AR-15 BS Thread

I second this minus Walmart. Go to you local gun shop if you have a good one nearby, if not use Walmart as a fallback. I always support local C's commercial first. Even the price is $5-$20 more I don't care, better customer service and better knowledge of firearms than Walmart until you completely piss me of like my local shop did, I still give them business but only when stuff is in stock. I had them order me MBUS pro sights and the never called me, but instead told my friend to tell me they were. He told them to call me themselves and they still never did. That really ground my gears. A local store may try to sell you a windham or stag rifle, those are also really good, stay away from bushmaster. I don't care what anyone says bushmaster is now run by a corporate greed company and lost all quality. Windham weaponry is run by the original bushmaster people. Smith and Wesson is well, awesome as always.

You can also change the stock, barrel, handgaurd, and muzzle brake and whatever else to suit your needs at a later time. The receivers are all going to be pretty much the same and since your just gettin FB into it you don't need crazy $600 billet receiver sets like some of us have.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much my purposes. I'd like to have something to play with at the rifle range when I go shot my XDM. Home defense, possibly hunting in the future, could possibly convert it to a short barrel rifle later on down the road.

Yeah, I've been boycotting Wal-Mart for about 6 months now and I like it that way. We have other sources for guns around here so it'll be easy to stay away from WM. We just got a new Rural King in town, I see that the have guns, I'll probably check there. I'll check my local guys too but my favorite place closed down. What about these DelTon kits for about $500? Any good? There's a guy close by that does those along with lots of custom builds. He charges $50 to assemble it and there's no mags so by the time it's said and done, it might be cheaper to get the M&P for $600. Thoughts?

 

My first AR was built for around $500. Over the years I've thrown most of it in the trash, and over the long run have well over $1000 in it. If you can swing the extra hundo, go with the M&P. Plus, if you ever decide to sell it you'll get far more return on the M&P over the delton kit. Name recognition means a lot to resale value.

 

Del-Ton is cheap crap. Better off with the m&p.

The m&p15 is arguably the best bang for buck beginner AR platform on the market. I specifically say arguably because some people will argue this. I know people that build these things for a living and people that work in the industry and they agree with this. The term you get what you pay for is sound advice in this area. Again some people will argue this. Brett (SFSMedic) will tell you the same thing. He builds rifles for a living and does a very good job at it. He's a friend of friend that I found through here and didn't even realize at first. Said friend works for WarSport and Multitasker. Also a veteran, both know their shit, I learn from all of these people I've encountered in the last 3 years building these. The only way you can really get a top notch AR that won't have stupid issues like the cheapo companies is to shell out $1000 on a colt or $1800+ on the top tier rifles from LaRue, Noveske, Mega Arms, LWRCi and so on.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I know more than anyone on here, I just learn and heed the warnings from people that have been in the firearms industry for years.

Myself, I built a rifle from scratch with guidance from an armorer. It cost me a pretty penny but I got what I wanted right away at the time and things still change when new tech comes out.

Brett runs Ironworks Tactical (ironworkstactical.com) and he builds high quality AR's chambered in 6.8 that shoot sub-MOA groups, meaning a group of shots is smaller than one inch at 100 yard distance. He's a knowledgable person to seek advice from. Most people on here are. Some like to spend less to have more rifles, and that's fine the more the merrier I say. The problem is that when you get cheap stuff, it isn't always the proper materials, you always want to have at least mil-spec or higher in this case meaning military specification. What happens when it's a cheaper gun, is it may be assembled to military specifications, but the parts used to assemble are not always up to specification. My personal experience with PSA has not been good. I've broken pieces from their parts kits so I tend not to buy their brand.

Sorry for that being so long. But I don't enjoy seeing when people go the cheap route and then something goes wrong, then they have to buy something new, it's a waste.

And there's a perfect example lol

If you have any questions PM me I'll be glad to help.

 

Wow, you guys are extremely helpful. I think I'll narrow my search down to that M&P and try to find the best bargain on one. So far $600 is as low as I've found. I'll follow this thread and try to learn from you guys. Thanks for your help!

Edit* Oh, one more thing. The M&P doesn't have a dust cover, or a chrome lined barrel. Is either one of those 2 things a big deal? I live in western KY.

 

The melonite barrel is fine. Dust cover isn't really needed... Same with forward assist. Most people rarely use it. You can also manually push the bolt with your finger...

 

Not a big deal. You would have to spend several thousand dollars on ammo to burn up that barrel, and the dust cover doesn't really keep out dust anyway. When you get to the 7500 round mark or so, accuracy might start to degrade. Who knows, if you take care of it you might get twice that out of it. Then you can buy a better barrel for a couple hundred bucks and keep shooting. Keep it clean, keep it lightly lubed, and you will be burning up ammo for years to come.

 

I'll be the one dissenting vote here. I find in talking with a lot of newbies that buy a DPMS or other slick-sided upper, it bugs them. Part of the allure is that you're building a military-style rifle, so some people will look at it sideways. No, you probably don't need the forward assist or dust cover, but you very well might want it as you start to learn more about them.

I compare it to backup folding sights. I see people running Aimpoints, even ACOGS, with backup iron sights on a gun. Sometimes even scopes in permanent-style mounts with BUIS tucked under them. They're not needed 90% of the time, but an AR without them looks incomplete, so lots of people buy them, mount them and never even sight them in.

All that said, it's up to you. S&W did it right by including a brass deflector, so it's not truly slick-sided like the DPMS guns. It "looks" right unless you look close, so it's probably less of a concern.

I'd say read up on the M&P Sport and see what you think. You'll see comments about missing dust covers & forward assists in almost every forum thread on them. It's up to you to decide if it's going to bug you or not. For two or three hundred more, you could just get a Colt 6920 and no on will ever tell you it's a beginner's gun like they might with the Sport, right or wrong.

 

Completely unfunctional IMO. But goddamn that is gorgeous.

 

I have taken the handle off because it kept getting loose when I shot it. I put a rear site on it.

 

That AR is usmcdoc14 over in pirate. Really cool dude. He actually loaned me his jig so I could do my lower. He does.awesome things with guns. That one is actually copper plated and polished.

 

Picked up 2 stripped lowers today. Prepare for future noob questions from myself

 

Get CMMG lower parts kits. No DPMS or Del-ton ones lol. Or buy from Brett (SFSMedic on here) ironworkstactical.com his lower parts kits are good

 

Yeah I believe it was a garage sale find iirc. And yes on shefron's build too.

 

Why are CMMG kits better?

 

THink I might have to go with a ironworks LPK for my next one. I find most LPK's to include to much stuff I plan to change right off the bat (grip, safety, type things) so its nice to be able to pick right off the bat

 

Having fun with slomo and my windham weaponry ar

http://youtu.be/1YRyEk8WOeI
http://youtu.be/Zj-Ku_j3BfM

 

That's why I like them, since I never use the a2 grips lol. I save them to practice stippling.

Yes super easy I actually rip mine apart and I have little organizers I keep everything in, with an index card for a label on the cover