Concidering getting an AR15. Suggestions?

[glockguy]

sooo Im looking into Getting an AR15. I would like a some what inexpensive one.. I saw them last year for a around 800 I believe the one i saw was a DPMS. What are some prices you know and Would you suggest maybe putting my own together?:huh: I dont want anything REALLY expensive.

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[toys]

you may wan to state what "expensive" is to you. you have 800 for a DPMS, but is that your limit?

you are wanting to buy when every one else is ahead of you. there are some making their way out there, but you cant be choosey.

btw, you should be deciding on what type of goodies you want to add on your gun or have on it. also, the type of platform, flattop or not...ect.

i just bought the ones i wanted since at the time, i didnt want to deal with buying any tools.

aslo, if you do decide to build it yourself, it would be interesting if you keep tabs on all of the expenses so we that havent built ones will know the grand total. i see alot of people saying its cheaper to build, but i havent seen any cost of tools, shipping, lost/broke parts included with the price.

 

[glockguy]

Well ABG Buyers in Corvallis Has everything I need to Build one.. and i priced it at around 750 to 800 to build my own.. but I dunno if that was with anything special. I'll have to look into it again.

 

[toys]

Well ABG Buyers in Corvallis Has everything I need to Build one.. and i priced it at around 750 to 800 to build my own.. but I dunno if that was with anything special. I'll have to look into it again.

what about tools?


i forgot to add....

OA has? an "entry level" AR called the "plinkster"? dont know of anyone with one.

also, DPMS had an "entry level" AR too. the lower appeared stripped of the FA, Ejection port cover and the raised edging. cant remember what the upper looked or had missing. also, dont know of anyone with one or seen any range report

 

[glockguy]

Not quit sure.. as im not to Familiar with the AR in General. I will call them Tomorrow and Check it out and let you know

 

[2gr8dgs]

Glockguy, first things first, what do you want to do with your AR. plinking?, hard core civilian defence?, target shooting/varmint/sage rat shooting? It helps with the recommendations .

 

[glockguy]

Well Plinking. But home defence would me nice too

 

[coctailer]

I sell Del-Tons packages for $850 and Colt 6920s for $1,499.

I would recommend building one to your liking. They are very easy to assemble.

 

[toys]

I sell Del-Tons packages for $850 and Colt 6920s for $1,499.

I would recommend building one to your liking. They are very easy to assemble.

here it is again.

what about tools? or do you throw the parts in a bag, shake well, bake for 30 minutes and out comes an AR?

 

[coctailer]

here it is again.

what about tools? or do you throw the parts in a bag, shake well, bake for 30 minutes and out comes an AR?

You can't do that with LEGOS, but most can manage to build toy cars and stuff with them...............well I guess some can't.

 

[ZeroRing]

Also depends on what you mean by "building" one...

Because if you mean building the lower and then installing a "completed" upper (such as the Del-Ton one I "built" three weeks ago) then it's actually quite simple with only minimal tools required. I only needed roll pin punches and a small brass hammer (that I didn't have), so my bullet-puller hammer had to suffice.

But if you mean "building" an entire upper in addition to the lower then you will most likely need additional "special" tools. Brownells has a good video series on assembling your own AR that covers quite nicely all the steps and tools needed. http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=26990/Product/HOW_TO_BUILD_AN_AR_15_DVD

Good luck!!

 

[eldbillbo]

you can now pick up kits as low as $465 + shipping minus the lower receiver
lower receivers can be bought here for $115 + bg check

lots of mags found here for $10-15 each i sell you some if no one else has em.

i dont know if the del ton uppers are built or in pcs so if you have to build it offer a guy with the tools a some pizza and refreshments and lawn chair to set in maybe kick in some gas money to bring the tools over and supervise
or just buy the tools about a additional $40-60 depending on what you already have

so under $650 not counting ammo

you can just keep your eyes open for deals also as more parts come in there will be guys wondering why they bough 10 ar15s and now need to pay for a trip to disney land

 

[toys]

You can't do that with LEGOS, but most can manage to build toy cars and stuff with them...............well I guess some can't.

its obvious you dont know what tools it takes and the cost of them.

so, i can see you just "sell" the parts, thats all i need to know.

my apologies to the OP. didnt mean to high jack the thread but when people keep on saying you can assemble one...blah..blah...blah, and dont say anything about any special tools, then i feel it could leave out some costs which arent disclosed until it too late and could affect the decision of buying a built one vs a kit.

 

[xjjeeper223]

its obvious you dont know what tools it takes and the cost of them.

so, i can see you just "sell" the parts, thats all i need to know.

my apologies to the OP. didnt mean to high jack the thread but when people keep on saying you can assemble one...blah..blah...blah, and dont say anything about any special tools, then i feel it could leave out some costs which arent disclosed until it too late and could affect the decision of buying a built one vs a kit.

Unless you are building the upper from its most basic components too, the only tools you need are a hammer and punch, and vise grips are optional. Also, a stock wrench to put the stock onto the lower, however it can be done without the special tool. If you do buy the tool, I paid $13 for mine. Any man worth his salt should have most of those tools already. So for most, the cost of tools is $13 if you buy the wrench. Assembling an AR is extremely simple and it can be done for much cheaper than if you bought one new off the wall.

 

[toys]

Unless you are building the upper from its most basic components too, the only tools you need are a hammer and punch, and vise grips are optional. Also, a stock wrench to put the stock onto the lower, however it can be done without the special tool. If you do buy the tool, I paid $13 for mine. Any man worth his salt should have most of those tools already. So for most, the cost of tools is $13 if you buy the wrench. Assembling an AR is extremely simple and it can be done for much cheaper than if you bought one new off the wall.

okay, so you have some tools. and any person with his salt can do the lower. you only answered 1/2 the question then.

what about the upper?

how many posts has it taken to answer this?

to me it appears that there are alot of armchair assemblers out there ,but cant really say what it cost to do a complete AR.

So again, my apologies to the OP for this high jack. but apparently, answering how much the tools cost to assemble the AR, both upper and lower isnt known. maybe the day people will know.

 

[xjjeeper223]

okay, so you have some tools. and any person with his salt can do the lower. you only answered 1/2 the question then.

what about the upper?

how many posts has it taken to answer this?

to me it appears that there are alot of armchair assemblers out there ,but cant really say what it cost to do a complete AR.

So again, my apologies to the OP for this high jack. but apparently, answering how much the tools cost to assemble the AR, both upper and lower isnt known. maybe the day people will know.

Do you want to build the upper from its most basic components? Or do you want to do what most people do which is buy a completed upper and use some special tools call fingers and thumbs to put it on? I would not reccomend that a person try to build an upper from scratch if its his first rifle.

However, if you want to put the upper together piece by piece the tools you will need other than a punch, are an upper receiver action block (about $40), snap ring pliers (available at any hardware store), and a vise (relatively cheap if you dont already have one). And sorry, I dont have Home Depot's price list in front of me to quote you a price for snap ring pliers.

I hope that answers your question. And helps your attitude.

ETA. I just wanted to add that I really dont think most of the people here are "armchair assemblers". I think that since you are so unbelieving you just need to suck it up and try it yourself. It really is a piece of cake. Once you complete your first one, all those questions and worries that you have about building an AR will quickly dissappear. I didnt think it could be as easy as it sounded either before I put my first rifle together. However, once I finished it, i realized that what everyone else said was correct.

 

[Ryan]

At the risk of still not answering the question correctly, heres my $.02. I just built mine 2 weeks ago from a stripped lower and a fully assembled upper from Model1 sales, <broken link removed> (second one on that page)
The assembled upper will most likely cost a little more than a full kit, but for your first build I highly recomend it. I am not sure weither to reccomend M1s or not, as it took close to 6 months to get my order, but it was pretty nice once I got it.

The only tools I needed were a small hammer, punch, a long allen wrench for the pistolgrip bolt, channel locks, and I went ahead and got this:http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=920248
I feel is well worth the headache it will save from trying to install that damn front takedown detent. I didn't use a butstock wrench, I just wrapped the buttstock nut with some blue painters tape and used some channel locks.

Brownells has a pretty nice video series to walk you through the building steps. I also used http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=4&t=226782 as a guide.

Total I have $200 for the lower (I know I bought during the craze) $605 for an A3 flattop upper with detachable carry handle, $65 for 4 30rd PMAGS, and $4 for the detent tool.

Total: $874, not too bad, doesn't have all the bells and whistles but it works, and is still pretty badass.


sorry for the quality, taken with my blackberry, and please excuse my messy kitchen counter

Hope this helps the OP in his quest for an AR-15.

 

[bnr32gtr]

glockguy,

I STRONGLY suggest doing a bunch of research before buying parts. Head over to AR15.com and check out this thread and others like it. Lots of great info and this should help you start in the right direction. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=4&t=226782

The "build it yourself" section has lots of good info, just stay within the "stickied" posts and you'll be fine. Outside of those are too much to do with opinion, not facts.

For tools, I recommend a good set of roll pin drivers, a brass drift, small ball peen hammer, stock wrench, barrel wrench and a mag block. Most of these are worth having for many other projects and the vise block can be used for cleaning and maintenance, as well as barrel changes, flash hider changes, etc.

I have a group buy going on them, as a matter of fact: <broken link removed>

Pick the parts you will want to buy and don't cheap out because you will end up regretting it, trust me, trust many of us here!

Take this one for instance that Coctailer is selling: <broken link removed>

All you need is ammo, realistically. A couple more mags and then decide if you want an optic or not. Great buy for a fantastic rifle.

I'm selling this one too, which is worth a look, even if you aren't interested in buying, it shows you a bit more of what is out there: http://www.northwestfirearms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11709

Feel free to PM, email or call me between 9am and 8pm daily. I'd be happy to help point you in the right direction and get you started no matter if you want to build or buy your first AR. Be diligent though, do your research before buying ANYTHING!!

Good luck and I hope to hear from you! Mike

 

[fromotoc]

For $800 you can get a used Bushmaster if you are patient and look around. Nothing wrong with building it, either, delton should be getting their kits in stock soon, it's $465 for the kit + $110 or so for a stripped lower, so $575 can build you one.

 

[theflyguy]

Well I picked up a Stag Arms lower assembly here in Beaverton and a RRA lower parts kit from the last gun show. I placed an order for a M4 Del-Ton upper assembly back in June, but it looks like I won't be seeing it till Nov/Dec. When I placed my order, they told me they were "just getting to Jan 09" orders....meaning they were 5-6 months behind.

I went with Del-Ton because I've read very positive comments and they offer what I wanted at a resaonable price.

Just wish it wasn't such a long wait.