Building an AR 15

[RGS 39]

Hello to everyone. Stay safe and watch your six.
I am a new member and would like to come aboard. I am in the process
of building an AR15 and would like to hear from someone as to the pros and cons of building as opposed to buying a factory built AR15.

Mucho thanks

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[JAFO]

It doesn't take much to assemble an AR. It takes a wee bit more if you are assembling the upper and not using a complete upper assembly (barrel wrench, vise blocks, etc).

I think the only real upside to a complete rifle is warranty coverage and perhaps a slight resale value bump just because when buying an assembled rifle you never know the skills of the person who put it together nor the quality of parts they have used.

The only downside I can think of isn't really a downside but it's just like building a computer. You might end up putting a bunch of higher end parts on there when you probably could have gotten by just fine with whatever a factory might have installed.

 

[jawbone]

I think the decision to build a custom rifle, or buy a complete rifle depends on its intended use.

For instance, I just finished a custom build. Here are the fun parts:
Geissele Super Dynamic Enhanced trigger (straight bow)
White Oak Armament 18" stainless .223 Wylde barrel
Magpul PRS (Precision Rifle/Sniper) stock
JP Enterprises Modular handguard

I spent a little more on the build than I was intending to (probably sounds familiar to one or two guys on here), but it suits my exact needs. I'm going to use it in the 24-Hour Sniper Adventure Challenge next year.

I took it out to the range, and after warming it up with some XM855's and finding zero, I shot a 5 round group into 5/16" at 100 yards; that's just over 1/4 MOA (spotter verified with 2 witnesses). My teammate built the same exact rifle I did, and we were hitting a 6" target at 550 yds all day.

However, if I was just going to use my rifle for CQB, where accuracy only needs to be 1 MOA at or under 100 yds, I probably would've went with a complete rifle.

My build could be completely underutilized by a different shooter, not to mention an imprudent use of resources.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

If you want a custom then build it yourself.. especially if you can trade for various parts. If you want the best value for a basic AR and have only cash, then just buy one. I had a lot of items to trade for various parts and wanted a custom for my gal so I built her this one

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[RGS 39]

Thanks for the info. You are right on.

 

[RGS 39]

Thank you Sir!

 

[RGS 39]

I already have some factory AR's, just wanted to build one or should I say assemble one

 

[SIG383]

Welcome to the forum! I like building them a lot. Something about being able to pick and choose exactly what I want. I wasn't buying a complete AR, and then pulling stuff off to replace it with what I wanted. I think a good way to go for a complete gun if you are wanting that, but want to have it custom at the same time, is go to Rainier Arms. You can call and have one of their complete rifles changed to your liking and you are not paying for the factory gun + parts, etc. Regardless of what you end up doing, one word of advice, don't toss any of your old parts!! Keep them as spares in case something breaks. After doing an inventory of mine, I figured that with everything I have laying around, it would cost me about $350 to build another AR since I already have a lot of the parts in my bins as spares.

 

[OregonPlinker]

Welcome aboard!!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

It's instructive to build one, you will learn a lot that may be helpful in the future, but if you are not careful you can waste a lot of $$