Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Why buy different caliber upper?

I have been interested for a while, in buying different caliber uppers. 300 AAC Blackout, 6.5 Grendel, 458 Socom, 50 cal BMG, etc. If they are all over $750, why? I have a 45-70 Marlin. I also have 308 and 3006 bolt guns.


Advantages:
1. I can use the same lower receiver.
2. No paperwork to fill out and subsequent government monitoring my every move.
3. The different uppers might be shorter, smaller, and easier to transport.
4. 300 AAC Blackout is a good silenced caliber for short range, and the ammo can be made from 223/5.56 brass.

Disadvantages:
1. COST!!!
2. Would require reloading to keep cost of the different ammo down.
3. Rare ammo, not yet mainstream.
4. Like I said, I have other calibers that can do the same thing.
5. One store within two hours of my location has DPMS 308's in stock for $1,195. About the cost of an upper. Of course, it has no sights or optics, but does have a top rail. So It would set me back at least another $200-300 minimum.

What do you guys think?

If you're worried about the government monitoring your every move, you shouldn't be on the internet.

If you build your own, the cost should be well under $750.

The .300 Blackout is probably closer to mainstream than any of the others, and will probably continue to be for a while yet. The Grendal is still coming on, JIMO, and will be better availability for those looking to get one. The SOCOM seems to be fading a bit, but you can still get the ammo or reloading supplies, if you take the time to look. Granted, it will probably never be a "Wal-Mart" caliber...

The .50 caliber upper is a niche market that is usually $1.5K and up in cost, and turns the AR into a bolt gun. Not really a true option for most.

The DPMS base-line upper, complete, in .308 should be $600-700.

One platform, one set of controls, many bullet selections, range of being able to run suppressed calibers out to "big pig" hunting. I can't build my bolt guns, but I can build my ARs.

If it was about the bottomline cost, we'd be shooting Savages and 788s.

Yea, you are right. I bought my 308 and 30-06 bolt guns over 20 years ago for around $300-400 each. One can still buy these in like you say, Savages, Marlins, Ruger Americans, etc, for around $300 now. Used are an option.

Cost for me is becoming a factor. I am approaching retirement, thus my income is going to be more fixed and based on my IRA, and 401K. Of course, with the spare time, I should be buying all the tools I need to build my own. I reload already. I want to make some of my own fishing lures and fly's also. I want to garden, hunt, fish, and do a little traveling around America, and go up the Alaska Highway to Alaska at least once when I retire. Maybe with the tools, I can build my own from scratch. Can't be too hard to torque a barrel, get the right head space, put the gas tubes on, etc.

99% of your AR barrels are headspaced at the factory when the barrel extension is pinned on. From what I have read, and the discussions here, putting a barrel extension on is not a home-shop task.

ARs are very easy to work on, IMO, and pretty simple for tool requirements and investment. I consider myself just a wrench monkey, if I can get it right, pretty much anybody else can as well.

I'm closing in on the career change point as well, cost is usually a factor for most these days. Best part is that most guys/gals on here are selling parts and tools at very fair prices, you can get a good deal, make a friend, and learn something while doing it.

If you are planning an Alaska trip, buy a travel book called the "Milepost", will cover every route, all road services, and the contact information for the driving routes into, and within, Alaska. PM me if you want more details, it's a great resource for the trip.

multiple uppers for one lower always seemed stupid to me, with how cheap lowers are

Depends, there have been periods of time, when that wasn't the case.

My advice would be quality over quantity. I would rather have one top notch AR-15 than three Sporticals, Del-Tons etc. It takes a lot of rounds to wear one out and you will probably only need a new barrel when you do. Another thing to consider is ammo cost. Even reloading yourself the cost of components for some of these rounds gets pretty pricey. For a man on a fixed budget you can get a lot more bangs for your buck sticking with a .223 semi-auto. You can only shoot one rifle at a time anyway.

That said, there is nothing wrong with only having one or two lowers and swithing them out as needed if you really want a lot of different AR-15 calibers. I like a nice trigger on my precision AR's and the one I like is $280.00. Now if I had 5 different uppers and wanted that trigger on all of them that's $1400.00 in just triggers alone for the lowers! Switching the uppers and keeping that extra cash would be a real easy decision for me.

Personally, I'm down two AR-15's. One 14.5" all Colt for "emergencies" and a really nice custom 18" SPR setup for punching paper and hunting. Both in .223. I've owned a lot more in the past but found the extra's just sit in the safe while two get shot regularly so I got rid of them.

Just my opinions. Best of luck to you and I hope your retirement is a lot of fun.

Terry

How cheap is a lower, with a GOOD trigger in it?

I just like AR's and I like options when i go calling or shooting . I don't like switching uppers so i build a lower for all of my uppers .

+1

If I assemble a lower it usually costs me between 500-600 depending on its intended use.

I personally like to stick with one caliber. .223/5.56 does everything I would need in a AR-15 platform rifle.

WE used to be like that. Then we realized, there were 2 of us shooting.... we had a practice upper, a match upper, a backup new match upper, a short range upper, two NTIT uppers if not 3, and 2 long range uppers.

Wanting the trigger to be exactly the same on all the above is one thing. The other is you can't get into a lower for less than 350 to 400 bucks at the time, done right... that would have been 16 lowers at a minimum right there. Not counting the varmint ones, the hunting ones and self defense ones...

Once you realize swapping uppers takes less than a minute, its no big deal.

Me... I do other uppers because I want to. There are other options sure. Some more some less.

What I dont' get is the crossbow on the AR lower costs 3 times what a decent crossbow costs, AND you have to have the lower... ouch.

This ^

And you add the problem of the rifle posession/transport, and crossing state lines, and...

Lowers are easy to build. I was concerned with the uppers on head space, if I installed the barrel myself. I was thinking they were screwed in like a steel rifle. I forgot they are pinned in then have the nut to tighten them on and it has only to be properly torqued. I would need some upper shapped vice clamps when torquing. I already have a torque wrench. I would think it would work with the proper attachment. Other stuff is just punches and pins. I have the punches, hmmm. Just order an upper and barrel, barrel band, gas block and tube, dust cover, hand grip/rail system, bolt and bolt carrier, and attachment pins. Hmmm. Does this sound right? Might have to watch a U Tube video or buy a book.

Yeah, it's pretty simple stuff.

Here are the basics in a step by step. I learned it from this link: Changing your own AR15 barrel for dummies

Just make sure your gas tube isn't in a bind reguardless of what the torque wrench say's. With all the new free float tubes out there these days and every one has a different propriatary barrel nut a few things may be different but the basics are the same.

Terry

To install a barrel you need an upper receiver vice block/action block, an armorers wrench or barrel nut wrench, and a torque wrench. There are plenty of how-to's on this as it is relatively easy with the right tools. Take your time, do everything by the book, and you should have no problems.

I'm lucky I started my volume shooting on an AK; I am very, very unpicky about triggers.

They're not all over $750.
I paid $535 for my .300 upper including a BCG, which I sold to further offset the cost down to around $400. If you already have an existing .223 AR or two, just use one of those BCGs. The .300 adds further savings if you already have .223 AR mags, and if you reload for .223Rem, some variety of .30 centerfire, and a magnum pistol cartridge. If you reload all three of those, you probably already have all of the components you'd need. Casting for it is cheap if you don't want to buy jacketed bullets, and its low velocity threshold (sub 2300fps) puts it in the ideal range for gas checked lead, even with supersonic loads.

Rost, how much change in the POIs of these uppers do you see when you're switching them around?

i could see that. Though many say life is to short to have an ugly gun, I say its too short to deal wiht bad triggers.