Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire First AR build - help

Me too

I agree 100%... NO Bear Creak and NO Radical

Hearing peoples opinions on manufacturers to avoid is probably more valuable to me than hearing what people prefer. I will definitely take those two off of the list

If you are just having fun... do a PSA. Barrel should last you a good long while 3k+ rounds or so. Very cost effective.

If you plan to really abuse the gun get a better barrel. I forget, but maybe it was Shaw?

Couple of friends were bragging on a particular brand holding up very well after 10k-15k rounds. Anyone help me out here?

I do recall the barrel was 3 times more expensive than most.

I'll get back to this after I talk to Chris and Tycen.

----------------------------------------------------

I've built a ton of guns with cheap Green Mountain blanks... vast majority of these guns will never see 2k rounds... fantastic accuracy for $100 blanks... they just don't last forever.

did I miss the caliber ?

5.56 or BLK ?

If I build a pistol it will be 5.56 with a 223 wylde Barrel… If I build a predator rifle I’m not quite sure what caliber I’lldo yet…

No matter what I build, it will never see over 3000 rounds, pretty sure of that

I have built ARs in 9mm, 45acp, .460 Rowland

.223, 6x45, .300 B/O, 358 Macho (before .350 Legend can about), 375 SOCOM, .458 SOCOM (AVOID Wilson Combat on either SOCOM).

.308 Winchester, .338 Federal, .358 Winchester, .375 Raptor and .458 Lott (yes, I said that right)...

It is VERY addictive.

HAVE FUN!

Fair enough...

It's not that the barrel will be toast at 3k... it will just have waning accuracy.

3k is a lot of rounds IMHO.

Agreed haha. I don’t think I have fired 3000 rounds through all of my hunting guns combined 🤷🏼‍♂️

How long ago was this? Was this 10k-15k rds done over a couple yrs? Or in one yr? 10k-15k is a lot rds if it was done in a year.. I’m about to embark on a somewhat 1K rd one day torture test on a cheap AR build I’m doing.. hopefully all the parts show up next week or so. Far from the 10k-15k rounds but I figure majority of AR owners will never put 1k rds through their AR. Your buddies are the exception..

being a dedicated p/dog shooter prob the last 25 yrs.......

Pac Nor has been my barrel of choice..Savage action & assemble myself

Had a 6BR I know I ran it 12K rds over 10 yrs...now retired but still kilt dogs @ 600 yds last day in the field

Shown in pic my ole 20 Vartarg (20 Fireball) 14 yrs & still running....pushing 10K rds & still flippin dogs

Some barrels are better than others....Pac Nor has been good to me

It might have been a Noveske CHF chrome lined barrel… they advertise that they’re built to M249 SAW specs.


To the OP, whatever you do, don’t waste a bunch of money on a high end lower… it’s just a box to hold the trigger group and magazine. The only thing you get out of a name on a lower is bragging rights (assuming the cheaper lower meets the most basic specs for pin alignment, etc)

Chris has a mechanized (motor driven) Dillon 1050... that makes insanity WAY TO EASY sometimes.

Noveske has tremendous reputation... chrome lined adds excellent durability.

Tycen just confirmed it was a ER Shaw on a Stag... used in the torture test.

Sorry SP... I misread. Get a PSA upper IMHO... and spend any extra on a quality trigger. Parts kit triggers will disappoint 90% of the time.

Impressive durability... I would not have expected that. Thanks for the intel on Pac Nor.

May want to shoot a pistol length upper before you decide. The blast and concussion from them can be pretty bad without at least a blast can.

First build, I’d suggest a 16” barrel, mid length gas. PSA should have something for well under $1k

I just had someone message me saying another option would be to buy an 80% lower. Not something I’m interested in at all. I don’t want to have any milling or drilling to do.

Smart, pretty easy to have an expensive paperweight