If I am going to buy my first AR...

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wdeister08

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FCuomo said:
Build is on the way, picked up a lower assembly kit yesterday and ordered a spur+patrick henry from BulletGuy last night.

Next up, a fixed stock and complete upper. I think I want to go carbine, I would need to pair that with a particular buffer tube correct?
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Magpul MOE Fixed Carbine Stock.
Get a milspec carbine tube and a carbine spring.
Jsesurplus runs deals on complete uppers for featureless builds. Try and get a 223 Wylde barrel instead of just 223 rem or 5.56. Either a carbine or mid length gas system will work just fine. Either 16" or 18" barrel length is your last choice. Magpul BUIS sights, a red dot, and a streamlight weapon light and youre good to go on a HD rig
 
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Oh man, that JSE site is really hard to find stuff!

How is Stag Arms? They have a nice M4 upper that comes to just under 450 after everything. The look is simple, which I dig and it comes with sights.

Stag 15L M4 Upper
 
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FCuomo said:
Oh man, that JSE site is really hard to find stuff!

How is Stag Arms? They have a nice M4 upper that comes to just under 450 after everything. The look is simple, which I dig and it comes with sights.

Stag 15L M4 Upper
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The link for the Stag upper,,,,my opinion its a shit AR upper. Cheap ass barrel, handle on the upper, instead of flat and garbage handguard, non flip down front sight. Guess I was pretty blunt with my opinion. :) Personally think Stag makes bottom line shit,,,,mediocre at best
 
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Build your own so you can purchase a quality barrel,,,,such as Lilja or something as good
 
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I don't know if I have the skills to build the upper. A ton of people I spoke with said to get a complete upper. I'm also looking at the ones from DSI
 
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wdeister08

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FCuomo said:
I don't know if I have the skills to build the upper. A ton of people I spoke with said to get a complete upper. I'm also looking at the ones from DSI
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No no no no. Dsi is overpriced for their quality. Look for a Wilson Arms complete upper on JSE. Aero might have an upper without a threaded barrel. M4E1 series
 
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There is no skills involved in building an upper, just tools. A receiver vise, AR15 Armorers wrench,,,,both are to put the barrel nut on. A hard plastic/rubber hammer to put the pin in that attaches gas tube to gas block and to put the door on the receiver where the empty shells come out of and the forward assist. The handguard just screws on. How? Depends on what handguard you purchase. I understand some not thinking they have the mechanical ability to do this but putting an AR together is not any harder than building a square house with square legos. There is a shit ton of videos on the net that will walk you through where each part goes when it comes to the lower or the upper. Over the years Ive built 3 for myself and a couple for others. Never knew how to when I started. There is almost no way to screw them up unless you use a hammer instead of a plastic hammer. You are not really even screwing things up,,,you are just putting unnecessary marks on your rifle that you wouldn't have if you used a plastic/hard rubber mallet.
 
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wdeister08 said:
No no no no. Dsi is overpriced for their quality. Look for a Wilson Arms complete upper on JSE. Aero might have an upper without a threaded barrel. M4E1 series
Click to expand...

I did notice the prices, wasn't sure what the deal was with that.

JamieZ said:
There is no skills involved in building an upper, just tools. A receiver vise, AR15 Armorers wrench,,,,both are to put the barrel nut on. A hard plastic/rubber hammer to put the pin in that attaches gas tube to gas block and to put the door on the receiver where the empty shells come out of and the forward assist. The handguard just screws on. How? Depends on what handguard you purchase. I understand some not thinking they have the mechanical ability to do this but putting an AR together is not any harder than building a square house with square legos. There is a shit ton of videos on the net that will walk you through where each part goes when it comes to the lower or the upper. Over the years Ive built 3 for myself and a couple for others. Never knew how to when I started. There is almost no way to screw them up unless you use a hammer instead of a plastic hammer. You are not really even screwing things up,,,you are just putting unnecessary marks on your rifle that you wouldn't have if you used a plastic/hard rubber mallet.
Click to expand...

I admire your confidence!
 
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FCuomo said:
I did notice the prices, wasn't sure what the deal was with that.
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Theyre also masters of the attempted "upsell" technique. Beyond obnoxious. Was trying to check out a Savage 10fcp and the guy couldn't put the McMillan version, which is $500 higher, in my hands fast enough.

The hardest, and most tedious part about building an upper is the gas block pin. Everything else is fairly simple. However, an upper also requires the most specialized tools and if you're only building 1 getting all the tools isn't worth it. Could easily spend $200 just on the upper tooling.

Campsite would definitely put the upper parts together if you sourced them. Buy a FailZero NiB BCG from them. It's 150 bucks but worth it. It's probably the most important part in terms of reliability to the gun. I'd also recommend a Toolcraft BCG as they make the OEM bcgs for a lot of the name brand companies and theyre also the BCG the military does replacements with. You can find one around 80-90 but youre gonna have to clean with way more than a failzero NiB. If that's fine then go for it.

If you're a lefty like me then you'll want an Ambi charging handle. A Radian Raptor LT is under $60. If youre a righty, a bcm gunfighter charging handle with a latch size that fits how big your hand is is your best option. Mil specs are okay, but youre probably gonna bang youre knuckles with the smaller latch.

Fyi If you go complete upper, get one with a dust cover, and a forward assist. If youre a lefty make sure it has a shell deflector. Get a complete upper without a bcg and charging handle. You're gonna wanna replace those components on most uppers that arent $800 anyway.
 
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Man, thanks for the advice. I am a lefty, that's why I was initially drawn to the Stag Arms stuff. You guys know a ton of shit!
 
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FCuomo said:
Is this ok for the buffer kit? It's made my JSE surplus, not sure if I'm better off putting it together with Magpul or Stag stuff

Milspec Buffer Tube Kit

or this Bravo Company kit

Bravo Company AR-15 Buffer Tube Assembly Kit (Mil-Spec)

$20 difference between the two, are they actually any different?
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BCM would be fine. Ive used Anderson, Brownells, and BCM. Never had issues with em. Again makesure you get a milspec tube instead of commercial. More stocks are made for milspec, and commercial isnt standardized.

BCM youre likely paying for a name at that $20 rather than any real noticeable difference. The dry lubricant inside might be higher grade. But materials are essentially gonna be identical.
 
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Alright, everyone keep an eye out on good deals for complete uppers...left-handed even better!
 
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MilesTeg said:
Why do you care if you have a fixed magazine AR?
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I don't want a fixed magazine because it just seems like a complete pain in the ass to reload compared to swapping mags. Also, I already bought all the parts for a featureless build (other than the complete upper). My second build will be a fixed magazine with all the goodies.
 
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The threads are also a banned feature and there is no case law to say the legality of certain workarounds. For this instance people have been defaulting to the ATF standards for a 14.5" barrel with a flash hinder/brake. Some people feel this isn't safe enough for them and either buy a target crowned barrel or have the threads removed.
 
JamieZ

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FCuomo said:
How sure are we that this is legal? I can't seem to find a definitive, been tested, answer. Unfortunately with my job I cannot take any risks, that's why I have been gravitating to the target crown models.
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You don't have a threaded barrel if you put a thread protector on in ATF fashion,,pinned. You dont have a threaded barrel if you put a fake muzzle brake on or a fake suppressor on or a fake anything. Not sure why there is a question about this being legal. Its legal from everything you can find in the laws.

As far as making your lower safe act compliant because it would be hard to load with a dedicated mag. Maybe if you were in combat or doing illegal things it would be a deterrent. There is a few options out there for non removable mags as far as loading goes and it makes it simple as changing a mag. Non removable mag allows you to have anything you want on the gun. Carbine stock, pistol grip, muzzle brake etc etc
 
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FCuomo

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I'm no expert in this particular area of the law, believe me, but I don't know if this theory was been tested regarding pinning. I know the old ATF AWB regs say it is ok but this law is a piece of shit NY statute, I'd hate to give anyone reason to give me a hard time (again, job). I'm certainly not willing to be the test case. I'll go with target crowned for this build and then have some fun with the fixed mag setup with my 2nd. (Oh man, I'm already planning a second build lol).

Definitely some cool reload options for the fixed mag stuff, I look forward to learning about them.
 
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Alright, here's where I'm at:

1. Lefty featureless build is just waiting on my compete upper (4-6 weeks, ugh). I think I have everything else. BUT, 2 questions:

a. Why are ambi safety switches so damn expensive?
b. If I have a lower build kit and a complete upper so I still need particular parts/kit to attach the upper? (takedown pin, etc.)

2. I went on an impulse binge and bought a DSI DS-15 fixed mag (8-12 weeks, ugh). elt really nice in my hands, looking forward to it.

Thanks guys!
 
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JBO AR-15 Ambidextrous Safety Selector

A.....Seems pretty damn cheap to me but what do I know?

B......Your lower parts kit should of came with a Pivot pin and a Take down pin,,,,,which attaches the upper to the lower.

2......You bought a fixed mag for a featureless build ?...... I'm lost
 
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A. Thanks for that link, all the ambi ones I was coming across were like $55 (seemed high)
B. Thank you for clearing that up for me, just didn't want to put it all together with my friend and realize at the last moment I was missing something

2. I'm building a featureless, but I also bought a fixed mag complete. I will have 2 firearms now.
 
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