWRC, dpms, colt, if were talking budget try to pick one up used or maybe a s&w sport II, or build a psa.

Remington owns bushmaster and the remington quality control has really fallen off in the decade

The punchline was all those AR-centric brands are either no longer around or not making ARs. Bushmaster and DPMS are no longer brands. Remington killed them off.
 
I definitely need training with my 5.56. Will likely buy a second one to beat on.

If John is still running classes TAKE HIS CLASS!!!! @bashman hooked me up several years ago and invited me to attend one of John’s carbine classes, being a egotistical jackass that I can certainly be, I went in to a “ beginners” level 1 class with the mindset of “I probably won’t learn much since I’m sooooo much more advanced than a beginner” and I was immediately humbled, not because I learned something but because I learned how much I didn’t know, again in a level 1 class, I’m just glad I kept my mouth shut and didn’t spout off prior to go into the class because I would have looked like a complete moron lol, but I am willing to admit it now, in public to stress the point.

The amount of information he will give you is immeasurable, take notes for sure, I still refer to some of the notes I took 5-6 years ago.
 
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