Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles What brand upper should I look at?

I have a SP1 that I bought in the early 80s. I want to get an extra upper for it that I can scope (I have a carry handle scope mount and don't care for it). Looking to go 18 or 20 inch. Will use for plinking, varmints and maybe some deer. More accurate is always better than less, but I won't be entering any long range matches. I have home/property defense covered with a 16" piston operated, aimpoint, quad rail, etc. Looking for just screwing around. Any suggestions?

Aero Precision has complete uppers with Ballistic Advantage barrels. I have several Aero uppers and 2 Ballistic Advantage barrels. BA makes nitride barrels and stainless steel barrels nothing chrome lined if that is what you are looking for. There are many upper makers, Armalite, DelTon, PSA are BCM just to name a few. I think Aero and Ballistic Advantage give you the best bang for your buck. Not too pricey but nicely accurate.
kwg

The White Oak Armory uppers are a decent value for what you get...............& it will be accurate.

MM

Thanks guys. I'll check them all out.

My SP1 has the large hole at the front pin. It uses the two-piece front pin that screws together.

If yours does too, that will narrow things down real fast. I don't even know if anyone is selling stripped 'large hole' uppers.

There are adaptor pins for the large hole lower to mate up with a small hole upper, but they don't inspire confidence (have one).

Or one of these might work.

offset pin

^^ yeah, that's what mine looks like.

Another vote here for White Oak. I've probably had ten of their barrels and they have all been hammers. With a decent handload they shoot into 1/2" with ease. 1/4" is totally possible.

been there done that... I would keep the sp1 as is and buy a new rifle, they are so cheap these days, just get one of the PSA guns with an fn barrel.

Offhand, open sights with M193?

Been considering that as well. How is the accuracy of the PSA, typically?

Knew that I would need an offset pin, didn't know that they might be problematic. Bummer.

Funny man. Prone, bipod, rear bag, 15X scope, handload worked up for that specific rifle. Typically, 77SMKs over 24g of Varget has shot into 1/2” on them all.

I don’t think I could put five shots into a jumbo paper plate at 100 offhand!

Then it interests me not, but thanks.

I have bolt guns for that, I need working machines for the other with common ammo.

You run ball in the bolt guns then?

Have you found ball thats sub MOA? Ever?

Did I say that I did?

I need a battle type rifles to do battle type sheit with battle type ammo. I haven't been in a Revolution or zombie outbreak yet, but I'm guessing time to handload more ammo will be limited. YMMV.

Sure they do..

Good question. I look forward to seeing the answers you get. I know some guys around here use green mountain barrels, some use ballistic advantage and some use a local company called bison armory. I'm half tempted to try them out, as they are local and offer a great accuracy guarantee. From what I hear, they make some pretty accurate upper assemblies... I'm not going to guarantee you get "1/2" or better (1/4" ha ha, rolling here), but they do have a 1 moa guarantee if you use good ammo... Hell, I wouldn't even guarantee my rifles to shoot "1/2" and I know they shoot better than most here. Just sayin... I'd also bet money that they shoot better than the above mentioned "1/2" shooter. Truth... Oh wait, FNG probably talking 3 shot groups. Ok, I understand now...

I only used mine a short while with the offset pin. There was no problem at all.

It was just a little OCD kicking in on my part. Every time I'd look at it, it just annoyed me. And not as convenient to unpin as the modern push-pin.

I have several Aero uppers and they are good ones.

That 6 WOA still giving you issues?

Green mtn makes a great barrel.. best group I got was 10 shots for .860.. that's with 77 Sierra's. But the op not looking for that. If the op plans shooting green tip stuff. Then buy a psa and go shoot..

Or buy a Sionics. Best chrome lined pencil barreled workhorse guns I've got.
Best meaning reasonably accurate, gassed on the soft side (so use real ammo) and put together right.

I doubt they offer a large pin but as cheap a AR parts are now, just build a lower.

Would be shooting a pretty mixed bag, most likely. Certainly a few green tips, but not many. Currently have thousands of rounds of 55gr hornady loaded. The SP1 likes them, and so does my bolt gun. I'd likely play around with some heavier bullets to see what I could do. Like I said, I don't expect a gun that would compete in a real match (as opposed to competing against myself and a couple of friends in the back yard). That said, reasonable accuracy would be nice. Any idea what could be expected with one of the 18 inch, stainless uppers from PSA, assuming good ammo?

Thanks, was looking at this one before


http://sionicsweaponsystems.com/sto...9-barrel_choice-lightweight_chrome_lined

Well if you know much, you know ball isn't accurate ammo and that was a stupid question.

And if there is some kind of thing going on there will be guns and ammo laying around... And since he said handloads....

You want that magic SHTF reliable gun, just go buy a colt of your choice. And lean towards 62s and not 55s in ball and without penetrators if possible is going to be the best ball choices you can make. Solid gun. As accurate as anything else with crappy ball ammo. Though I'd replace the trigger in any of them just me personally... if it didn't come with a good 2 stage in it already.

So where is your battle going on?

My buddy had an AR with a psa barrel I gave him and it shot .55gr hornady stuff pretty good. He let me shoot it and I shot s 10 shot group that was just a little over an inch. I didn’t measure it, but group was good enough I told him I should of kept that barrel and shot 55’s out of it. At the time I was only shooting 77’s and that barrel was an honest 1.5 inch grouping rifle with 77’s. So I wouldn’t be worried about psa barrels not giving you accuracy.

I'm generally a Colt guy for guns that aren't born as target guns. I've had several 16" pencil barrels and have yet to get a bad Colt. However, I have 2 Sionics pencil barrels that both averaged around 1.5-1.75 MOA with decent ammo and that's with 10 shot groups. I don't let them breathe between shots either.

What sold me though was how soft shooting they are compared to other mid lengths I've had and shot. Last week after a coyote hunt, I walked by my 600 yard steel target and decided to see if I could still hit it. The wind was up and I had no rear bag, guessed the wind and hit right. Used the big 1 mil diamond in my 3-9 super chicken to hold windage, dialed 5 mils up and shot a 3 shot volley that landed about 5" center to center. ( I don't dare call it a group) Maybe pure luck but I'll take it.

Official measuring device

You can get a lot done with a 1 1/2MOA gun!

Good shooting TWR!

No one ever said you didn't know everything.

+1 on that. PSA is top notch and fairly priced.

I just bought a BCM as they're a tight fit if you're assembling your own upper. If you just want cheap and accurate "enough" PSA is the way to go.

You can't go wrong with BCM.

On a whole, the AR system is pretty trouble free. If I think about it, over the years I've accumulated rifles, and a fair amount of components. Brands would include Colt, BCM, Bushmaster, Oly Arms, PSA, AR-Stoner, DPMS, Ballistic Advantage, AR15Parts.com,.....and I likely forgot something. Among all that there are gas systems from Carbine, mid length, and rifle. Rifle and carbine recoil systems. Barrel lengths include 10.5, 11.5, 14.5, 14.7, 16, and 20".

Anyhoo, the point is, they all seem to work well no matter how they are interchanged between brand names. So you can probably have a good functioning upper to mate with your SP1, in almost any direction you go. Whatever features or options you want.

That's kind of the beauty of the AR15 system, it really is like Legos for grownups.

Fyi. Spikes produces all of PSA's labeled uppers and lowers.

That wasn't true the last time you posted it, just as it's not true today:

For what you want you can buy any of the usual suspects. Some people would just buy a whole S&W or Ruger considering the relatively low prices.

I have used White Oak Armament uppers and they are fantastic. Rock River Arms makes great rifles. I have a NM A4 rifle and they will guarantee 3/4 minute accuracy. With hand loads they will do better.

At one time Aero precision made lowers for PSA but this was few yrs back. Also FN made lowers for PSA these were the low shelf ones which are very desirable.. But last few years psa makes everything in house. I think a lot of these companies got smart bought their own tooling to make their own lowers and uppers. During the great AR shortage pretty sure only 2-3 outfits making lowers for everyone.,

Tombstone tactical has Ruger 556 MPRs for $589 delivered

gonna just toss this out there... I've been working on a bolt gun 458 win mag. Did all kinds of work to it, bedding, stiffening stock, etc... melonited and so on.

Doing load work I'm not seeing the 1 inch groups most 458 supposedly will do easily. I'm more like 2-4 inch groups at 100 easily. I"d prefer at least 2 or less consistently for my guiding gun.

Then I grab a PSA 249 dollar kit gun, IE I had the lower, the rest came with... its a few years old. Put the first wild guess load in the gun and WTF... shoots basically an inch at 100 with nothing done to it. Switch to the barnes bullets I want in it and again inside of 3 test loads I"m at an inch or just under. Granted not shooting 10 shot groups but a cheap gun, not floated etc...

I'm not saying they will hold up and et all, but you said for screwing around...

If I was going accuracy White Oak. Or build my own.

And thats a stamped 7 twist with 50 grain bullets.....

been through about a dozen PSA guns now, I just put em together and shoot them for a while. get the itch for another and start over again. not one has disappointed me in accuracy or reliability. there are lots of more expensive upper and lowers but PSA just keeps on doing it for me.

Good suggestion

Good sugestion

Sure it is. That's why I was trying to sell it to you the other day... You know I only sell inaccurate pos rifles... I'm not going to say they shoot 1/2" or 1/4" especially here, but I'll throw out some targets I've shot with it. I'd really like to see some of those "1/2 and 1/4" " rifles posted in the black rifle challenge here. You just don't see them shooting like that, not even the woa... Here's how mine does:





Not even close to a "1/2"" rifle... I put more faith in my compass lake chambered windham weaponry barrels than I do the WOA... Now the OP wants an upper, I really like my Northtech defense upper with WW varmint exterminator barrel. I also like my no name upper with the WW varmint exterminator barrel. They just shoot very well and are extremely predictable:


If I were just looking for a good upper, I'd look at Northtech defense and look into a WW barrel. They are on sale right now, I guess...

One of the guys in the rifle club uses a 6 WOA, only reason i asked if you were having issues is because he seems to have issues all the time. I seriously thought about piecing on together too shoot 115 otm be sweet out to 600yds but if you were having issues I wasn’t going to mess with it. I also looked at WOA never has any barrels available. Glad to see yours is shooting very well for you.