Don't want to get to fancy, kinda like the RRA midlength , are there any brands to stay away from?

from all the reading on here and elsewhere that i can figure it pretty well boils down to having a good barrel and a good trigger and the rest is basically whatever your taste is....i threw one together from parts i got here there and everywhere and managed to come up with something decent.....though since i hadnt shot many before it some of what i thought i wanted wasnt what i actually wanted so im gonna swap out stuff as i get the cash to....but a good barrel and a good trigger and the rest is what ever window dressing you personally like....

I usually tell beginners (to ARs) to get a Colt 6920 from Walmart.

RRA is one of my favorites. I tell beginners to CMP/NRA service rifle competition to get a RRA NMA2 1/2x1/2.

avoid the absolute bottom price points with names like "sportical"... Avoid the specialty calibers, that is anything other than .223. I'd say avoid the high end $2000+ until you know what brand & features you want.

for your first general purpose AR get a complete standard M4-gery, 16" collapsable stock, in .223, like the colt I mention above. You will get hooked and you will get more and you will be building your own in a few years.

while you're spending money, goto Brownells and order 10 magazines, either brownells brand aluminum or magpul P-mags. Then shop around and get a case of Federal .223 which lately is around $330/1000. Get an aimpoint PRO or eotech 512, if you're over 40, you won't be able to see your front sight and will need the scope.

welcome to the dark side, shoot good!

Poole

And once you get that 6920, come spend some time with us here and well suggest all the lego configurations to consider, and the many fun ways you can spend your money on it.

That's a lot like saying, "I want a car, maybe a Camry. Are there any bad car brands out there?" Only car manufacturers are less likely to give you a lemon than one of the dozens of fly-by-night AR builders that have sprung up recently. And comparing a RRA to a Camry is probably a little insulting to the fine folks at Toyota.

At the top right of your screen there's a "Page" button that lets you sort through all of the previous gagillion threads just like this one. If you'll read them they'll answer nearly any basic "which AR" question you could have and prepare you to ask more specific questions to narrow your search.

Bud's Gun Shop has Core 15 and Windham Weaponry for cheap right now.

Bud's AR Page

I purchased a RRA Lar 15 about two months ago, it is a very accurate rifle. I have shot several groups using my own hand loads that have measured under a half inch, one group measured .293. I bought a box Fiocchi 223 62 gr fmj cartridges, shot two groups that measured 3/4 inch, very good for factory ammo.

I recommend getting a Colt 6920 and go from there. With the current prices of $850-$899 for a LE6920, I would skip past all the other mediocre brands.

what prejudice! I have a Hesse AR15 and fired 1 million rounds through it yesterday afternoon. With the Barska 1-4 Special Ops Black Ninja rifle scope we were hitting bottle caps at 1000 yards with every shot. Colt's just don't hold a candle against Hesse, Delton, Core, Bushmaster, Windward etc.

Well you must have been using Wolf ammo and ALG trigger.

Hyper-Fire!!!!!

Hey, the ALG ACT trigger is a pretty decent upgrade for very little coin.

I recognize there are finer tuned triggers out there though. I just don't think it deserves to be lumped in with Wolf ammo and DPMS sporticals. Just sayin'.

Carry on.

The pro's always choose Hesse, never a DPMS Sprokital.

They are a upgrade from many standard AR triggers. I didn't mean to imply they were the same quality as the other stuff.

Palmetto has the Colt 6720 on sale for $799.99 with free shipping.

was actually surprised the trigger that came with the cheap CMMG lower parts kit i bought....not a great trigger by any means as its a bit heavy but its crisper than the triggers on some of my bolt actions.....granted that was a gamble....was a nice surprise, was expecting to have to replace it before long but can definitely live with it unless i get into using it pretty heavily for our lil ground squirrels way out there and the gun sure aint set up for that at the moment.....

Why not build your own...cost would be under $600
To address the crappy trigger do this..and polish contact surface.
http://junkyardgenius.com/firearms/ar-15/ar08.html

gosh is it a good idea to personally modify a trigger that might be used in a self defense application?

you know thats one thing ive read, even from authors that love to tinker and mod stuff is it just aint worth messing with an AR trigger since they are surfaced hardened.....if you want a better trigger buy a better trigger and save your tinkering to other parts of the rifle.....

Yep! Just go at it with a file from Lowes. Be sure to polish it up with your Dremel afterwards though.


(All the above is sarcasm, do not attempt to file or polish any bearing surfaces in your AR trigger. If you want a better trigger pull, buy a new one. Milspec triggers are designed to be safe and reliable. They are not match triggers and should not be tinkered with.)

PSA parts kit tiggers break at a crips 6 pounds.

Plenty good until you are ready to step up and spend real money on a trigger.

To each their own I guess... I have been doing that to all my AR triggers for years. Never had any problems... Goes bang every time for 1000s of rounds now.

thousands of rounds without change means you don't do much to it, or you surface hardened it again after you worked on it. $230 is easier for me and the results are consistent.

I've done the "15 minute" trigger job on more than a few without issue but the key is to polish ever so lightly without removing anything but burrs.

Of course changing springs and actually firing the dang thing will do just as good.

Just don't ever pull a real trigger for comparison. I've used RR 2 stage and now a Geiselle G2S which is priced comparative to RR and have never seen a stock trigger anywhere close to either one. Spend the $130 and get a G2S, change the trigger spring to a stock spring if you don't need 4.5lb pull. This is the best improvement you can do for your AR.

What gives you the idea it did not change anything? What it did was take out the long creep. Polishing the already polished area just smoothed it up. Put in a JP spring kit and its just as smooth, crips, and consistent as my friends Wilson trigger. Oh well I will continue to enjoy my work I did and put the 230 bucks in reloading supplys. Yes, I use the reloads and home depot trigger for self protection.

If you are happy that is all that matters! Some places in India they are grateful just to have a glass of clean water.

Yep I am sure its as good as your friends Wilson trigger as well!

Most folks start having problems with "worked" over stock triggers once they get a few rounds on them. Taking out the creep, means you also took out the built in angle that is an added safety measure.

Usually once you get anywhere close to a good trigger, it's ruined.

I've pulled some pretty decent polished triggers but none were close to a good trigger. YMMV.

We have an annual AR shoot so I finally broke down and bought one. I did my due diligence and found that I wanted a Lewis Machine and Tool AR. The waiting list was 3 years so I kept on looking and wound up with an Adcor Defense Bear. Very nice never heard of gun. I paid $1600 and I think it's well worth it. Check them out.

If there are a gazillion pages just like this one, then the topic is screaming for a sticky. And posters are likely t o put up higher value posts rather than grab-azz, slap downs.

A serious suggestion: Start a "What beginners need to know" sticky thread. It looks like person can blow through a pile of money pimping up ARs and still not have the tool they want.

Well since none of us here can make any post a "sticky" that would be hard to do. Never mind the fact that if I say start with a Colt 6720 for a solid light weight carbine, you'll have some idiot claim his commercial stocked dpmsbmrraoly is better cause it has a longer LOP, better trigger and shot 3 shots under 1/2" once.

Trying to explain how to build is even worse, everyone wants to "build" one for under $500, that barely buys a decent barrel and trigger.

nevermind personal opinion items like stocks, pistol grips and hand guards.

This post answered the question as good as any.

I recently put this one together on the cheap, using Palmetto State Armory.




The assembled lower half was $179, the upper was $309, and the bolt carrier charging handle were around $140. That's roughly $630 and I got the Midwest Industries forend that I wanted, combined with MagPul furniture. I was also looking for an SS barrel with a 1-8" twist or faster with NATO chamber. This one is 1-7". I spent a little extra after the purchase, adding a 3lb Chip McCormick trigger and MagPul back up sights. Still, it wasn't overly expensive. Adding a 3-9 Leupold Mk2 in a set of freebie Nikon mounts, the three handloads I've tried have all been right around MOA at 100yds. It scratched my AR itch and will hopefully take some game this fall.

What are the differenes between the Colt 6720 and the Colt 6920?

Colt 6920 has a 16" M4 government profile barrel.

Colt 6720 has a 16" lightweight pencil barrel.

If you can get a 6720, do it. They shoot just as good and are a little bit lighter than the 6920.

Palmetto state armory has the 6720's on clears cd for $799 right now.

Buy one now while you can!

The prices are hard to beat these days:

6920 plus 5 mags

Wal-mart gun of the month $997.00. A good deal just for gun realistic extras, case sling ammo?

sorry tried to start a new thread, and still dont know how

in the forum, the top left hand corner click on "new topic".

Awesome price. Running $1050 around here.

TWR, thank you, very new to this whole deal. Dillonbuck

Just keep hanging around. It is addictive........

Or Expensive...

Those PSA assembled lowers and Uppers are sure hard to pass up. I recently picked one up for less than $600. It's a 1:7 barrel and is truly the fat chick of AR's , you can feed it anything and it'll digest it. Accuracy is great as well. I added a Geissle I got off Ebay and for less than $700 it's a very sweet well put together AR. After owning Colts and S&W's I see no need to spend the extra money.

The market is absolutely saturated right now with AR's and AR components. A huge dealer here in Texas that sells all the major brands told me the other day that their daily inventory load has gone through the roof, they have had to ask some of the manufacturers to stop sending them inventory, cuz it's not moving. Expect prices to continue to come down.