First AR

I'm late to the thread, but here's my opinion. I had a S&W M&P15 OR that was built before the Sport was a thing. Rifle ran well enough so long as I kept it wet with lube. It was over gassed. I ended up running a H2 buffer and a flat wire spring to smooth it out. It had a 1/8 twist and liked 69 grain. It was a heavy rifle. Maybe 9 pounds with the Holosight, Troy BUIS, and Magpul furniture. It was my FU Obama rifle purchased right as he assumed the chair as best gun salesman of all time.

That said, I was always jealous of the guys with 3 gun set ups with 6 pound rifles that had mid-length or rifle length gas tubes. They were so much better to shoot while standing. Made me kind of resent that gun. I sold it in 2017 and never did replace it.
If I were buying today I'd be looking for lightweight and longer than carbine gas.
 
Thanks, should have updated, basically decided against the MP15. Gonna look for a mid length gas system. M&P was a convenience factor but doesn’t sound like quality is equal to the slight premium over a PSA or Big Waylon’s CA upper.
 
I’ve got a psa 16” mid length I’d let go of. I’m not 100% sure what lower I have set up with that gun but I’ll check and send you some pics if you’re interested.
 
I've had my original release M&P Sport I for about 8 years now and it has been as close to 100% as anything I've owned. That being said I bought it as an entry to the AR world, and quickly decided that it needed some upgrades. I put on a full length free float handguard (which required me knocking out the original front sight/gas block pins, and removing/reinstalling the barrel nut, and a new gas block. I do almost all of my own assembly and smithing, it was not difficult). Then I put on a Vortex Strike Eagle (1 - 6x), a better stock (mostly for long range hold stability), and a La Rue trigger. Now it's my standby for carbine, 2-gun and 3-gun. It's good out to almost 500 yds. I have about $750 into it plus the optic and I am super satisfied. But, I would have probably been just as happy with the PSA. Mine has the 1:9 barrel as well and it seems to like heavier bullets the best.
 
I've owned a fair number of brand name AR's, and plenty of 'built at home' PSA guns. I've never had any issues with any of them. PSA makes a good product.

People will tell you all day you *need* a certain brand or price point of AR to have a dependable gun, but the truth is, as long as the parts are within spec, its going to be just fine.
 
I posted on here once about a S&W Sport 'torture test'. Kept wet but otherwise uncleaned. Thousands and thousands of rounds and, well, beat to hell. The proverbial Timex: takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. What esteemed colleague @RedneckFur said: as long as it's in spec, it's fine.
 
Mathieu18 said:
www.combatarmory.com

Radical Firearms Forged RPR 5.56x45mm NATO 10.5" 30+1 Hard Coat Anodized Buffer Tube Stock Pistol

www.combatarmory.com www.combatarmory.com

Is the pistol lower just because it doesn’t come with an adjustable stock on the buffer tube? Or is there more too it? Doesn’t look like an AR9, which I get would have more differences…
Click to expand...
Yes and no.

There’s really no such thing as a pistol lower or rifle lower. They’re all just lowers. They make be configured for a pistol or rifle, but they all fall in the “other firearm” category to the ATF.

That particular model has a smooth bigger tube, so you can’t even install a normal stock on it. And a firearm has to be designed to be fired from the shoulder in order to be a rifle…thus the reason they call it a pistol lower.

FWIW…an AR-9 lower could look exactly like that from the side.
 
BigWaylon said:
Yes and no.

There’s really no such thing as a pistol lower or rifle lower. They’re all just lowers. They make be configured for a pistol or rifle, but they all fall in the “other firearm” category to the ATF.

That particular model has a smooth bigger tube, so you can’t even install a normal stock on it. And a firearm has to be designed to be fired from the shoulder in order to be a rifle…thus the reason they call it a pistol lower.

FWIW…an AR-9 lower could look exactly like that from the side.
Click to expand...
So to make sure I don’t get myself arrested unintentionally… if I got this and a rifle buffer tube, swap the tube, install stock then install 16” barrel I’ve not broken any laws, correct? Later if I want to pistol it, remove 16” barrel, remove stock and buffer tube, install pistol buffer then sub 16” barrel and a brace (if they’re still legal) and I’m still legal.

Do I have that all straight?
 
Mathieu18 said:
So to make sure I don’t get myself arrested unintentionally… if I got this and a rifle buffer tube, swap the tube, install stock then install 16” barrel I’ve not broken any laws, correct? Later if I want to pistol it, remove 16” barrel, remove stock and buffer tube, install pistol buffer then sub 16” barrel and a brace (if they’re still legal) and I’m still legal.

Do I have that all straight?
Click to expand...
If you did exactly what you said, in that order, you’d be in violation of the National Firearms Act of 1934 and face potential fines of up to $10,000 and up to 10 years in prison. 😉

Because you’d be in possession of a firearm that is considered a Short-Barreled Rifle, even if it doesn’t look like one, because it meets the definition due to being a “weapon made from a rifle”.
 
To do it legally, you’d have to build it into a pistol first…because:

pistol->rifle->pistol is legal
rifle->pistol is not

Yep, the laws are that screwy.
 
And that’s why we ask… appreciate it. I knew the order of disassembly mattered but missed the starting point… I think I’ll just get a rifle Lower. Price difference is a lot less than 10k.
 
BigWaylon said:
To do it legally, you’d have to build it into a pistol first…because:

pistol->rifle->pistol is legal
rifle->pistol is not

Yep, the laws are that screwy.
Click to expand...
Even though he is buying it as a pistol lower with a pistol tube. And then putting a rifle tube and stock on it. Isn't that considered building it as a pistol and then going to a rifle?
 
PATRICK D MASSEY said:
Even though he is buying it as a pistol lower with a pistol tube. And then putting a rifle tube and stock on it. Isn't that considered building it as a pistol and then going to a rifle?
Click to expand...
Again…it’s not a “pistol lower”. It’s a lower configured for a pistol, which is different. That’s why I harp on the term being misused. Legally, it has nothing to do with a pistol.

Without a barrel, you never had a pistol.


84BC76C1-FD44-4EDA-968F-B0E4A590FAA5.jpeg
 
Now, if he attached the 16” upper before swapping the buffer tube and adding a stock, he would have initially built a pistol. An obnoxiously long pistol, but a pistol nonetheless. Federally, there’s no maximum barrel length for a handgun. (Some states have limits…for example SC has a 12” OAL limit, which is why you can’t conceal an AR pistol in SC with a concealed carry permit if I understand their laws correctly)
 
Ah ok. Makes a little more sense. So just build a long barreled pistol then change it to a rifle
 
PATRICK D MASSEY said:
Ah ok. Makes a little more sense. So just build a long barreled pistol then change it to a rifle
Click to expand...
Or, as long as you have one SBR lower or AR pistol, just keep a short lower around to initially build all of them.

Technically every AR you build can be a pistol first, if you attach the upper before installing the stock. But most people finish the lower, with the stock in place, before attaching the upper.

The reality is…who is ever going to know? You’d have a receipt for buying a lower (not a complete rifle) and the ATF would have to prove you initially built it into a rifle.
 
Getting into paralysis by analysis but… 300BLK or 5.56 NATO in a rifle upper? I prefer the 300, bigger, slower, I’m not looking for long range shots. Might suppress someday but not anytime soon. 5.56 cheaper and more readily available. Should I just start with 5.56? There’s a used 300 16” Upper on the boards which seemed like a decent deal but price difference will pay for itself well under 500 rounds.
 
300 blackout if you want to go short and suppressed. 16” stick with 5.56. If you don’t reload it can be very painful to stock 300 blackout. I have both but I also have suppressors and I reload. Of course this is just one man’s opinion. There’s nothing wrong with a 16” 300 blackout but the caliber was designed and built around 9” barrels.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom