[Easyl]

Well I seem to have gotten the Black Rifle itch. After 2 Mini-14's in various configurations I figured on getting an Ar-15. This is Due to (1)better accuracy @ 100 yard shots from straight out of the box (2) parts and magazines are more plentiful and cheaper than the mini.

This will be a hands on assembly project in order to (1) Save some frogskins (2) gain some insight about the operation of the ar-15. I am looking mainly for quality and durability in the parts @ a decent price range.

So the big questions are:

Which lower receiver should I purchase?

Which upper Assembly should I purchase. I prefer to get a 16 inch barrel with chrome lining as I hear they last more rounds.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this will be my first Ar.:ar15: :ar15:

 

[Coyote]

BOY........you opened a can of worms on that question. There are really so many good lowers and uppers out there.

If you have the money...I think one of the best units is the Les Baer ARs. If you have ever held one, it is a piece of craftsmanship. You can tell by looking and working it that a lot of time has gone into the making of his units. But then again there is:
Wilsons, Stoner's, Bushmaster, Rock River, DPMS. Olympic Arms, Panther Arms, Fulton Arms. The list goes on and on.

I do think that Rock River Arms is an up and coming rifle. Its not that over prices.
I personally have an Olympic Arms PCR-16. It has the bull barrel and I have added an Bushmaster two stage trigger, along with an AC4 Pneumatic Buffer. Harris Bipod and a 6 x 20 power scope. This weapon can shoot......
Here is a web site that has a lot of the above weapons listed and should help you.
http://www.geocities.com/modern_minuteman/weapons.html

 

[Sarge8497]

Don't forget to look at the Armscorp AC-15 Forged receiver. The Dealers Warehouse www.tdwsales.com has them for sale for $109.95

Sarge

 

[Easyl]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was thinking of getting a American Spirit Arms receiver. The company is located several miles from here in Scottsdale. 159.00 a receiver I believe, www.gun-kits.com. I could buy it over the counter. This way I would avoid the FFL transfer fee. Anyone members out there have experience with that brand. Anymore advice is greatly appreciated.:usa:

 

[mikr]

$159 for a stripped or assembled lower? Assembled would be an okay price, especially avoiding $20FFL. Otherwise, you can find mil-spec stripped RRA lowers for less than $100.

 

[AF FAL]

ASA recievers are OK, we use to use thier AR-10 receivers to build custom AR-10's. I am not sure if I am right here, maybe someone could fill me in on the correct details, I heard ASA was started by a former ARMALITE employee, so it seems alot of the stuff should bethe same quality. Personally I use alot of DPMS lowers and uppers to build AR-15's, always have good luck with fit and so forth and good service as well, not to mention they have a but load of goodies to go along with AR-15's. We once had an out of spec stainless lower come from them and when we called them on it they apologized out the yazoo and sent us a new replacement in a hurry.

I have wondered about the Les Baer sets myself, they look great and I like the ide you can buy a "matched" set from a company, I think they are the first to do that. If you try them out let us know what you think of the receivers.

 

[2 gun]

If you are thinking Ar 15 think ar15.com That's where you can find most of the makers on there indstury page and you can find some good deals on parts in threre equeptment exchange. Some good places to get lowers and uppers are armalite,bushmaster,RRA and dpms as long as you buy a forged upper and lower with a good barrel you will be ok .I have heard some bad post about ASA modle 1 and M&A mainly costomer service but I have never heard any bad stuff about RRA.
I was doing the same thing you are about 9months ago I was tired of the inauccary of my mini and the lack of good aftermarket parts so I thought "I'll build a AR15 "What I found in my case was by the time I buy a lower +parts kit +good trigger+ butt stock = plus 4 diffrent shipping charges 99+50+90+50 +5+5+5+5=320 That does'nt include the tool you will need .Or I can buy a RRA national match complete lower put together by the factory with the factory warranty for 300 shipped.I found the same thing with the upper .A stripped upper+barrell+hand guard +bolt carrier group=100+200+50+100=450 or I can buy a complete upper from RRA for 480 thats 30 bucks more for a factory assembled fully warrantied ready to go upper.And agian I did'nt include the tools you would need to build your own upper.

 

[Easyl]

Guys, I went ahead and purchased a stripped lower from A.S.A. Fit and function were excellent. The picture of the complete rifle is a couple of posts down. Ran around 100 rounds through her yesterday. Not one hiccup . Overall I'm pretty happy with the project.

2 weeks ago we had a gunshow here in Phoenix and I picked up 10 U.S.G.I. magazines. Man, I felt like a kid in a candy store there. I wanted to have everything for it. Now I know what they mean when they say "Its a Black Rifle Disease" :lol:

 

[mikr]

Another one succumbs to the BR Disease! What config and make did you go with for the upper? Did you pick up 30s, 20s, or both? You can never have enough!!

 

[Easyl]

mikr,
I got an M4A3 upper from JT distributing. Ran about 600.00 with a chromelined barrel. Its fit and finish match the lower pretty nicely. The Mags are made by Okay,Adventureline and Center Industries. 18.99 a piece. Hmm <_< ,now for some Federal XM193? Cases! :ar15: :ar15:

 

[mikr]

You were able to get the chrome-lining? Good. $20 a mag is pretty common nowadays, at least they're cheap, plentiful and reliable.
Ammoman's a good source for LC, and CMMG has it for $99 per case/delivered. I still shoot the LC sometimes, but I roll my own and favor the heavier rounds now.
:ar15:

 

[AFreeMan]

Yes, excellent mags, excellent price, and I have also purchased from J&T, and am very happy with the deal. You done good.

Try www.ammoman.com for ammo. Stick with good US made brass cased ammo, however South African battle pack and Israeli Military Industries ammo (M855 from Hansen, Q3131a 55 gr fmj from Winchester) are both good, too.

I have had good dealings with CMMG, including the SA-80 steel mags, and other products.

 

[mikr]

AFreeMan,
I have only found Widener's and (cringe) Botach to be distributors of IMI M855 ammo, do you have some type of reference for info for Hansen? Thanks.

 

[Sniper]

I'm wondering what brand of components you put in the lower? Get some of the XM193....you'll love it. From what I've read the only thing I'd do different is the barrel. With the chrome you'll lose some of the accuarcy. If you're not shooting competition it's not a big factor.
:sniper:

 

[Easyl]

Mr. Sniper,
The parts that came in with The JT distributing kit say "Colt fire control parts". They fit in the lower pretty smooth. I pressed in the pins with vise grips. The trigger pull seems pretty smooth, I'd have to say roughly around 5 lbs. B) :rapid:

 

[Sniper]

DPMS makes a real nice trigger kit. This seems to be one area that I've noticed folks like to fiddle with. There are a lot of variations on the AR trigger and some can get rather expensive, difficult to set-up and maintain. Just some food for thought. Happy Shootin'!

:sniper:

 

[cz75fan]

Fulton Armory has extremely nice lowers. IMHO they as good as any I've seen including Colt and Bushmaster and the rollmarks are nicely done.

 

[GreenLantern]

Here's a lower you could get a really good deal on!

:lol:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem....p?Item=10708176

 

[mikr]

Originally posted by GreenLantern@Aug 8 2003, 09:00 AM
Here's a lower you could get a really good deal on!

:lol:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem....p?Item=10708176

And people still wonder why they are warned to stay away from Hesse aka Vulcan Arms as well as "special weapons" :lol: with Todd Bailey at the helm (of a sinking ship).

I do admit I feel sorry for that dude with the broken POS Hesse lower.

 

[GreenLantern]

Have to disagree w/ you on the special weapons. I personally think mine is on par with a true HK as far as quality goes. Though I guess with one SW gun you could say my experience is somewhat limited. Granted, I have not heard good things about their customer service.