Honest opinions (Anderson AR15)

[Dylan_]

Are Anderson AR15’s truly the poverty ponies? Most videos I’ve watched go against what most people say about them...

a lot of videos even recommend them for the price point.

thinking of purchasing a new one from my local range for sub $600.

I’d prefer to buy complete as opposed to building one as I don’t have the knowledge nor time to build one.

Thoughts?

 

[RoyP]

no personal experience with anderson

 

[dwa12479]

AR's are like legos for adults. They never stay in the same configuration for long. $600 is cheap. Buy it, experiment, upgrade parts here and there, get to know it etc. Make it your own over time. Eventually you'll see how easy they are to build, and your next one you can do from scratch and build it to your exact liking the first time.

 

[spat]

Are Anderson AR15’s truly the poverty ponies? Most videos I’ve watched go against what most people say about them...

a lot of videos even recommend them for the price point.

thinking of purchasing a new one from my local range for sub $600.

I’d prefer to buy complete as opposed to building one as I don’t have the knowledge nor time to build one.

Thoughts?

Most AR parts are just commodities. There are only a few that really matter operationally on the finished firearm.

The stripped lower doesn't matter, unless you want something cool cosmetically.

 

[togmaster]

Anderson is GTG

 

[Twogunwilly]

Buy it

 

[dsdmmat]

Anderson budget rifles may not win you any service rifle matches at the CMP. However, they will perform when you need them and, are good enough to win local Service rifle matches in my neck of the woods.

 

[Depick]

Im confident in saying there could be numerous members here that used Anderson parts on their build with no issues. @dwa12479 said it best the ARs are like legos. It so easy to swap out parts with relatively basic tools.

 

[Bananabandit]

Anderson is good. Do that.

 

[@thewheels]

Do it and do a decent drop in trigger down the road. You won't regret it.

 

[Calculon]

Agree with what has been posted above. I think most forum members have had positive experience with Anderson or you'd hear it loud and clear. $600 is an inexpensive price point and will get you into the game and familiar with the platform. Lots of maintenance/upgrade videos online for support. Go for it, have fun and learn.

 

[stuckhere]

Yes to the poverty pony. But that doesn't necessarily make for a bad rifle. Over the last 15 years, bottom of the line priced rifles have seemingly crept closer to mid level offerings in quality.

 

[spat]

Agree with what has been posted above. I think most forum members have had positive experience with Anderson or you'd hear it loud and clear. $600 is an inexpensive price point and will get you into the game and familiar with the platform. Lots of maintenance/upgrade videos online for support. Go for it, have fun and learn.

Buy or build the cheap one.

Upgrade it piece by piece.

Realize you now have nearly enough parts to build another rifle.

Rinse and repeat....

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

Completely fine, reliable, serviceable ARs can be bought, or built for $600 and less now. It's a great country and gun market we have.

Once you have a start, only your imagination, pocket book or fear of significant others anger will limit what you can customize.

 

[shootemup]

Buy or build the cheap one.

Upgrade it piece by piece.

Realize you now have nearly enough parts to build another rifle.

Rinse and repeat....

That's the same thinking that has lead us all down the BRD path! LOL I hope it's NEVER cured !!!

 

[Shadow rider]

I just finished outfitting my next build (7.62 x 39 AR) Everything (less the optics) came to $422!

 

[togmaster]

I just finished outfitting my next build (7.62 x 39 AR) Everything (less the optics) came to $422!

Easy to pay that much for a barrel alone. What barrel did you use?

 

[Shadow rider]

Bought a complete upper from BCA (Side charging). This will be my Texas hog hunter.
BCA Upper
80% lower and a generic parts kit.

 

[Drinkthekoolaid]

I just finished outfitting my next build (7.62 x 39 AR) Everything (less the optics) came to $422!

Details?

 

[Saltwater60]

They are fine riffles.

 

[Blimey]

I just finished outfitting my next build (7.62 x 39 AR) Everything (less the optics) came to $422!

Did you make it out of wood?

How did you get it that cheap?

 

[Shadow rider]

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but you asked for it...

Here's the recipe I used...

complete upper This was also 10% off because of Shot Show week. A surprise bonus! And I liked the fact that it has .300 Blackout feed ramps.
LPK
Field repair kit By adding this to the LPK order I got free shipping (saved me $3)
stock and buffer
80% lowers I got 2 of these for a total of $92.90 shipped. The second will be a future project for my son.

this comes to $422.09 (with an extra 80% lower!)...what am I forgetting?

2 Mags (20 rounders)
Red Dot I decided to give this one a try... It seemed to have decent reviews for the price point. I got it at $254.

Mix it all up together and this is what you end up with...
It's the one on the right...

 

[Vapor]

I went with Palmetto uppers with their premium bolts, bcm buffers tube kits, thorsen stocks, alg triggers, and troy sights for a bit. Usually would end up around $700.


Last build I did a custom upper from jse. Spikes upper, fa bcg, 18" wilson barrel, yhm quad. Went with a cheap lower, blemished thordsen, palmetto lpk, and a larue trigger. Still about 7-800.



All have been flawless.

Get an Anderson and run it like a pig until something breaks, then upgrade those parts. Palmetto bcgs are $50 on sale, made by toolcraft. It's a great time to be into ar15s

 

[meketrefe]

No. They are not worth the extra money.
Same as the cadillac cars.

 

[redtail]

As most opined Anderson is gtg.

 

[BDinPutnam]

Has anyone used their stainless steel lower parts kit? Worth the extra coin? I have used CMMG kits previously because they have good out of the box mil spec triggers but I can get the Anderson stainless kit locally so might pick one up rather than ordering the CMMG.

 

[Airborneguy]

I have a few of their lowers but never a complete rifle. I’ve never seen a need to spend extra on a lower. I’ve done it, but only because I wanted to at the time for cosmetic reasons.

 

[@thewheels]

Has anyone used their stainless steel lower parts kit? Worth the extra coin? I have used CMMG kits previously because they have good out of the box mil spec triggers but I can get the Anderson stainless kit locally so might pick one up rather than ordering the CMMG.

Are you referring to the lpk with the stainless hammer and trigger?

 

[BDinPutnam]

Are you referring to the lpk with the stainless hammer and trigger?

Yessir.

 

[@thewheels]

Yessir.

Can't say I've fingered the one from CMMG to directly compare but the one from Anderson I have handled recently seemed just a little bit better than I recall from some others I've tried from the likes of Colt, RRA and Stag. Of course, those examples were a few years ago.
Way way back when, I tried a Del-Ton and was surprised how good it was. It wasn't bench rifle quality or anything but it certainly stood out to me.
I always wonder if that was a fluke or typical.