I Made an Impulse Buy

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DMW1116

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Oct 10, 2020
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And need help figuring out what to do with my $30 blemish stripped lower. My options are below.

1. Build a 300 BO rifle
2. Build a 300 BO Pistol
3. Build an M4 14.5”-16” barreled copy.

Granted 1 and 3 could be the same thing if caliber isn’t restricted to 5.56 for the M4 type. Budget won’t allow for a full out build with premium parts, and doesn’t fit the blem nature.

I already have a 16” DMR style and a 20” M16 A4gery for shooting with iron sights, which I find more enjoyable and challenging. The 300 BO options would require reloading a new caliber, which I’m not sure I want to do for economy (dies & components scavenger hunt) and time reasons.
 
I thought about that but I have a couple of very good loads for the 16” and don’t really want to start over with an unknown barrel. An M4 style build would be fed 55 grain FMJ in hand load form or factory and anything under 3 MOA would be acceptable and under 2 MOA would be outstanding.

You bring up a good point about 300 BO. A pistol 300 BO would likely wind up in SBR form perhaps with a suppressor eventually.
 
300 BO pistol. Built mine for the same as a 556, and because I roll my own, it's not really more expensive to shoot than 556, but it gives me more options and I like tinkering with new guns/loads.
 
DMW1116 said:
9mm is actually an option I hadn’t considered. That would certainly make for cheap shooting.
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They are super fun- but building a 9 on a standard magwell lower will usually be more expensive than just buying a basic pre-assembled AR9.

Good quality magwell inserts (such as the Stern Defense) are expensive by themselves, the barrels and bolts are kinda pricey, and you really want a dedicated upper with its enlarged ejection port- 9mm cases will sometimes fail to clear the long, skinny .223 ports.

I have both built an AR9 on standard 223 uppers and lowers and bought a dedicated Glock-mag PSA9 and would definitely just buy a whole gun than build one again.
 
NIGHTLORD40K said:
They are super fun- but building a 9 on a standard magwell lower will usually be more expensive than just buying a basic pre-assembled AR9.

Good quality magwell inserts (such as the Stern Defense) are expensive by themselves, the barrels and bolts are kinda pricey, and you really want a dedicated upper with its enlarged ejection port- 9mm cases will sometimes fail to clear the long, skinny .223 ports.

I have both built an AR9 on standard 223 uppers and lowers and bought a dedicated Glock-mag PSA9 and would definitely just buy a whole gun than build one again.
Click to expand...

I have been using MEAN Arms Endomags with a CMMG Banshee radially delayed blowback 9mm and have not had any reliability issues at all. They work well if you want to use a standard AR15 lower with a 9mm upper.
 
We could all start a contest to see who can let their stripped lower sit the longest without growing into a new gun. Mine is currently sitting at 4 years and has only grown a lower parts kit and handguard. a barrel snuck in there one night, but my wife caught it in time and it was rehomed before any hanky panky could happen in the closet.
 
I have two Windham made Bushmaster lowers still sitting in a box, purchased in Jan or Feb 2011 after the production transition to Ilion was announced in late 2010 - neither of these have grown any parts, and likely won’t for a long time, I bought 10 of them at the close, built most into customer rifles, but kept these for my nostalgia. I also have a Spikes lower which has been sitting in a box since mid-2011 also, meant for my wife’s rifle, which has been fully grown since the end of 2011, but just hasn’t found it’s way across the work bench to be born (I do think it’s missing a few parts at this point, scavenged for other projects) - so maybe that one doesn’t count, since it has been 40weeks pregnant for over a decade. I have a Ruger AR-556 lower in a box for a rifle for my son as well, his SECOND AR, which I hadn’t planned to build, but I found a set of sequential serial number lowers at a shop and bought them - but we haven’t really settled on what he’ll want to build on it, so it’s sitting and waiting. I’ve stacked some parts in with it, just duplicates I bought when ordering parts for other projects, but it’s still kind of an amorphous blob in pre-planning phase. He’s kinda leaning towards another 6 ARC upper, but longer and heavier than his first, since he’s growing into bigger rifles. That rifle will probably wait for him to be able to build it 100% on his own, which might happen in the next year or so, he’s just not quite able to push in AR hammers against the spring on his own yet - but he did figure out that cassette triggers aren’t so difficult, so a TriggerTech or Elftmann might be in his future and accelerate his build timeline.
 
I’m heading toward a Frankenstein build I think. The lgs has BCM uppers. How are they?
 
I know the OP has nixed the 300 BO but here a couple things to consider…

A 30 Carbine would make a dandy home defense rifle. Small, easy to handle, good short range performance.

But, I would not use USGI Carbine in this service and post war production examples are hit and miss on reliability.

Enter the 300 BO AR-15. A bit better performance than 30 Carbine, a platform that is as handy and trajectory with a high drop rate not too much past 100 yards. This helps limit down range collateral damage.

I load only supersonic loads as I am not interested in suppressed hunting. Nothing wrong with it, just not in my interest.

On other things, I built an AR pistol a while ago but found it unwieldy. It has been disassembled and the upper has been sold.
 
I vote for pencil barrel light weight build. Something basic. Right to bear arms has pencil barrels for really cheap right now. I want one myself, but cash is unobtainable in my world this week...
 
.300 Blk is very easy to handload. Components are pretty easy to locate now that primers are getting easier to find depending on where you are. Its the easiest chambering to repurpose back to 55.56/.223 if you decide to change your mind.
It is among my most favorite home defense rounds and most everyone who shoots with me enjoys shooting it, especially with subsonic rounds. If you have a suppressor that makes it even more fun but not necessary. I find supersonic rounds easily accurate out to 400 yards and subs out to 150 or more. I don't have any problem switching between supers and subs and having it cycle well. You can always put an adjustable gas block on it to hedge your bets, but I don't find that necessary. It is probably the most fun to run in a pistol configuration, certainly more so than the 5.56/.223.

A lot just depends on what type of shooting you want to do. I've got any number of AR15s from .222 Rem to .458 Socom and enjoy them all. .450 Bushmaster is a particular favorite chambering. My latest builds were in 6 ARC for long distance shooting.

One chambering I am not interested in is a 9mm AR. If I were that is one I would probably buy a factory rifle for, but the .300 Blk is a more fun, more effective version of the 9mm SMG in my opinion. But I see a lot of guys getting rid of their .300 Blk ARs the last few years because it is limited in terms of hunting, especially the subsonics.

The next ARs I will be putting together will likely be in .400 Legend. I like hunting with the .350 Legend and think the .400 is just more of a good thing. Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I can't tell you what you need most, but if 300BO interests you and you aren't going to be running suppressed, maybe consider a cheap 7.62x39 build.

I did one using a cheap diamondback 10" barrel from primary arms (~$90), a cheap bolt from AIM (I believe it was) and a $10 gas block that I picked up from ar15discounts. I had 2 problems. It was under gassed and the extractor broke after 1k rounds. I drilled out the gas port and used a standard extractor. I have thousands of rounds through it now, without a hitch.

Or maybe build yourself a dedicated .22. That rig is a hoot.
 
I've long had an infatuation with the PSA KS-47 in 7.62 x 39, but an actual AR in that caliber isn't something I was after. I'd go 300 BO for a close enough equivalent. I'm not really in a hurry. I really need to decide what I want to do with it first then go from there. 200 yard and less rifle seems the thing I'm after.
 
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