Sanis Prent
Aug 24th, 2005, 07:45:10 PM
Okay, I have gotten in a pickle, over my next potential gun purchase.
I am really, really, really wanting to buy an AR-15 around my birthday. It's going to be the only firearm I buy until perhaps next spring or longer.
The bad part about AR-15's is that they are pretty expensive. A no frills rifle will cost you $700 easy.
The good part about AR-15's is that they are ridiculously modular, possibly moreso than any other rifle on the market. This means that you can just about buy a rifle one part at a time and put it together as you please. In fact, this is generally the preferable way to do it, as it saves money over buying a pre-built model.
Now, the main way of thinking about this is breaking it down into 3 main areas - the upper, the lower, and other accessories. I will now explain these:
Upper is the rifle's barrel, barrel hand guard, carrying handle, and front sight.
Lower is the only part of the rifle that is classified under law as a firearm, because it contains the receiver, which is what the cartridge is fed into from the magazine. This means that to buy and ship, you have to observe all laws and fees that you would for any other gun. The lower also includes the trigger group, the pistol grip, the charging handle and forward assist, and optionally, the buttstock.
Other Accessories are just that. They're anything extra you do to the rifle. You can remove the carry handle and add a holographic tactical sight. You can add an accessory rail grip to the barrel and attach lasers, tactical flashlights, bipods, etc. You can buy extended capacity magazines, including drum magazines. The list of accessories for an AR-15 is so immense that you could build a gun that cost less than the accessories you put on it.
Another great thing about AR-15's is that with a little metallurgical and technical know-how, a person with a few thousand bucks worth of presses, dyes, and jigs can build their own. This is what a friend of mine has done. He's building batches of AR-15's for sale, and he's offering me a price on a Lower which is approximately $150 cheaper than I can get it anywhere else.
The catch? I have to act on this probably within the week. The guy making the rifles has to know how many of each configuration to build.
Right now, a full AR-15 lower (six position collapsible stock, plus hogue grips, black duracote, and personalized engraved text) will cost me $242, excluding FFL transfer fees (which I can pay later). Usually, it would be $400 or so, so this is a great deal. Even still, I will be hurting if I spring for this.
My other options:
Lower without stock, but everything else for $160
Lower without stock, trigger group, and pistol grip for $90
Pure stripped lower for $50 (NOTHING ELSE, just a block of metal).
I want to get a good mix of convenience, but also cost savings. I'm decently good with tinkering, but I don't want to drive myself crazy with excessive amounts of assembly. Right now, I'm thinking about the lower without the stock for $160, but I'm not sure 100% yet.
I've really got to figure this out, and fast.
I am really, really, really wanting to buy an AR-15 around my birthday. It's going to be the only firearm I buy until perhaps next spring or longer.
The bad part about AR-15's is that they are pretty expensive. A no frills rifle will cost you $700 easy.
The good part about AR-15's is that they are ridiculously modular, possibly moreso than any other rifle on the market. This means that you can just about buy a rifle one part at a time and put it together as you please. In fact, this is generally the preferable way to do it, as it saves money over buying a pre-built model.
Now, the main way of thinking about this is breaking it down into 3 main areas - the upper, the lower, and other accessories. I will now explain these:
Upper is the rifle's barrel, barrel hand guard, carrying handle, and front sight.
Lower is the only part of the rifle that is classified under law as a firearm, because it contains the receiver, which is what the cartridge is fed into from the magazine. This means that to buy and ship, you have to observe all laws and fees that you would for any other gun. The lower also includes the trigger group, the pistol grip, the charging handle and forward assist, and optionally, the buttstock.
Other Accessories are just that. They're anything extra you do to the rifle. You can remove the carry handle and add a holographic tactical sight. You can add an accessory rail grip to the barrel and attach lasers, tactical flashlights, bipods, etc. You can buy extended capacity magazines, including drum magazines. The list of accessories for an AR-15 is so immense that you could build a gun that cost less than the accessories you put on it.
Another great thing about AR-15's is that with a little metallurgical and technical know-how, a person with a few thousand bucks worth of presses, dyes, and jigs can build their own. This is what a friend of mine has done. He's building batches of AR-15's for sale, and he's offering me a price on a Lower which is approximately $150 cheaper than I can get it anywhere else.
The catch? I have to act on this probably within the week. The guy making the rifles has to know how many of each configuration to build.
Right now, a full AR-15 lower (six position collapsible stock, plus hogue grips, black duracote, and personalized engraved text) will cost me $242, excluding FFL transfer fees (which I can pay later). Usually, it would be $400 or so, so this is a great deal. Even still, I will be hurting if I spring for this.
My other options:
Lower without stock, but everything else for $160
Lower without stock, trigger group, and pistol grip for $90
Pure stripped lower for $50 (NOTHING ELSE, just a block of metal).
I want to get a good mix of convenience, but also cost savings. I'm decently good with tinkering, but I don't want to drive myself crazy with excessive amounts of assembly. Right now, I'm thinking about the lower without the stock for $160, but I'm not sure 100% yet.
I've really got to figure this out, and fast.