AR-15 Home Defense Build

[=Josh=]

This is a lot of money...

Good LORD! There's not a chance I'm spending $1800 on an upper! $$$ $$$

Thank you very much for the input and info, though!

 

[mammynun]

Good LORD! There's not a chance I'm spending $1800 on an upper! $$$ $$$

Thank you very much for the input and info, though!

LOL, I hear ya! But the 10.5-11.5" barrels are only $465.00

 

[=Josh=]

There seems to be some pretty big price differences on most of these components. Take the lower receiver for instance. I see some $50 lowers alongside some $200+ lowers. Is there really that much of a difference? What about other components? How do I know what to look for in a quality BCG? I'm not trying to just be as cheap as possible, but I'm certainly not going to pay 4x the price for no reason.

 

[dudley0]

Do some research on them. I know a lot of people that do not like PSA, but I have two SBRs from them and have no worries at all.

If you can spend a little more on quality then do it. That being said, I do not own a BCM or a Noveske rifle. I have some parts from them, but that is it.

The money saved should go towards ammo and training.

 

[Rookie]

There's two types of receivers, actually three but I won't bother with plastic.

Forged - made by four manufacturers. Companies buy them and slap their name on them.
Billet - made by different companies.

If you're going forged, it really doesn't matter. If you're going billet, it's personal preference. Since I'm left handed, I went with billet because I liked the ambidextrous controls San Tan Tactical offered.

AR Lower Receiver FAQ (56k beware) MMS, CMT, LAR, LMT compared... - AR15.COM

 

[dudley0]

There's two types of receivers, actually three but I won't bother with plastic.

Forged - made by four manufacturers. Companies buy them and slap their name on them.
Billet - made by different companies.

If you're going forged, it really doesn't matter. If you're going billet, it's personal preference. Since I'm left handed, I went with billet because I liked the ambidextrous controls San Tan Tactical offered.

AR Lower Receiver FAQ (56k beware) MMS, CMT, LAR, LMT compared... - AR15.COM

Interesting read... at least the first part of it. I was not aware that there were so few players in this.

Thanks for the link.

 

[mammynun]

IMO the extra money ensures better QA/QC; other than that I think forged upper and lower receivers are largely the same.

The only functional issue I've ever had with a lower was that 1 of the 2 $49 Bushmasters I bought had the bolt catch pivot pin hole drilled too close to the receiver. The finish work on both the Bushmasters was crappy, as is the finish work on the 3 Anderson lowers I recently bought (tool marks and uneven color on all 5 receivers, but the Andersons aren't as bad as the Bushmasters in either respect); I've assembled one of the Andersons and it functions fine. If you plan to sell your rifle at some point a "Big Name Brand" can help with resale value.

I've never bought a "lowest of the low end" barrel since that's where the inherent accuracy of an AR comes from, but I suspect there's a similar link between the likelihood of expected performance and price. I'm not saying that you can't get a $99 barrel that will shoot well, I'm saying that for $99 you're more likely to get a barrel that won't shoot well. That said, I have a bunch of lowers without uppers laying around, so I plan to test the $99 barrel waters in the future... but if I were building my first/only AR I'd stick with a BCM, Rainier or PSA barrel that was made by FN.

 

[seedubs1]

False. Please stop perpetuating this.

There are only a few FORGING HOUSES. This is where the forging comes from. There are a lot of places that buy the forgings and then do the machining themselves. The machine work on the forging is important, and is what differentiates a good receiver from a bad receiver (or one that needs some work to make it usable). It's the reason a BCM receiver is actually better than an Anderson (no matter how much the Anderson $30 receiver fans want it to be the same, it isn't).

Now.....some companies DO buy finished receivers from some manufacturers. Spikes buys Aero Precision receivers for example. But this is not always the case. Parts aren't parts, and there are not just a few manufacturers, and they are not all the same.

Be an educated buyer. Know who makes what, and what kind of quality you are paying for.

Forged - made by four manufacturers. Companies buy them and slap their name on them.

 

[seedubs1]

I've been saying this on here for a long time. Receivers aren't all the same, and they aren't all machined by the same few companies. There's a reason the Andersons and other low end junk have tooling marks, gouges, scratches, holes drilled out of spec, etc... I bought a couple to see how they were since everyone on here seems to love them. Never again. They look like a toddler machined them. All of the functional issues were fixable, but I'll spend the extra $10 on a quality receiver that doesn't need the extra work to make usable.

The only functional issue I've ever had with a lower was that 1 of the 2 $49 Bushmasters I bought had the bolt catch pivot pin hole drilled too close to the receiver. The finish work on both the Bushmasters was crappy, as is the finish work on the 3 Anderson lowers I recently bought (tool marks and uneven color on all 5 receivers, but the Andersons aren't as bad as the Bushmasters in either respect); I've assembled one of the Andersons and it functions fine. If you plan to sell your rifle at some point a "Big Name Brand" can help with resale value.

 

[Rookie]

True.

Maybe I should have gone into a little more detail to make you happy, but the link I provided states the same thing we both said. Here, I'll put it this way...

Forged - made by four manufacturers. Companies buy the rough forgings, do some machine work on them, and slap their name on them.

Happy?

 

[seedubs1]

I didn't read the link. Just wanted to make sure the INGO members who aren't familiar with the platform are clear that all receivers are not the same. That's misinformation that's commonly passed around the internet.

Always happy

 

[=Josh=]

I'll spend the extra $10 on a quality receiver that doesn't need the extra work to make usable.

So, I'll refer back to my original question. How can I find quality components? As a novice, I only have recommendations to go on as price can be very misleading. Everyone wants good quality for a good price and I certainly don't want to pay more money for no reason. I don't mind paying $10 more for much better quality, but I don't want to pay 4x more for something only marginally better. I welcome any information and suggestions you'd be willing to share.

 

[Rookie]

Spikes, aero, bcm are a few.

 

[bwframe]

I'd Google the individual components that you are considering. It'd certainly be worth bringing your final considerations right back here.

To go at it from another angle, you can overthink this issue. There is argument to be made to go ahead and buy someone else's moderately priced frankengun. Get your feet on the ground and shooting so you can be wringing out the priorities for yourself, having something to compare to. You can always resell the gun or parts you've upgraded.

 

[seedubs1]

Aero Precision is my go-to for receivers. FYI, Aero makes Spikes receivers. Spikes have fancy dancy roll marks, but are functionally identical to Aero receivers. Aero's are very nice for the money paid.

If I want to splurge, I go BCM. BCM has tight specs for their barrel interface on their uppers. I like pretty much everything I've ever had from BCM. Quality stuff.

If you're really unsure and not wanting to delve into learning a lot about who makes what and what's good quality and what's not, you can always get a Colt 6920, 6720, or one of the OEM models for very reasonable out of pocket cost. People talk crap about them here for some reason. Bottom line is.....Colt AR's run. They just flat out work. They may have a few tool marks and not be super pretty, but functionally, they are built to spec, and they run. You can get a 6920 or 6720 for $8-900 and upgrade as you figure stuff out, or you can get an OEM model for $750ish and install your own handguard, grip, and stock to make it like you want it without wasting money on the stock plastic parts.

So, I'll refer back to my original question. How can I find quality components? As a novice, I only have recommendations to go on as price can be very misleading. Everyone wants good quality for a good price and I certainly don't want to pay more money for no reason. I don't mind paying $10 more for much better quality, but I don't want to pay 4x more for something only marginally better. I welcome any information and suggestions you'd be willing to share.

 

[KG1]

I believe the OP wants to go the SBR route. He's basically wanting to start out with a quality receiver so he can get the paperwork going and build from there as budget allows. Just get an Aero lower receiver =Josh= and make seedubs happy.

 

[avboiler11]

OP...this is what you want in a turnkey (well, 6-8 months after you submit the Form 1 anyway) package:

https://www.rainierarms.com/bcm-cqb11-kmr-a-carbine-rifle-11

A less expensive option would be to go to Palmetto State Armory and purchase:
PSA 10.5" CHF Carbine Length 5.56 NATO 1:7 Keymod Upper - No BCG or CH - 7777784
Palmetto State Armory 5.56 Premium Full Auto Bolt Carrier Group - 8779
PSA AR15/M16 7075 T6 Forged Mil-Spec Charging Handle - 24080

Have them shipped to your home.

Then go buy this, and have it shipped to the FFL of your choice.
Blem PSA AR-15 Complete Lower Magpul ACS-L Edition - Black, No Magazine - 7778700

When you complete the transfer of the lower, before you ever mate it to any upper, TAKE THE STOCK OFF and store it someplace well away from the rest of your gun stuff. Then put the shorty upper on it and BAM, you've got a 100% BATFE legal pistol (they don't care about pistol vs. carbine receiver extensions) that you can immediately submit a Form 1 for and when your SBR stamp comes back 6-8 months later, put the stock back on and go forth and pew properly. Or, if you really are worried about it, take the stock and carbine receiver extension off and replace with a pistol extension prior to mating with an upper.

 

[seedubs1]

If he's dropping the $200 fun tax on it, I'd build the lower first. Make sure it runs and nothing is wrong as a non-SBR configuration first. Aero receivers are a good choice, but far from the only good option out there.

Here's 3 of my Aero builds. All were as good of forged receivers as any other top quality forged receivers I've built. No issues or extra work needed to get them to work correctly. And much nicer than the Anderson junk I've built.

I believe the OP wants to go the SBR route. He's basically wanting to start out with a quality receiver so he can get the paperwork going and build from there as budget allows. Just get an Aero lower receiver =Josh= and make seedubs happy.

 

[=Josh=]

Are PSA stripped lowers decent? I am looking to build my own rather than just put a lower and an upper together and call it a day. I really want the challenge and experience of getting each component individually and putting it all together. While it's certainly not the same thing, I've built plenty of desktop PCs and worked on 100s of laptops where I've taken them down to the motherboard and put them back together. I don't mind "some assembly required" at all. In fact, I enjoy it!

 

[bwframe]

This looks like a cool stripped lower:

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...tguns/428915-acme-seymour-stripped-lower.html

Who makes it?

Looks like this one's already sold. The classifieds should have a fairly regular feed of all kinds of rifle parts, now that the immediate panic is over (this time.)

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If it's your first and only rifle, why not throw a buck or two extra on an eye catching/conversation starting name and, or logo?

http://www.joeboboutfitters.com/Spartan_15_Enhanced_Billet_Lower_Receiver_p/jb-spartan15.htm

$130 + transfer.

Unless there are some safe queen's that need new homes? Personally, I much prefer to have others take care of the paperwork, so I don't have to.