AR deals... what is rock bottom?

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Probably about the bottom as it stands right now. A bunch of manufacturers have gone under and it seems like prices have stabilized and maybe ticked up slightly on the cheapest models. I noticed there weren't many large price reductions over the holidays, more like just advertising availability or maybe saving $25. There is certainly no downside to buying a complete gun under $400 (including sights and at least 1 magazine), especially since we aren't talking poly receivers. Speaking of... Haven't heard too much interest lately on 80%'ers -- maybe that really was a price thing more than paperwork concerns.
 
WestKentucky said:
...I wonder if market saturation is finally just to a point where sales have softened, competition has increased to go after the customers in the smaller market, and it has finally become a simple commodity.
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I'd go with commodity. Most of the low end guns now are reliable off the shelf (prior to end user tweaking) with acceptable accuracy. They are pretty much universally milspec rather than in-house designs and I suspect a lot of companies are simply doing parts assembly moreso than manufacturing at this point.
 
I'm going to have to agree with most everything Bill460 wrote in his long winded, political rants. And thank you because you saved me a whole lotta hunting and pecking! :thumbup:

I believe the price cuts can go below production cost. Bankruptcies and liquidations can definently drop prices way more. We'll know in less than a year when we get one extreme or the other.
 
illinoisburt said:
Probably about the bottom as it stands right now. A bunch of manufacturers have gone under and it seems like prices have stabilized and maybe ticked up slightly on the cheapest models. I noticed there weren't many large price reductions over the holidays, more like just advertising availability or maybe saving $25. There is certainly no downside to buying a complete gun under $400 (including sights and at least 1 magazine), especially since we aren't talking poly receivers. Speaking of... Haven't heard too much interest lately on 80%'ers -- maybe that really was a price thing more than paperwork concerns.
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What is the listing of manufacturers who have gone under.
What is the cheapest you can get a good chrome lined upper
 
illinoisburt said:
Speaking of... Haven't heard too much interest lately on 80%'ers -- maybe that really was a price thing more than paperwork concerns.
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I actually started looking again specifically at 80% poly lowers. It costs about the same to buy an 80% and finish it as it does to buy an Anderson/PSA/whatever’scheapest my point in it is the fun of doing it and the more easily available stuff. I can have the poly lowers mailed to me, and I don’t have to pay $25 for transfers. I want to buy 3 and my local guy wants to do 3 individual transactions so it saves me $75 in transfers and a whole lot of headache in finding the shop open or trying to go on a weekend when I have better things to do. I want poly because they are easier to work and I intend to have a 9yr old and a 8yr old learning about what tools are and how to do things with their hands, and in the end know that a gun isn’t evil it’s just a hunk of parts put together to make another tool which can be used for various purposes. I’m having trouble finding a robins egg blue or teal lower, but the pink ones are easy to find. I may buy white and some rit dye.
 
mshootnit said:
What is the listing of manufacturers who have gone under.
What is the cheapest you can get a good chrome lined upper
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Manufacturer is the wrong name. It's the smaller volume assemblers that dried up and dissapeared. Five years ago just about every county had some super-pew-pew-pew shop.

As for a good chrome lined upper, I don't thibk that was the question. Pretty sure most ARs sold these days are nitrided. Do you think chromed uppers are going to get cheaper or more common in the next year or two?

WestKentucky said:
I can have the poly lowers mailed to me, and I don’t have to pay $25 for transfers. I want to buy 3 and my local guy wants to do 3 individual transactions so it saves me $75 in transfers and a whole lot of headache in finding the shop open or trying to go on a weekend when I have better things to do.
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I get that every shop does their own thing and prices accordingly, but that's kinda crappy. Seems like generic stripped receivers like Andersons have been $40-50 at the gun shows recently and can readily pick up a Savage lower for $69 at Academy any day (or wait for a sale) without the extra costs.
 
I'll gladly pay $40 for a PSA lower, + $20 transfer for a forged lower rather than a poly 80% but that's me. I've never understood the desire of poly lowers even with the cost and weight savings. No thanks, but to each there own.
 
I know that feeling. When your fried from dealing with people all day. i play a simpsons game called tapped out. Relaxes me


WestKentucky said:
It’s a game I play at night to distract my brain from real world mess so that I don’t dwell on stuff and have trouble sleeping. Too bad it’s not summoning a new gun to my safe, that would be nice.
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Maybe because I'm a bit older but I remember the late 80's and early 90's as a 20 something year old, and what limited manufactures were available and a average AR-15 was $800.00 and more.

Flash forward to Obama getting in and the panic over that along with the maniacs going on murder sprees in movie theaters and schools, and the panic it brought after that and it makes one realize this day and age how can you gripe about current prices and hoping it goes lower?

$350.00 for a complete upper and lower PSA M4 carbine or a $550.00 S&W M&P sporter II (I watched several used S&W go for $400 recent) along with other brands available I'd say the time is now, some states are already feeling the heat, who knows what the future holds at a nation level.

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Robbins290 said:
I hope it has not hit rock bottom.
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Let's put it this way. If it's not currently at "rock bottom", it is certainly close enough not to worry about the additional 3% or 5% you might save if you decide to wait. Waiting is dangerous at this stage, because you are already saving a bundle. Is it worth the added risk to try and save another few bucks by waiting, and possibly having something happen, that could cause prices to suddenly skyrocket by inducing yet another panic?

Only you can answer that. But honestly, if you are seriously looking to by an AR-15, there is no time like the present. And even if they do go down a few more lousy bucks, you will have had the pleasure of owning and shooting your new rifle....... Instead of sitting around waiting to buy it. And you cannot replace time at ANY price.
 
Bill, i have been stocking up. Up to 15 ar's right now. All bought in the past year. And i hope it is not work bottom because i want to buy a certain type of ar15 and they have not come down in price. I can not justify the price of it when i can get windhams for under 500.
 
Robbins290 said:
Bill, i have been stocking up. Up to 15 ar's right now. All bought in the past year. And i hope it is not work bottom because i want to buy a certain type of ar15 and they have not come down in price. I can not justify the price of it when i can get windhams for under 500.
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If you've purchased 15 AR's in the past year, you're doing fine. Even if you have slightly overspent on one or two of them, the others will all but for certain make up the difference. It's pretty hard to get hurt buying in that type of volume with prices the way they are now. You've done well. Enjoy them!
 
lionking said:
Maybe because I'm a bit older but I remember the late 80's and early 90's as a 20 something year old, and what limited manufactures were available and a average AR-15 was $800.00 and more.

Flash forward to Obama getting in and the panic over that along with the maniacs going on murder sprees in movie theaters and schools, and the panic it brought after that and it makes one realize this day and age how can you gripe about current prices and hoping it goes lower?

$350.00 for a complete upper and lower PSA M4 carbine or a $550.00 S&W M&P sporter II (I watched several used S&W go for $400 recent) along with other brands available I'd say the time is now, some states are already feeling the heat, who knows what the future holds at a nation level.

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Hey! there is supposed to be an Anderson lower in that pic somewhere! Carry on.
 
I have been enjoying them. So has the wife. She has 3 of her own now. Problem i have is the optics for some of the flat tops i have. Those prices are not coming down at all. I can not seem to find a 16" with a 12 gas tube and a quad rail with a front site post. I do not want to build the upper as i do not have tools for the barrel nut or head spacing tools.
 
There was a radio advertisement running a month ago for a local gun dealer for $299 for the first 100 customers.
 
Bill460 said:
The price, of AR-15 rifles is driven far more by politics, then it is by actual value.
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For low end AR's, that's very true. For mid to top end, not nearly as much. The price of a BCM, Daniel Defense, Larue or similar, didn't change much or at all during each of the panics (assuming we're talking about new). Supply certainly changed, but the prices remained the same.
 
There’s a rule for playing stocks - “buy low, sell high.” It’s not, “buy at the lowest, sell at the highest.” Getting greedy or avoiding a purchase due to analysis paralysis because you aren’t sure things are as low as they can go might work, or it might bite you in the butt. If you have money in hand, prices are LOW, and there’s not a heck of a lot of room left - models that have been $600-800 in not so far past years are now sailing at $300-400. We’re not talking about another $300 left to save - maybe $50, or maybe election media coverage this year, during an impeachment trial cycle no less, drives consumer concerns for political change just enough to push prices back up. There’s no reason to think prices would go down much further even if political climates aren’t shaken - meaning we would have to see a quick end to the impeachment trial and a sound victory for the GOP in the 2020 election. Given the promised polarized fallout after the recent events in Iran, it’s a pretty simple bet to expect the latter won’t happen, and we’ll see a “run on guns” again before the 2020 election just as we have in the last handful, and prices will at least be stabilized, or more likely, driven back up.
 
Bill460 said:
I can't give you a "list". But I know Olympic Arms is no longer operating.
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I didn't know that. My first AR right after the ban was an Olympic. Gave way too much for it. Around 800 I believe. But back then they were quite rare AND (believe it or not) only a couple companies were in it. Bushmaster/windham. Colt. And Olympic mostly. Not sure of others. I still have it. Not mil-spec and not chrome lined but it shoots sub moa with V-maxs. Better accuracy than my DD or colt rifles (better than most of my valuable classic rifles I have too. Many old bolt and lever guns I have are far worse) . Very picky about mags though unlike the others that run most anything. Was my varmint gun for many years.

I see 300 dollar deals occasionally. I dont believe they will fall much from here. Ive been in management in a manufacturing company my whole career. I cant see much way they can drop farther. Companies will just have to fold rather than cut prices farther if some political shakeup doesnt make prices go up........like it always does.

I do believe we have an unprecedented market saturation though. Any company solely making AR patterns (especially low end) is on borrowed time IMO.
 
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