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

When these companies list “blem” items, what exactly is the issue??

Just cosmetic that’s all..

Dunno if it's been posted, but buy the lower and upper from the same mfg, so it's way more likely they'll line up with no wobble.

If ya buy em in person, put em together and check fit.

Good thought

I've had good luck with both aero precision and PSA. Sometimes I use other barrels like black hole weaponry. An 18" rifle length with a mid to lighter weight barrel is one of my favorite all around combinations.

I'm currently putting together a 16" mid length and trying to decide on a good lighter weight barrel. I have aero M4e1 upper and lower, aero atlas s1 handguard. Triggertech adjustable trigger. I just need to pick a stock and barrel.

I just build two similar 18" guns in 6 arc and 223 wilderness. Both with aero m4e1s, atlas handguards, and triggertech adjustable triggers. The 6 arc has a gen3 prs fixed stock the 223 is adjustable carbine str or something. I used ballistic advantage varies on these and I'm not really impressed with the 6 arc yet but have only ran a few factory loads so far. One was moa but not much better. Loading should bring it in some.

PSA has the best budget brand kits etc IMO. There stuff works well especially for the price.

Bb

Wobble between the upper and lower is cosmetic.

^^^ in fact come to think of it, of the 9 AR’s I have, only my 1990’s Colt 6920 has matching uppers and lowers. None of them wobble excessively (not that it matters)… certainly not more than the rack M-16 that I placed top 10% at the National Matches at Camp Robinson in 2000.

So, spend your hard earned money on a wobbly fit.

That way, ever time ya shoot it, ya can think ta yourself, "it's only cosmetic."

Sounds like fun.

It has no affect on function or accuracy. If you care about cosmetics, then care about upper/lower fit. It’s literally subjective.

No one said it did.

But there's no reason ta buy an inferior product, on purpose.

Hey, I get it. Some people really care about that kind of stuff… some don’t (me). It’s no different than a scratch on the finish or a poorly fitted forestock. It has no affect on function, but bothers some. To me, AR’s are tools. Some of mine are rattle can painted, and get rattle canned every few years for different reasons. It puts a bullet where I want it reliably and that’s what I care about.

OBJECTIVELY, upper/lower fit is cosmetic.

On the other hand, I have other rifles I feel different about- I’d my Shiloh Sharps 45/70 was poorly fit to the stock it would bug me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ My thoughts exactly!

AR-15 Accu Wedge will fix any "wobble"... if "wobble" bothers you. $2



I concur on an 18" barrel. I concur with a bought upper (at least the first time... and until you buy Go/No Go gauges).

Regardless of what you buy... you will be impressed with how simple and easy it all is. YOU MUST OIL YOUR BOLT... I use 0W-20 motor oil.

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Personally, I prefer AKs. This Boris guy is hilarious... built an AK from a garden shovel... https://www.northeastshooters.com/xen/threads/diy-shovel-ak-photo-tsunami-warning.179192/

His pics got cut by PhotoSuckIt... and are below (you kinda have to "back and forth").

https://militaryhumor.net/homemade-ak-47-made-from-shovel/

Lots of really good info here. You guys are saving me a lot of trial and error… A.k.a. money

Aero lowers also have nylon tipped screws to be able to take out any slop between lower and upper. For the money I really like the m4E1 lowers with the integral trigger guard.

So do the current Stag lowers.

Stag has blem FDE lowers in stock for 65 bucks.

Here are some of my “builds”. I typically put my lowers together and buy my uppers.

Top one is a BCM 14.5 inch mid-length upper ($805 with BCM bolt carriers) and an Aero lower ($124 including the guts)
Bottom is an Aero lower ($160 with A2 stock) and PSA 18 inch “Cold Hammer Forged” upper (FN barrel) with rifle-length gas system and Geissele handguard ($599 with PSA bolt carrier)



Here is a 14.5 mid-length and 11.5 carbine BCM uppers ($805 a piece including bolt carriers) and Aero lowers ($124 a piece)



Here is my KISS “pistol”. PSA 10.5 upper with carbine gas system ($279), Aero bolt Carrier ($80) and Aero lower ($124). This gun runs as well as my BCM “pistol” at ranges from 0-100. So if all you need is that, not much use for premium barrel and all that crap.



Biggest thing I can say about my builds, is I knew how heavy I wanted them to be and what handguards, etc. It was easier just to buy already made uppers with the components I wanted vs building because they were available.

Man oh man those guns have me drooling.

None cost over $1000 as a base rifle. One thing you might do to save money is do parts swaps. Someone might have a grip you like and you might have a charging handle you don’t need, or some QD rings or something. I wish you weren’t on the other side of the country. I got a big box of AR parts and all of the tools.

What do you guys thinks about a complete lower vs getting a stripped lower?? The required work is obvious on the stripped, but I’d get what I want and learn about each part… is it worth the time or can quality completes be had??