First AR-15 recommendations?

I feel like gas system isn't being discussed enough. If you're looking for a 16" barrel I'd at least prioritize a mid length gas system. It will result in a smoother gun. If you don't mind a longer barrel go rifle length gas system. That's smoother still.
If you're building it, don't spend money on basic parts. Get a good recoil spring from the start, and start with the upgrade trigger from PSA.
 
crazysarge16 said:
@jska @BigWaylon just did a sweet AR pistol build and has pictures of same in my love the carry handle thread
Click to expand...
For the record, I bought that as a complete AR (for $499 w/ free shipping). Only one I own that I didn’t at least partially build.
 
I built my first AR. I like to tinker and I like to collect tools, so it was a good experience and I learned a lot. Most importantly, I learned that it's best to start with a basic configuration and learn from it. There are so many variations and specific-purpose mods available for the AR-15 platform that you can't rely on other people to tell you what YOU are gonna need. You don't even know yet what you don't know.

Buy or build a basic carbine and a crate of bulk ammo. Learn to shoot it and then decide what - if anything - needs to change.

ETA: also, avoid Bear Creek Arms and IO, Inc.
EETA: and Promag.
 
Last edited:
I’ve always loved the old bushmaster ARs. Great quality and not the same cost of Colt etc. Kings Firearms has some on sale right now that are police trade ins for $459.
 
Nothing wrong with buying a complete and learning to tinker on it. That’s what happens to the DPMS I first bought. Still have the lower (use of for my 723 clone) but I took apart and rebuilt that thing so many times and had it in so many different configurations it’s unrel
 
  • Like
Reactions: Me.
Pinky787 said:
Psa has the Easter sales going on. I just spent $200 on some mags and a spare bcg.
Click to expand...
Just saw another email from them…hadn’t paid too close attention to this sale, but it includes this one with free shipping:

IMG_8440.jpeg
 
ncspeedsix said:
I’ve always loved the old bushmaster ARs. Great quality and not the same cost of Colt etc. Kings Firearms has some on sale right now that are police trade ins for $459.
Click to expand...

It used to be follow your ABCs. Armalite, Bushmaster, Colt.

I was broke so I bought an Olympic,

The Bushmasters at Kings look to be the newer Huntsville models.
 
The Adams Arms rifles are short stroke piston, which is an oddball operating system compared to the traditional stoner design. However if there’s intention of ever running suppressed, the Adams Arms rifles are excellent as they have a suppressed gas block setting.

16″ Limited Edition Flat Dark Earth Carbine Base Rifle - Adams Arms

FGAA-00225 Your firearms purchase order will not be finalized or shipped until an FFL is received and approved. Following your purchase, you will recieve instructions for submitting an FFL. ***We will not ship rifles or magazines to jurisdictions where they are prohibited by law***
adamsarms.net adamsarms.net

For standard DI type rifle, I’d get a cheap mil spec 7075 lower and spend the $$ on the upper and optic. If your budget allows, sons of Liberty gunworks Patrol rifle is an excellent choice and comes with all the desireable reliability/longevity upgrades. The Springfield saint, Sig M400 and new M&P rifles are also very good value. Just avoid DI carbine gas system in a 16” barrel. They’re awful compared to a mid length or rifle length gas system.
 
Last edited:
Hopefully these sales continue into the summer. I would start now, but I’m not sure my housemates are gun-friendly so I’m just going to wait until they move out :(
 
I'll go against the tide and say don't build it yourself. If this is your first rifle and you want it for defense this may not be the time to be experimenting with balancing the gas system to the buffer weight. That can and will effect reliability. Buy a complete, basic carbine and ammo.

Optics are great, but you don't need them right away. You need a rifle and you need to learn how to shoot it. You need a little coaching and some practice. You need a sling too. Nothing fancy, but you need a sling.

Buy a rifle. Take a basic AR familiarity course and go to the range a few times. Then you will have a better idea what sort of optics you want and start saving for it.

A few years ago I realized that all my AR rifles were custom builds. I got to thinking about "what if" and figured maybe a custom build would "look bad" if I used it (I no longer think that's a factor, but I did then) I also know that if I use it I may not get it back. Anyway, I decided I wanted a home defense basic carbine. I got a DelTon (go ahead, laugh) because that's what my local store had on the shelf. I wouldn't necessarily recommend DelTon but for what I do with it, it's fine. If I was buying a cheap AR today I'd probably buy PSA.
 
Colt LE6920. Put whatever flavor of red dot optic you like on it with a sling and light and you're good to go.

The Colt LE6920, NOT CR6920 is/was the exact rifle given to the military for the M4 and M4A1. They're dead nuts reliable, extremely well made, lightweight, very handy and would make an excellent choice for personal defense.
 
Me. said:
PSA has deals so often there is no risk in waiting.


I wouldn’t wait until November to buy ammo, though. Gun guys LOVE creating their own shortages, then blaming things other than themselves.
Click to expand...
Preach.
 
Me. said:
PSA has deals so often there is no risk in waiting.


I wouldn’t wait until November to buy ammo, though. Gun guys LOVE creating their own shortages, then blaming things other than themselves.
Click to expand...
I made a post a while back about the ammo hikes being attributed by rumors and panic within the 2A community and I feel butts were hurt.
 
Last edited:
jska said:
Hopefully these sales continue into the summer. I would start now, but I’m not sure my housemates are gun-friendly so I’m just going to wait until they move out :(
Click to expand...
I was armed in a house with roommates who never even knew. Do they riffle through your stuff or something?
 
alpharius said:
I was armed in a house with roommates who never even knew. Do they riffle through your stuff or something?
Click to expand...
No they don’t, but they do have a lot of people over. Plus, our rooms only lock from the inside, so they could go in whenever they want. With how much they’re at the house, I think it would be obvious too if I tried to take the rifle to the range. I’m still on the fence about just going ahead and getting one, but I feel as if it’s best to just wait since they’ll be out of my hair in 2 months. @alpharius
 
jska said:
Hopefully these sales continue into the summer. I would start now, but I’m not sure my housemates are gun-friendly so I’m just going to wait until they move out :(
Click to expand...
This is an election year. Historically, guns and ammo get a lot more expensive the closer we get to November. What they do after that depends on who wins.
 
jska said:
No they don’t, but they do have a lot of people over. Plus, our rooms only lock from the inside, so they could go in whenever they want. With how much they’re at the house, I think it would be obvious too if I tried to take the rifle to the range. I’m still on the fence about just going ahead and getting one, but I feel as if it’s best to just wait since they’ll be out of my hair in 2 months. @alpharius
Click to expand...
Just tell them you are headed to your violin recital.

maxresdefault-4050484735.jpg
 
You might start talking to your homies and change their minds on guns. Maybe then you could go in on a couple cases of ammo? Definitely worth a shot, then you could all split the shipping on gun parts and all save a chunk. It’s a win/win for you and us.
 
Pbj ak said:
You might start talking to your homies and change their minds on guns. Maybe then you could go in on a couple cases of ammo? Definitely worth a shot, then you could all split the shipping on gun parts and all save a chunk. It’s a win/win for you and us.
Click to expand...
The problem is that I’m a college student at a very liberal school, and they’re friends with a lot of people who go to my school. The last thing I want is for people at my school to get freaked out because I’m a gUn oWnEr. So while I agree with the idea of taking them out to the range, I’d rather just not bother. I want to go to grad school and I don’t want to get cancelled before I apply 🤣.
 
Jlwilliams said:
I got a DelTon (go ahead, laugh) because that's what my local store had on the shelf. I wouldn't necessarily recommend DelTon but for what I do with it, it's fine. If I was buying a cheap AR today I'd probably buy PSA.
Click to expand...
I've got an old Del-ton Kris snagged back during one of the Obama scares that Jim's forgot to mark up. It's very basic but it's been my "sacrificial" carbine for years while beatin around the club in the summer on the 4 wheeler. It sports one of those "janky" amazon red dots. But for years it's functioned and hit what I aim at even after serious neglect. I'm still not sure what it is I'm s'posed to dislike about it.
I've had high ends, mid-ways and cheapies. Very few have outright disappointed.
More to the OP..
Just my opinion but havin roomies and a(n) unsecured weapon(s) would be "ill advised". I spent a good chunk of my life with roomies.
People do stoopit chit. x10 when they're younger peeps. Too many avenues for annoyance and disaster there.
With firearm ownership comes responsibility. Sorry to be a wet blanket. But I'm old, so it's allowed. 🤓
 
HawgBonz said:
I've got an old Del-ton Kris snagged back during one of the Obama scares that Jim's forgot to mark up. It's very basic but it's been my "sacrificial" carbine for years while beatin around the club in the summer on the 4 wheeler. It sports one of those "janky" amazon red dots. But for years it's functioned and hit what I aim at even after serious neglect. I'm still not sure what it is I'm s'posed to dislike about it.
I've had high ends, mid-ways and cheapies. Very few have outright disappointed.
More to the OP..
Just my opinion but havin roomies and a(n) unsecured weapon(s) would be "ill advised". I spent a good chunk of my life with roomies.
People do stoopit chit. x10 when they're younger peeps. Too many avenues for annoyance and disaster there.
With firearm ownership comes responsibility. Sorry to be a wet blanket. But I'm old, so it's allowed. 🤓
Click to expand...
I fully agree 👍
 
So many choices now. When I purchased my 1st AR for DCM matches there was only one, Colt HBAR. Now, so many choices! All depends on the budget as they all work.

I've had Stag, DEL-Ton, Acurate Arms, Bushmaster, Colt, and some Anderson based builds.
All the others been sold (gssp!) but still have the Colt HBAR and Anderson builds (pistol, rifle).

Be careful of social media posts/pictures and school friends.
 
Last edited:
Stumbled across this video yesterday that gives a good breakdown of setting up a good rifle in your price range but maybe on the higher side. Nothing wrong with buying optics, lights, and slings second hand off the for sale section here, tacswap, or ar15.com EE. They don’t mention much about having ammo until the end but if you are waiting to buy until your roommates are out, use that time to save $ for the rifle and then buy the ammo/mags in the meantime.


Regarding the roommate situation, that would definitely suck. In college my best friend and I are big into guns, we turned out other roommate who’d never shot before into a guy who loves the Ruger 22 series of pistols cause of how simple it was to shoot.

For security purposes, ever thought of having a rental/storage unit? Few of us did this in college and when I was in the military to store either stuff we weren’t suppose to keep in our living quarters (guns) and to just keep extra stuff we might need but didn’t want year round in the room with us just to save space. Just find a good one with security cameras and buy a quality unit lock. Heck, some even have climate control units (best friend owns Southside Storage in Mebane) which is where I learned about some of the storage game
 
crazysarge16 said:
Stumbled across this video yesterday that gives a good breakdown of setting up a good rifle in your price range but maybe on the higher side. Nothing wrong with buying optics, lights, and slings second hand off the for sale section here, tacswap, or ar15.com EE. They don’t mention much about having ammo until the end but if you are waiting to buy until your roommates are out, use that time to save $ for the rifle and then buy the ammo/mags in the meantime.


Regarding the roommate situation, that would definitely suck. In college my best friend and I are big into guns, we turned out other roommate who’d never shot before into a guy who loves the Ruger 22 series of pistols cause of how simple it was to shoot.

For security purposes, ever thought of having a rental/storage unit? Few of us did this in college and when I was in the military to store either stuff we weren’t suppose to keep in our living quarters (guns) and to just keep extra stuff we might need but didn’t want year round in the room with us just to save space. Just find a good one with security cameras and buy a quality unit lock. Heck, some even have climate control units (best friend owns Southside Storage in Mebane) which is where I learned about some of the storage game
Click to expand...

No I haven’t considered a storage unit yet. Luckily my living space isn’t cramped, and I’ll probably just pony up for a smaller rifle safe once my roommates leave and stick it in a closet of one of the extra rooms.
 
jska said:
No I haven’t considered a storage unit yet. Luckily my living space isn’t cramped, and I’ll probably just pony up for a smaller rifle safe once my roommates leave and stick it in a closet of one of the extra rooms.
Click to expand...
Sounds good, in meantime until they are gone just stack mags and ammo deep as you can as a college kid. Heck, I used to donate plasma and do odd jobs in college for gun money. Granted this was back in 2006-2010 at UNCW, so prices were better back then and your buck definitely went a lot further.

On top of that, just do some research to see what you kinda want. Go to a range that rents and try out some different types. I always recommend that to people buying their first that way you know you’ll like it instead of buying it and hate shooting it
 
jska said:
I’m just going to wait until they move out in two months to either buy or build one
Click to expand...

Start looking at the ones listed above and getting prices.
Buy what you like, go to ranges that will allow you to shoot different ones.
Some on here may be close to you and will let you shoot theirs.

After you get one, then replace things one at a time to see if you like the change.
The BST section here has multiple listings of parts that come up.

Take some shooting/handling classes.
That will also influence what you like about the way the gun handles.

Enjoy the AR trip and learn as much as you can.
 
ronn47 said:
Take some shooting/handling classes.
That will also influence what you like about the way the gun handles.
Click to expand...
That right there is a very good point. I’ve known quite a few people build or “accessorize” an AR before they really have a decent amount of range time with one and realize what they thought they wanted really was not that great. I have seen 10lb AR’s (heavy barreled with everything you can hanging on one) that were great builds but when it comes to a balanced carbine that you can work with all day of weekend at a class the old adage “ounces make pounds and pound make pain” really applies. Running different setups will give you an idea of what you really are looking for … a 10 lb 20” precision rifle with the heavy stuff down to the lighter weight 6 1/2lb 16” carbine with weight saving stuff that can be carried way easier for the weekend class or tactical match (or works best for HD duty).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom