Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Opinions on AR uppers

Looking at swapping out my AR upper for something more accurate. It is an M-16 upper in the A2 configuration. Honestly, it’s not all that accurate and I’m entertaining the idea of just buying a whole new upper, in the same configuration. Windham? White Oak? Others? Seems I can get into one for roughly $500. Or I could try Compass Lake for twice that.

Just for target practice, groundhogs, occasional whitetail. I’d like to be able to get inch groups at 100 with a scope on top. Even less would be nice of course.

I put this out here not knowing what to expect for my dollar but knew the Illuminati on this forum have forgotten more than I know at this point.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Man, I've gotten lucky on some A2 uppers. All shooting very well. What brand is yours? The old Bushmasters, Colts, and Oly Arms have shot well.

For a newer upper, I'd look at the Windham Weaponry, if you can still buy one. Last I heard is they are shutting down. Of course WOA is going to shoot great too. Maybe Colt has the same configuration you are looking for?


Good luck with it.

I don't think that you'd be disappointed with a WOA upper.

Their barrels are very good & their handguardss are nicely finished & sturdy, but a little heavy.

Their actual upper receiver & BCG are plain jane, as are the ones from Compass Lake, but Compass Lake will build on your receiver if you so choose

Rock River gets a lot of kudos fwiw, no 1st hand exposure there, though.

MM

My preference order but... found Windham Weaponry and Rock River Arms to be boringly accurate, even my PSA does under 1" at 100 ...when I do my part.

if I had to blindly bet of the most accurate of those noted that I recall it would go to White oak or Compass Lake.

That said, with reloads, its rare that an upper won't shoot moa these days. Nephew reminded me one barrel he put on is like 3 moa last night. I asked where did he get it. No clue. I said oh one of those ebay barrels again... LOL. So far every bear creek supposed junk uppers, including the last 4 we paid 199 each for, have shot moa with the right ammo. They sent a bad 22 lr upper a year or so ago. I played with making it right for a week or so and gave up. They sent a brand new one thats been nice since... So I suspect their warranty is good too.

But if blindly wanted best accuracy and couldn't use our private smith, then I would call White Oak and tell em what I wanted and find out how much I had to pay for it. IE they may tell you, you don't need a full custom upper.

WOA has a decent selection of off the shelf uppers these days; enough to satisfy most average buyers.


MM

Could you just change out the barrel? Pretty easy to do.

For a nice quality, middle of the road upper I’d look at BCM. Large variety of different configurations available. Good accuracy and reputation.

I have a 16" stainless Ballistic Advantage I really like. If I build another AR15 I'm getting the 18" version of this one.

https://www.ballisticadvantage.com/...dlength-ar-15-barrel-premium-series.html

I've had good luck with BCM uppers and my WOA 3 gun barrel shoots well, so I think either of those are good choices. Kind of upper mid range as far as cost.

I have started assembling my own uppers. It's easy enough not to be intimidating. If you lived near me I'd recommend you buy a Ballistic Advantage Hanson in 1:8 twist or 1:7 if you like higher BC bullet choices. I'd help you swap your barrel yourself.

There's got to be an AR enthusiast close by that would help you, or a shop that would do it, and a full float hand guard cheaper than a whole new upper.

assembling since the 80s. Its so simple a monkey can do it. that said you have to have parts that fit correctly.

Want the best accuracy get a barrel done by a top shop and a matched bolt. most problems solved then.

off the shelf barrels will always be a bit iffy, but as I"ve mentioned dang near any barrel these days can shoot MOA

as noted lots of people assemble them these days.

OTOH if you want it drive out.. WOA

Save your money for scoping up, ammo, etc., try a BCA Complete Upper, you WON'T be disappointed. BearCreek's a wholesaler, half the uppers out there, are mfgd by BCA. I have 2 Complete Uppers, in calibers that were supposed to give AR guys fits, .22lr and 7.62x39, nothing but 100% function out of the box, with bulk/cheap ammo. I'm about to purchase a third Upper from them, I don't even shop anywhere else, accuracy is equal/better than most Complete Uppers in the price range you're looking.

I would be one said monkeys...this holidays I decided to turn my box of spare parts into an upper. Got a White Oak barrel with headspaced bolt.


Prior to this I've been shooting the White Oak Precision offerings. But I'd say this White Oak Armament Wilson barrel shoots pretty good too.


I'm thinking of replacing the 4x scope with more magnification to see how it can really group.

Oh, my...........that some interesting, all encompassing information.

LOL

MM

I’m gonna dump my knights, LMt’s, BCM, geissele and centurion uppers for BCA..

They just as guuud.

I got 2 PSA chrome lined uppers left.. the 18” is pretty much a burn down rifle at this point. Nephews fed it a steady diet of rusky steel case during the trump years.

The others still ticking

I don't see anyone saying bcA is as good as the best. But moA satisfies most peoples needs. I certainly would not try to win Perry with a BCA. that said we have a fair amount of bca uppers so far and know of appx 10 others. not a one, other than the 22lr upper they replaced for me no issue, have had problems or shoot worse than 1.5 moa. all of ours shoot MOA or just a bit better but we reload so there is that part.

That was the first positive comment I’ve read about Bear Creek. I asked about them last year and got some interesting replies from folks.

Just use irons.

Shot in the rain with my Noveske, using irons.


Unless I'm mistaken, the OP wants to keep his A2 in the same "configuration". Yet a lot of you guys suggesting something totally different. Who here has experience with Windham barrels or uppers? You don't hear a lot about these guys anymore. Plus they are shutting down. Then we go to his next choices. I believe he gave those choices because they offer the same configuration he's interested in. The OP may have to clarify.

Mostly because they are cheap. And folks claimed they hired illegals... well they were vetted by a company and that ended up not being correct for some...

Anyway AR parts aren't hard to make. They shouldn't be expensive.

Yes all parts can matter but for the most part most all of the parts are fine these days unless you intend to go into extended battle with them.

for accuracy of course concentricity is important. Beyond that a bolt headspaced to a correctly chambered extension and barrel is where the accuracy is. most of the gun writers these days will tell you even cheap stuff like shaw barrels that used to be junk on bolt guns etc... are now almost all MOA capable.

if I were after something specific and demanded under moa a few things come into play. at what distance. With what bullet. are you reloading. Once you have that answered you can get further. IE moA isn't going to be done by ball ammo. Even reloaded for the most part. If I was after top notch I would call some folks that build them. Speak to them a bit about desires. This will lead you to what twist. What setup. how good of a barrel. When we shot competition our goal with the A2 iron sight uppers was testing ammo with a scope on the A2 that would give 10 shot groups at 300 yards of 1.5 inches hopefully less. 600 yards was 5 shot consistent groups of 2 to 3 inches and preferable better if possibly. That took just a bit more than a cheap barrel could give.

bca and spa are all about the same. I dont know any of the others but years ago model 1 sales used to be about the same. The barrels almost all shot moa give or take. Years ago they were not as reliable.

Bolt, and barrel as a pair are almost always the most important parts to accuracy. in the AR..

I've been buying a decent bit of BCA uppers. I mean none that I"ve shot yet have had any issue. They shoot pigs. deer. stay in the vehicles just in case. No failures. Granted I've not run thousands of rounds as fast as I can though them but I trust them in any encounter of 2 or 4 legged kind. How do they shoot at 500? no clue. They do zero and shoot fine for 100, generally around MOA give or take. 200 seems to be the same. Generally 200 yards 5 shot groups will come in around 2-3 inches with a simple 3x dot optics that we have on all of our rifles. I think its 3x. Its not much. again not with ball ammo.

What you need is very likely somewhere between bottom line bca/psa type stuff and Wilson/La Rue type stuff. If considering wilson/la Rue etc... I'd urge you to call White Oak and have a talk. I've never been steered wrong by them. And it could be a simple as a Wilson barrel from them and screw the nut onto a flat top upper with a float tube. Nothing fancy