Looking for my first AR-15

T

Tempered_Steel

New member
I've been thinking about getting an AR for a while now and it appears that now is as good a time as any. Mainly a varmint and plinking rifle, I am thinking of a 18 or 20" barrel since that seems to be a happy medium, probably a flat top and my budget is going to be in the neighborhood of $800.

After looking around a bit, I am wondering if I can up my quality and stay within my budget if I go for a kit. It seems I can get a stripped lower for around $130, then a kit and I would have pretty much everything I need, right?

I am thinking of a flat top Wilson SS HBAR barreled upper in a kit from J&T distributing. Anyone have any comments, positive or negative about this configuration or dealer? Any major variations in lowers that I need to be aware of? Is this a good idea at all or would I be better off just buying the complete rifle? Thanks.
 
You will save a lot of money going with a kit over a ready built rifle, I've got personal experience with J&T Distributing and they are good people with good products, be aware there is a run on AR-15's right now due to the rumors over another Assault Weapons bill, so they are very busy.

J&T upper kit on a Stag Arms lower receiver, 5.56mm with a 24" stainless bull barrel with a 1-8 twist, JP Rifles single stage trigger

72004817.jpg
 
In your price range, check out Del-Ton.
But, before you plunk down any bucks, be sure to also check out Mike at D-Tech (here on the forum) - he can probably hook you up with a basic Olympic Arms AR for something in your price range.
 
If your paying retail for said parts, you won't save money building a gun if your looking for quality parts. I thought about building one, priced everything that I wanted on it, ouch. Its cheaper to buy a complete gun, cause you can't up the quality as you want cheaper. My .02 cent.
 
Bushmaster complete rifles can be had for the price range you like. As was said, you could save some money with some diligent shopping for the right parts. I like Stag and Rock River parts.

Complete lowers With 2 stage match triggers can be had for $300.00 Single stage trigger $230.00

Varmint uppers with 16 to 24 inch Wilson SS button rifled barrels for $550.00. That's a little better than a factory AR 15 of equal configuration.

Todays prices
 
Check your local pawn shops for the name brands. You can always upgrade to 'make it yours' later.

With the introduction of the new AWB, there are some dealers taking advantage of the current phobia of them not being available later and hiking their prices now. If the bill should happen to go through, it will be worse than when the original went through in 1994.. prices skyrocketed in the private/civilian sector.
 
I paid $669 (not counting optics) for my rifle shown above, it has a 24" Wilson air gauged barrel, just like the Bushmaster and Rock River comparable models, the shipping was less than the sales tax if I bought one from a dealer. The parts used on my rifle are some of the exact same parts used on Rock River rifles.

Can you buy a Bushy or Rock River bull barrel varmint rifle for that kind of price?
 
Wingman - Your rifle is almost identical to what I want. I would probably choose a shorter barrel and maybe fluting, but pretty much everything else. Nice rifle.
 
If I was building it today I would do it with a 20" barrel, if I ever shoot this barrel out it will be replaced with a 20". I don't know how many rounds it might take to shoot one out, or enough that the accuracy deteriorates, I've already got 3-4,000 rounds through that rifle, I shoot if off the bench....a lot!
 
These make assembling the lower much easier:

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=5551&title=ROLL+PIN+PUNCHES

3/32 is #3 Roll pin punch (for bolt release pin)
item #230-100-003
#3 Roll Pin Punch $4.05

1/8 is #4 Roll pin punch (for trigger guard pin)
item #230-100-004
#4 Roll Pin Punch $4.15

Small item shipping $3.95

total delivered $12.15

Prices current as of 8/11/2006

No other special tools are needed!

Here's a good place to start finding a stripped lower receiver.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=7&f=21

Here's how to do it: http://www.ar15.com/content/guides/assembly/lower/
 
I just assembled my first lower receiver, and it was just
TOO easy. Yes I did have the Brownell Roll pin punch
set, which I ordered a good time ago, for other
"gunsmithing" work. The AR15.com instructions are great.
They do call for a front pin assembly tool, but IMHO, it is
not necessary, if one is careful in assembling the front
takedown pin detent, and spring. Be ready to recover the
detent, and spring, if you are not "careful" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Other
than the punches, I needed a small rawhide hammer, to tap
pins in place, a hex head wrench for the pistol grip
mounting screw, and a precision needle nose to hold a few
small parts. I used a "strap" wrench to assemble an
Oly Arms aluminum 6 pos. stock to the lower. So I
did not need a "collapseable" stock wrench either.

Like I said, this was just too easy. I just
tore the trigger group out of mine last night, and switched
out the mil-spec springs with some JP Enterprise 4 lb
springs...Very nice cheap upgrade to the "horrible" AR-15
Mil-Spec trigger. I moly greased the surfaces, after
"polishing" them carefully, and other than a mile
of travel, it isn't a "horrible" trigger anymore. It
is decent enough until I decide on what I want to end
up with, for a "real" trigger. I have an Armalite lower,
with a NM trigger in that, but I am considering getting
a more conventional single stage trigger, for that
lower, with a Varminter upper, and then I will move that
NM trigger to my CAR-15, which this lower build was
for. I will just keep this JP trigger spring set, for
the next project /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I have Evil Black Rifle Disease
bad! I keep thinking about a conversation I had with
Mike(DTech), about a 6x45 upper, and it keeps haunting
me like a recurring nightmare. I could be building
another lower soon, for a DTech upper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Squeeze
 
Last year i bought a new olympic upper with a 20'' fluted stainless barrel for 425.00 shipped from a guy on AR-15.com. Then i ordered a brand new complete cav-15 lower from DSG for $200 shipped. What i got was a brand new awesome looking -shooting rifle for $625.00 complete ready to shoot. The cheapest complete rifle i found was a "plinker" from olympic for 579.00 plus shipping and its not even close to the rifle i bought.
 
Those detent pins and springs have a bad habit of "going ballistic" and launching themselves into another dimension, since they are almost impossible to find after launch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

There are a few tricks for working with those, a lot of people will do the work inside of a clear dry cleaner's plastic bag, another one is to do it under a sheet, it will stop the items and make them easy to find when they go ballistic. NOTE that I said when they go ballistic, not if they go ballistic!

One trick is to get a 1/4" hitch pin, one with a hole in it, insert the spring and pin, push them back into the receiver, then turn the pin to close off the hole, then you can slide the forward pin in, replacing the hitch pin.

In reference to the JP Rifles reduced power spring kit, I have 3 AR's, my varmint rifle has a JP Rifles trigger, both of the other ones have the spring kits, they make a tremendous improvement! I got my JP Rifles reduced power spring kits from Brownells.
 


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