Having a bunch of ar parts and mags isn't a bad thing, it is an investment. Ask anyone who sold one during the panic.

I actually started out intending to buy one, but found that there really is not a huge selection of factory built AR pistols. Nowhere near the selection as there is for rifles. So I bought a complete upper and all the parts for the lower so that I could set it up exactly how I wanted it.

A few reasons for me...mind you I only built my lower and bought a completed upper...

It's fun.
Ar pistols in my area are very expensive to buy.
My pistol cost me about $700+ LESS to build myself rather than buy, all the while giving me the ability to use all the exact parts I wanted.
With the money I saved I was able to afford the over priced but incredible aimpoint micro t-1
I was able to spread out  my spending, buying parts when I found good deals on them or when I had the extra cash.

Lots of good advice in this thread! The only problem is you run a high risk of getting BRD when you start building AR's and as far as I know there is no cure!

My friend bought a Sig Sauer P516 after I stated I was going to build one and he said it was dumb

With a Eotech he has about $1800 in his.


I built mine from all higher end parts except for a PSA Stripped Upper and have an Eotech T-1 on Larue Mount (about 50% more expensive than an Eotech) and still only have $1200 in it.

The only upside to his purchase is that it still has considerable worth should he decide to sell.

Yours is worth more as parts.

Whaaa?  I've bought factory rifles that I later realized weren't square in one way or another.  The stuff I've built?  I take my time and do it right, and if I do screw something up, I fix it.  Shit, just look at all the "Tier 1" factory built brands that people here have trouble with.
EAT:

Also, I can't just buy one that looks like this:

As someone who has spent many years working in Quality Assurance & Quality Engineering in the aerospace and defense industry, I have a few observations:

• There is nothing magic about how factories assemble their products.  They develop a specific process, document that process in detail and then train the employees to follow that detailed process.

• If you were to watch the assembly process at any "Top Tier" AR manufacturer, (Or any other ISO certified manufacturer) you would not be watching supermen with Ivy league gun building degrees putting them together.  You would be watching average folks like you and me performing work to a detailed work instruction using the proper tools.

• This is something you can absolutely do yourself at home with the proper motivation, tools and a detailed work instruction. (I use "The Complete AR15 Builders Guide by Glen Zediker" but there are several professionally produced guides available)

If you use quality parts, the proper tools and supplies (Torq Wrenches, Adhesives, lubricants, etc.), and follow every detail of the work instruction exactly, you can build an AR that is every bit the equal (If not better) than the rifle hanging in the rack at your local gun store.  You will also gain a valuable experience and be in a much better position to diagnose and repair your AR when / if parts eventually break. (If you shoot it enough, every gun will eventually break parts)

If your home built AR won't run with a factory built AR, it's because you used inferior parts or cut corners on the assembly process.
(I don't mean to offend anyone with this statement, but I believe it to be the truth)

Good luck,
Blute

Exactly what I did. When KAK came out with the 308 (The McClane) in a 10.5 inch barrel, and already have an AR in 308, I grabbed it. Sweet pistol.

1. Nobody used make them or sell them. So you had to roll your own lower from a virgin receiver.

2. Pistols are almost always a 2nd or 3rd or more AR. By that time most are informed enough to know that it doesn't require a degree in rocket surgery to assemble one. Also, by that time most know exactly what they want. What the costs of parts REALLY ARE, where and when the deals are, and have to a ton of spare parts around so far I'm into my build $275 with blemish deals from aero precision, the SB15 and replaced parts laying around from my first rifle. All I need is a barrel and bcg. So I'm looking at a sub $500 pistol build that I can take across state lines to my camp unlike a SBR AND conceal carry with my CCW/CHL

I built my pistol first, and now I am building a rifle.  The pistol I built seems to be twice the gun than most of the off the shelf ones.  With a little knowledge and internet availability, you could train a monkey to put one of these together.  My build did snowball into more money than I originally thought, but was still cheaper than actually buying a complete pistol off the shelf.

I'm sure I'll get chastised for this but I bought a dedicated pistol as opposed to buying the parts and here's why:  I have the mechanical aptitude of a slug. I remember when I joined the Navy a long long time ago the recruiter desperately tried to get me to sign up to be a nuclear technician. I told him no in as many ways as I could. The recruiter was dumbfounded because at the time the nuke program had huge enlistment bonuses and he couldn't understand why I wasn't interested. I told him about my limited mechanical aptitude despite what my ASVAB score said and was adamant about my name not going down in the annals of history along with Cherynobl and Three Mile Island after I accidentally caused some nuclear reactor to blow.

He then tried to sell me on jet repairs and while this might result in a slightly less disastrous outcome I still wasn't interested. Finally he asked if I could learn a foreign language. That I could do so I became a spook. The way I figure it I probably could have bought the parts for a few hundred dollars less, but I wanted a pistol with a 7.5 inch barrel and I have heard these can be finicky. I guess having the benefit of a lifetime warranty that if the pistol doesn't work they'll fix it is reassuring to me.   And to be perfectly honest, I wound up getting a Black Rain Ordnance pistol off of Gunbroker. When I look at how much I would have spent in the upgrades standard on that pistol having bought it whole wasn't that much more.

Yes, factory builds are perfection.

Which is why 2 of the 4 rifles in the Lucky Gunner ammo test had barrel nuts torqued to only 5 ft/lbs.
http://www.luckygunner.com/labs/brass-vs-steel-cased-ammo/

So maybe not perfection.

There are benefits to handcrafting your own.

And if your gun is out of spec instead of having the tools to fix it you can just send it in for a couple weeks/months and hopefully it will come back working.

You could probably check all of the home-builds out there and half of them would be wrong too.

Funny, the LG report seems to indicate that economy rifles are poorly built.

Also, this;
"As indicated by accuracy testing, the steel cased/bimetal jacketed ammunition caused accelerated wear to the inside of their respective bores. While the barrel of the Federal carbine had plenty of life left, even after 10,000 rounds at extremely high rates of fire, the Wolf and Brown Bear barrels were subjected to the same rates of fire and were completely “shot out” by 6,000 rounds."

Glad I've decided not to build again, buy quality guns, and use decent (brass cased) ammo.

I assembled a 7.5" 300 BLK pistol for $520.

Some of you guys have either more self control, or less money; or both. Probably more control though.

I'm with the guy who posted earlier who had his build snowball.

Always willing to spend $5 to $40 more for top quality gets expensive.

I understand what Cav trying to get at.

That being said it could be said that all things can be on-budget or over-budget. It all depends on what you start off wanting vs. what you end up wanting.

I go by the philosophy that complex tools are that which separate man from beast &, among men, men who can do things from those that can't. Once tools are in the hands of the capable there is less of a limit as to what they can achieve. Buying tools is an investment for future use. They are only a waste if you never use them again.

The satisfaction of self-reliance far out ways the minute resale value varience. I do 80%'s now & in no way can buying a complete anything compare to that satisfaction of personal accomplishment. I have only had one issue from my builds & that was a faulty extractor spring. If problems are encountered & resolved, knowledge & experience are gained. Place those things in the proper context & you have the basis for wisdom.

Now I am contemplating building a from scratch 1911...

Building a pistol/ firearm is a no brainer. Buy what you want, build what you want, change it as you want. Answer to no one.

Build one, you will be building more.  Its like the erector-set for adults.  

Very enjoyable to start with a pile of parts, sit with a cup of coffee and after a bit, go to the range and fire your assembled rifle.

DIY firearm.

hahaha

x2

Its like wood work.  I go over to a buddies house and he proudly shows me the new molding he installed.  I see gaps, crooked mitered corners, nails put in where there ain't no stud so numerous nails put in to attach to dry wall...overall work I would NEVER accept from myself.

Some people have aptitude for working with their hands and ability to visualize a project then put into motion.  Some cannot.

Pretty much this, I am glad I am of the former, and not the latter. ..

This - a1 upper no one will ever ever ever sell a new pistol with an a1 upper