Del-ton, a way forward...

What's it chambered for?
223 Remington? 5.56 Nato? 223 Wylde?
Twist rate? Probably 1:10 or 1:8 range?

 

5.56/.223 1 in 9.

 

When you want to talk cost, tell me how much it cost to produce it, not what the end cost is. It's been a few years back, but I read an article that said to bring a Beats headphone to market including everything, materials, shipping, promotions, was less than $20. So I bought a $400 AR, and some here bought a $1500 AR. How much did that 1,500 AR cost to produce versus that $400 one.

 

I don't know if you have seen these and I would only take them as suggestion, not gun-law.
There are several different versions on the web and they don't all agree - why I said it's a suggestion.
But it might keep you from wasting some ammo as you find out which one your rifle prefers. The faster the twist the heavier the bullet stabilization.

 

Thanks. Yes I've seen those charts. I tend to not go off half cocked.

 

Important part is you're out with your boy and bonding. Just like with certain Tacoma mods and anything else, you'll get a wide variety of opinions. You do you, as long as you keep realistic expectations. Not everyone needs long travel Fox, nor kitted out Daniel Defense.

What RD are you thinking? Keeping in the budget mind can't really go wrong with Sig Romeo or Vortex Sparc. Bushnell TRS maybe for the kid?

 

You want a serious reply on the basics instead of someone trying to flex on you about the price?

Unless you got an out of spec lemon, and all of the companies occasionally put out a bad product, there's nothing wrong with the average Del-Ton for most people. Despite the fables, Colt has had more than their share of issues too; hopefully CZ buying them will provide some stability. Most guns these days are capable of better accuracy than the shooters, or at least well within reason- between real world obligations, the cost of ammo and the time involved, if you aren't financially comfortable and living on property where you can shoot most folks aren't going to get in as much shooting as they'd like.

Anyways, go over the gun carefully and make sure everything is aligned and torqued properly and staked as it should be. That is PSA's biggest problem; they are perfectly capable of putting out an excellent product and they are the parent company of a lot of other names that people will point to as being better (without realizing PSA owns them) but for whatever reason(s) they have consistently had QC issues. Their "machine gun steel" barrels for example are made by FN as are some of their AK barrels.

You already bought the stock so I won't say anything about that as long as it works for you except that if you have a beard some stocks are less likely to pull facial hair than others. Otherwise just set the stock at your preferred length and put a wrap of camo tape around it.
Decide on what you consider your most probable engagement distances and buy an optic or optics (i.e. red dot and magnifier) based on that. Even Primary Arms makes decent quality stuff that will hold up to what most users will realistically subject their rifles to, assuming you're not changing temperature/pressure environments a lot (i.e. HALO/HAHO jumping out of airplanes or swimming with the thing) or beating on trees with it. If you can afford better glass it's certainly never a bad idea though. Put a killflash on it.
I love the DD fixed sights, but a set of inexpensive Magpuls will work fine in an emergency and they're light weight. With a quality optic more folks seem to be forgoing backups altogether.
Find a two point sling that you like; the Vickers is a solid, proven choice but there are others that work well too or you can make your own. I still like the inexpensive Israeli style too depending on the gun. Keep a ranger band or some other way to secure it on the gun so that you can secure it out of the way so it doesn't get caught on anything.
Add a decent light of your choice; put a One Hundred Concepts cap on it or print your own. Consider your battery options when buying a light.
Buy spare parts; you can always swap in higher quality parts and keep the originals as your spares. A full bolt/bolt carrier is a good idea but it's easy to stick a complete bolt in the pistol grip (Magpul and some others actually make inserts to hold them) along with a little bag with small parts like springs and pins that like to take off into the unknown.
Buy spare mags; if you lived through the Clinton AWB or have been watching the shenanigans some states are going through you'll know why you should buy lots of them. There are several good brands, there are several that are alright, and there are some that are junk. Figure out which good ones you and your gun like and buy a bunch. Side note- USGI mags are usually easier to get in and out of some pouches than Magpuls (ex. they slide in and out of elastic pouches like you may use in a discrete daypack than the more heavily textured Magpuls). It's also a good idea to have a couple of 20s; they're easier to use when shooting from prone and you may want to have a mag or two of special ammo for some reason, i.e. some tracer rounds for directing fire, maybe something better for hunting, etc.
Buy ammo- start with a variety and figure out which types perform best in your gun with your optic. Keep good defensive ammo on hand, stack cheaper stuff for SHTF/zombies and most importantly, practice. Have a way to carry spare mags; a chest rig or bag is nice, but you can also buy surplus ACU six mag bandoleers cheap right now and they're a great way to store mags with the gun, keep extras in your truck, use as a handout, etc. Use as is or dye (plenty of tutorials, mostly using the Rit for synthetics) or add a bit of spray paint. When spraying nylon use light coats or it'll get tacky.
Buy a lube appropriate to your area.

Take an AR rifle class or better yet, as many as you can. Do your research and find someone who is highly regarded as an actual teacher, not just someone who's a former SF dude and now teaches classes. Learn to service your rifle; there are downloadable pdf manuals, they're easy to work on and you can do most stuff with just a couple of tools. Learn the gun before you worry about all of the tacticool stuff.

After you're become proficient with the gun then worry about the other stuff. There are a lot of good triggers out there and you do not need to spend a fortune to get a good serviceable trigger- you're not shooting at Camp Perry with it. I like Geissele's and have a couple, but I only buy them on sale and I don't buy the high end versions. I'm not shooting long distance matches and a $3-500 trigger is not going to add enough for me to justify the price. A popular option is the Rock River Arms two stage match trigger, it's well regarded trigger for around $100 and there are plenty of other options as well. If you're cheap, just grab your Dremel, a felt buffing wheel and some jeweler's rouge and lightly polish any parts that touch each other (don't change any angles or remove metal, just polish). Decide which shooting style works for you and, if you want one, buy a forward grip, hand stop, whatever. I like the BCM Gunfighter grips and foregrips and they're reasonably priced. I like the BCM Gunfighter and Radian charging handles since you don't have to wrap your fingers over them (trying doing that with a mil spec and I all but guarantee you'll have your hand slip off at least once and pop yo in the mouth), they work better when wearing gloves and they help keep gas out of your face, especially when shooting suppressed. I like the medium sized ones, the larger ones are easier to grab but they snag on your gear. If your springs are installed properly you shouldn't need antiwalk pins and such. Look at ambidextrous safeties before buying them, I don't like the larger style that touch my trigger finger when shooting.

I'll take someone with a $400 PSA rifle who actually shoots it and knows it works over somebody with a Gucci gun who's never taken a rifle class and only shoots it every now and then. Personally, I try to keep my rifles light weight and the ones I actually use are spray painted camo. It's just a tool, they often ride around in the UTV, four wheeler or tractor and more than likely I'll be changing something or another on it at some point anyways as I try different options. Which brings me to my last point- have fun with it, way too many people get hung up on the minutia and seem to forget that just plinking and having fun is as good a reason to own one as anything else. To go along with that fun part, you can buy a drop in .22 conversion (ex. CMMG) but a dedicated .22 upper with a proper 1:16 twist will be more accurate (again, CMMG). If you use a drop in kit be sure to swap the 5.56 bolt carrier back in it and run a few rounds of 5.56 through it to blow out any .22 crud.

Almost forgot- if you're going to be shooting with NODs or thermal that adds another layer to things.