AR Upper Palooza For 2025/26

[arakboss]

What is your latest AR upper project you've bought, built, or have parts to build?


I think 2025/26 are going to be the years of AR upper projects in my life. I have many upper projects from piles of parts to complete uppers.

My plan is to work on one or two at a time. Once I have a complete upper in hand, I will take it to the range, break it in a bit and shoot some groups with it. Once I get tired of messing around with a particular upper, I will decide whether to store it, recycle it for the parts or sell it.

I really enjoy shopping for new stuff but with limited funds and space to store them, I will need to clear some out and or reuse parts on other builds.

I have a used upper with CHF barrel that I will be purchasing in the very beginning of Jan. I also have my eye on a couple of barreled upper parts kits that I want to get if my year end bonus allows for it.

For my first upper project I am going to pick one that is already built, either the KAK complete upper I got from American Reloading or an Aero barreled upper I got directly from Aero (no bcg or ch).

Stay tuned.

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[monkeybutler]

I have couple uppers left to assemble.

1. Douglas recon barrel from Compass Lake, either Geissele or Hodge rail, probably a Zev forged upper. Night force 2.5-10 x 32 or 42, not sure which yet, plus offset Acro P2.
2. FN CHF m4 barrel, DD omega hand guard, standard M4 receiver. Comp m4s.

 

[justsayin]

I plan to do more Cerakote projects. 6.5 Grendel 16" in Robins Egg Blue with black accents. We'll see how that turns out.

 

[TTSX]

I plan to do more Cerakote projects. 6.5 Grendel 16" in Robins Egg Blue with black accents. We'll see how that turns out.

It's gonna turn out looking like cookie monster's vibrator

 

[arakboss]

I am taking my first upper project out today. I decided to start with the $200 KAK complete factory built upper. I am also going to bring along a cheap Delta Team Tactical BCG to try in the KAK upper after I break and shoot groups with the factory set up.

As for the process of testing uppers. I will start shooting them all at 50 yards for first outing. I will use 50rnds to break in and sight in each set up and then shoot another 25rnds to shoot five 5 shot groups. Since I am a cheap B-tard I will likely use reloads for all of my upper testing. Once I have the first outing completed, I will write up a single post with pic of upper and target. Along with the photos I will include a description of how the upper performed.

Edit: I will be using a cheap Burris E1 Fullfield 2x-7x scope on P.E.P.R mount for all upper testing under 100 yards.

 

[arakboss]

I took two different uppers to the range today. Both were new and unfired.

First up was an Aero rifle length upper. Cost was $420. I normally would not pay that much for this upper but I got a "free" Aero complete lower with PRS Lite Stock with purchase of the upper. Shipping was free on the upper and lower.








I mounted the upper to an RRA lower with a terrible milspec trigger that I threw in this morning. I have a brand new drop in trigger floating around somewhere but I couldn't find it in my mess.

To start off I used a milspec ch and a cheap ambi side charging BCG from Delta Team Tactical (side charging handles not installed). With that BCG in the upper, it would not pick up a second round from the mag. I ended up single loading a bunch of rounds before switching out the cheap BCG and installed the KAK BCG. With the KAK BCG in the Aero upper it cycled fine. I left the KAK BCG in the upper to fire these test groups. All groups were 5 shots at 50yards. Top three groups were Berry's 55gr FMJs. Middle three groups were Armscor 62gr FMJs. Bottom three groups were pulled 75gr BTHPs.




Keeping in mind my shooting skills are poor. The 62gr groups were terrible. The other groups would be minute of man.

I am going to take this upper out with a few other BCGs and see if it's only the Delta Team Tactical BCG the doesn't work in this upper.

 

[arakboss]

The second upper I took out today was this brand new unfired KAK mid length gas upper. I mounted it on an Anderson lower with cheap Trinity Force stock. It has a decent trigger in it. This upper was crazy cheap at $200 shipped.











This upper functioned 100% with the factory KAK BCG and the cheap DTT BCG. It shot pretty well with the 55gr and 75gr loads. It didn't like the 62gr Armscor bullets either. Top groups are 55gr fmjs, middle groups are 62gr armscor fmjs and the bottom three vertical groups are the 75gr bthps. All are 5 shot groups.

 

[arakboss]

I dug up a cheap looking upper out of my parts stash and it had a cheap looking BCG in it. I am going to use this upper for my first upper build project of 2025. I have a used 16" 300BO barrel (pistol length gas port) that I am considering for the barrel. I want a 300BO upper set up so I can shoot cast loads down at the silhouette range.

Before I do that build I am going to try out this BCG in the AERO upper and see if it functions well.

 

[Rkangel]

Before the boat accident, I was working on a Honey Badger inspired build I was calling the High Fructose Corn Ferret / Phase Fortis Battle Strike... Or just simply the Franken Badger.

 

[arakboss]

Before the boat accident, I was working on a Honey Badger inspired build I was calling the High Fructose Corn Ferret / Phase Fortis Battle Strike... Or just simply the Franken Badger.

That's too bad it ended up in the murky depths.

 

[Rkangel]

That's too bad it ended up in the murky depths.

Yep. Totally ruined my Christmas... :-(

 

[Rkangel]

I would say lowers should be in the plan, too. Before the next round of Salem insanity...

 

[arakboss]

I would say lowers should be in the plan, too. Before the next round of Salem insanity...

I have bunches of them too, some built, some stripped. I thought about buying a few more but how many can a person use? And they aren't as easy to get rid of, when I tire of them.

 

[arakboss]

I would say lowers should be in the plan, too. Before the next round of Salem insanity...

I would highly recommend Tick Lickers in Salem for transfer if others want to stock up on lowers. They will do three firearms for a total of $45. You can put additional firearms on the same form for $5 each.

For example if you ordered a 10 pack like this, the total transfer fees would be $80. At the pawn shop I worked at, the fees on the 10 pack would be $210.

Anderson Stripped Lower Receiver – No Logo (10 Pack)

With the unfortunate news of Anderson Manufacuring closing its doors, we will not be able to warranty or exchange any items directly through them. These items are not returnable. The Anderson “No Logo” aka “Ghost” Stripped Lower Receiver may be the best bang for the buck lower receiver for your...

ar15discounts.com

 

[arakboss]

I decided against doing a 300BO upper build since I am buying a complete 300BO upper next weekend.

I am counting this as a 2025 build. Besides the Spikes 5.56 barrel and the MI muzzle break, everything else is no name cheap stuff, all parts were previously used (except possibly the KM handguard). I honestly have no recollection of where it came from. I am trying to only buy handguards with anti-rotation tabs and preferably MLOK.

The local Ace Hardware provided the pin for the gas block. I left the excess length of pin, because I'm lazy. I will be taking this one for a spin on next range trip.























My goal is to build at least 9 more for 2025.

 

[Rkangel]

I would highly recommend Tick Lickers in Salem for transfer if others want to stock up on lowers. They will do three firearms for a total of $45. You can put additional firearms on the same form for $5 each.

For example if you ordered a 10 pack like this, the total transfer fees would be $80. At the pawn shop I worked at, the fees on the 10 pack would be $210.

Anderson Stripped Lower Receiver – No Logo (10 Pack)

With the unfortunate news of Anderson Manufacuring closing its doors, we will not be able to warranty or exchange any items directly through them. These items are not returnable. The Anderson “No Logo” aka “Ghost” Stripped Lower Receiver may be the best bang for the buck lower receiver for your...

ar15discounts.com

I've always had good luck with Tick Lickers, too. Just wish they were a little closer. Most of the FFLs in my area are no longer in business. May have to suck it up and go to Sportsman's, as long as there are no lakes or rivers that require a boat to get there and back...

 

[arakboss]

For second upper build, I am going to repurpose the parts from my upper only project and make a single shot upper. Normally I use side charging uppers for single shot builds but I am going to use a rear charging set up for this one and use a budget no name ambi charging handle to test it's durability. Charging handle will have to be pulled for every shot. I will bring a Radian Charging handle as back up.

 

[arakboss]

This single shot upper will be coming with me on next range trip. It is very budget upper with BCA barrel (20", 223 wylde, 1:8 twist) and a no name BCG with my own modifications. Ambi charging handle is also a cheap no name part. I originally bought the upper from CBC Industries but removed the gas tube and flipped the low pro gas block around to plug the barrel's gas port. I will run this on the RRA lower with A2 stock. I have yet to test for groups with this upper. It should make for slow long range trip, manually charging each and every round.









The stake job on this BCG is worthless.

 

[arakboss]

Another $240 out the door. It was a toss up between this or two rosco barreled upper kits from Davidson Defense. I decided to keep the money local. Hopefully the optic holds up for a while.

16in PSA Upper w/ Optic, Aftermarket Handguard, magpul rail grips and AR parts package

Hello, for sale is a 16in upper with the following to be sold all together. May seperate optic only Firefield rapidstrike 1-6x lpvo (super clear and easy to use, read reviews and you won't find many bad ones) it simply has hockey tape on it for LARP aesthetics 🫠 PSA Stealth Upper Receiver Magpul...

www.northwestfirearms.com

These are the DD kits I was looking at. I had a 10% off code. I like the handguard style included with these Bulldog kits. It has a very similar locking feature as the handguard on my KAK upper.

Welcome to Davidson Defense INC. -

 

[arakboss]

This is my first pistol caliber upper project for the year. I bought the upper already assembled and it had been used previously on a lower that accepted Colt mags. The bolt has both Colt and Glock cuts. I have a PSA stripped lower that is set up for Glock mags and another Lower that has a mag adapter that accepts Colt style mags. One day I will dig those up. For now I am going to use this rifle lower with endomags, when I find them.