AR-15 question

[mcmurry]

Not trying to start any arguments on which one is best, but does anyone know the one brand with the lowest cost, most basic AR-15? I'm on disability and only have about $200 after paying bills. I can't afford these $750 -$1200 + rifles even on layaway.

 

[Jimster]

Buy it one piece at a time. Start with a lower which is the only part that requires going through an FFL. Maybe $50 or so. Then buy the rest as your funds allow. The most expensive will be the complete upper, maybe $350 or so. Many options and manufacturers. I like JSE Surplus. I happen to live near them but there is a ton of suppliers on the net. Just a thought.

 

[bocefus78]

The cheapest ar you will find is an assembled lower, and an assembled upper from palmetto state armory. They can be had for around $ 475 or less...plus a transfer.

 

[OilyPablo]

Are you handy enough to make your own? It really does lower the cost, but if you don't have the tools or the smith ability, Palmetto State Armory SALE specials are hard to beat for quality and price.

 

[mf-dif]

If you have the patience, and enjoy building things...go the custom route. I'm doing a budget build now with a $500-ish budget and it's not going to be bare bones either. It's almost done and it'll sport the features found on 800-900 rifles.

My daily go-to is Slickguns.com. Browse or search for the particular part you want...it's a deal aggregation site.

Palmetto State Armory has good deals on parts. They rotate, so you may not find what you need this month...but next month it'll pop up. I purchased my BCG and LPK from them.

Amazon: for small parts like flash hiders, gas blocks, buffer tubes iron sights, etc that not much can go wrong with it's a great source. $10-20 with free shipping can't be beat.

Barrels I have found classicfirearms.com has the best deals.

I also venture on AR15.com in their classifieds section. Lightly used part deals can be found.

I've been chronicling my build on youtube. For a lot of the cheap parts I found I saw no one was really reviewing them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVs8LhrHqeo&list=PL1xheJAXHDdvN8Rpw-8LRlxdK7jhaZb8j

 

[OilyPablo]

This kind of deal comes in my mailbox daily: http://palmettostatearmory.com/cata...tm_campaign=Constant+Contact&utm_medium=email

You just buy the bare lower locally. I've seen them have better deals, just get on the email list.

 

[Driftertank]

AiM surplus has complete Radical Arms rifles under $500. If you dont want to roll-your-own, its the cheapest complete, new ARs I've seen. Cant say for the quality, though.

 

[JO JO]

The M&P Sport is a good way to go , it's worth a look

 

[Jackal]

Keep an eye on PSA sales. I put together a "cheap" $400 AR using their Ptac rifle kit and a stripped Anderson lower. I'll be darned if the cheap "low end" AR doesnt shoot almost as well as my high end rifles. I mean, its no LaRue, but it works great and functions reliably. Its my go to crappy weather rifle, as I dont really care if the finish gets beat up/rusty.

Kind of sad really, my cheap rifles get more use than the expensive ones, simply because I dont want to damage them, lol. Same with my knives/axes.

 

[Jimster]

I'll second the Anderson lower.

 

[holdencm9]

I have been thinking of building a dirt cheap AR just for fun, and have been browsing the PSA website.

I am looking at a slick side PTAC middy upper for $179. It doesn't include the BCG and CH but that's only another $100 or so. Then there is a lower build kit for $140 to go with the $50 blemished lower receiver i already have.

Some of these items are not currently in stock. But if you are patient you can have an entry level rifle for $470 (misc. S&H not included, but again, if you wait, they often have free shipping deals). Or even cheaper depending on components (i have seen complete lowers go for $170 which even though PTAC is their budget brand that is crazy cheap!)

Good luck!

 

[JFtheGR8]

Another vote for PSA. I could not have been able to afford to own an AR10 style rifle without their parts and frequent sales.

 

[Tirod]

I built both of my AR's. The second one was on a budget, I found most of the parts thru a search engine: http://arpartsfinder.com/

Lowers for $40 with fee start you off. Complete it in stages, you don't even spend $200 a month when you shop carefully. And the parts aren't junk - the only ones not milspec were in the lower trigger kit, an Anderson stainless trigger and hammer which surprisingly had the better spiral roll pins and a trigger break shorter and crisper than the ones I shot in the service.

It's not rocket science to assemble one - and the first didn't "cost" me anything as I sold off items on the internet I was no longer using. I had money in knives that was just sitting there, like watches, how many can you use at one time? Part of the collection paid for the gun.

Look around, we all have money, it's just sitting in a form that may not be as useful as we think.

 

[JFtheGR8]

Tirod, excellent advice about selling unused items to fund a build. That's exactly what I did. I sold cameras, jewelry, video games, knives... You name it. If it was sitting around gathering dust or hadn't been used in over a year then I sold it.

 

[BSA1]

For a factory built gun you can not go any better than the S&W Sport. They are regularly on sale for less than $600.00 and have a factory warranty. It should be easy affordable on Layaway Plan.

If you are the d-i-y type a little more money over a couple extra of months will give you
a excellent rifle.

 

[OilyPablo]

This looks to be decent deal: http://palmettostatearmory.com/cata...tm_campaign=Constant+Contact&utm_medium=email

Again just add bare lower. And rear sight/optic.