Hey guys,

I decided to finally get into firearms and went into my local gun shop the other day to get an AR-15 pistol built.  The staff seemed pretty nice and walked me through each part of the pistol and the manufacturers that they had available.  With every part of the build that they were talking me through, they would recommend and give me a choice of brand to choose from.  I had done some research prior to visiting and became familiar with some of the most used name brands in AR manufacturing; BCM, Anderson, POF, etc.  As the guy behind the counter presented me with the choices of manufacturer to use for each part of the gun, I didn't recognize many of the names that he had available. I tried looking them up on my phone before deciding on each part, but I couldn't find many reviews or articles on the companies and their products.  I want to make sure that I'm not being overcharged and getting unreliable parts for my build. Can you all take a look at the build sheet and see if the amount I’m being charged and the manufacturer parts that I’m being given seem reasonable?  They said that they would have the build finished in a few days, so I don't have much time.  I understand that there's a nationwide shortage of guns, ammo, and parts, and because of that I'll be paying more for what I want.  I just need to make sure that I'm getting a fair deal.  Thank you!        
     
Quoted AR-15 pistol build sheet:

https://imgur.com/RlnTTt0


Update - Would this Faxon Firearms Ascent 10.5" 5.56 AR15 Pistol be a good choice?  Should I order it now before it runs out of stock?  

https://aimsurplus.com/faxon-firearms-ascent-10-5-in-5-56-ar15-pistol/

Is this your first firearm?  I think it is a bit high, but not horrible in these times. I don't see anything particularly special about any of those parts.  It is a mix master kind of build. Whatever they have in stock.

Why don't you buy a PSA kit and a lower and DIY?  You are talking about $750-$800 total and you would learn a bit about the process.

You are way late getting into this.  At that type total I would expect it to be a ready built firearm from some specific manufacturer (Rock River, S&W, CMMG, Wyndham   Example. RUGER Putting one together can be as simple as a Palmetto State Armory lower complete plus an upper complet with bolt carrier.  PSA  9mm
Putting one together that is high quality can be selecting an upper complete from a premium manufacturer like White Oak Armarment or La Rue and adding that to your lower.  You can build your own lower there are youtube videos on installing the parts and Aero Precision makes a good lower one of their models has a screw in pin that holds the bolt release and cost a little more but worth it as that is the hard pin to get in.  Honestly at this point until we see who lives in the Whitehouse in the spring I don't think I would over pay for something that might become NFA.  I'd be more inclined to find a bolt action .308 that runs  10 round mags. probably a Savage or Tikka because those are not going away and you should be able to find ammo still which is a huge issue right now. Other than that there still seems to be a healthy supply of 1911 style .45acp handguns and 8 round mags available.

You can buy these on the internet they ship to your FFL you fill out the forms there and they charge you something $30. or so depends on the dealer.

Same. You can do better but if you're happy then that's good enough. The Aero parts are a good foundation, most everything else is pretty random but it's hard to find a lot of the desirable parts these days. You could knock some off by downgrading the NIB BCG and I'd save 30 bucks and skip the AFG, save a couple more bucks and go with a plain old A2 muzzle device. Then I'd take the savings, skip the 99 dollar no name sights and spend a few bucks on a red dot instead. I like to start out kind of plain knowing that I'm guaranteed to change out a bunch of parts anyway when something shinier catches my eye...

It is "fair" in that those prices are what you'd expect with standard retail gun store markup.

I've never built an AR by buying each component from a gun store because you'll be paying that penalty for each part. Also, I've never spent $200 on a barrel or a bcg.

That said, I'm sure the places I've historically gone to purchase components for builds are out of stock on everything or their prices have gone up, so what you're looking at might just be the going rate for what you're looking to build right now?

Used ARs are going locally (to me) for only like $650-$800 for standard "home built" stuff and higher for established brands. Most used guns have been to the range like twice with kept in a closet or safe, so if buying used locally to you is an option that might be something to look at.

If you are somewhat competent mechanically and you want to build, that will be a decent build. Mid to upper level quality parts. Good idea to do it through a local shop with good service help. Not sure why people are recommending getting parts kits online rather than through a local shop. Go local whenever possible. Make some quality friends along the way through the local shop. I don't see a downside. Price quote is maybe a bit high but you are already getting your money's worth by having local support and connection.

Typical gun store price for a parts gun.
Primary Arms sells factory BCM pistols for $1395 when they are in stock.

Ouch.

Buy parts yourself when available.

Plenty of tutorials on youtube.

You’re going to need the tools anyway because you can’t stop at just one rifle.

I looked over the quote sheet and 80% of them are good components, and prices are what they are right now.  No idea what barrel they are using so that might be an area of suspect for any degree of accuracy.  I didn't see the labor charge so perhaps they built it into the parts pricing?  Regardless, for most of us DIY guys here, we could have gotten away with a similar assembly for around $800-$900.

Bottom line - You're paying market price to have it within a few days.  If you want to trim some $ off that quote, ditch the flip up sights and angle grip, put the $ into a red dot because you're going to buy some form of optical sight later anyway.

A little high for the parts but not too bad.  Not sure of some of the brands, but if it were me I would insist on USA made parts.  chinese parts are junk.  If you really want it pull the trigger

To expensive for a parts build.  Check out Bear Creek Arsenal.  10.5 complete upper $319.99  free shipping.  Anderson lowers around here are selling for around $70.  Or look on Gun Broker for complete lowers $200 - $250.  The SB4 pistol brace is the better one.  Not that hard to build a lower.

I mean, now is a tough time to get into the game if you're looking for a deal, but I still wouldn't pay anywhere near that. The barrel is one of the most important parts of the build and they don't even list what brand it is. Which probably means it's some cheap barrel they had laying around. Yet they are selling it to you for a premium price. Other parts like the UTG sights are parts that I would personally skip.

Even during these times if you watch, you can get a comparable PSA kit for right over half of that and it would have a better resale value down the road. Something to consider with these pieced together builds by a random person is that the resale value is often very low unless you part them out.

That upper build has me. . . Skeptical

Why not buy a complete ready AR pistol?  I bought a Sig M400 AR pistol last week from local gun store for $849 tax.
Seems to shoot flawless so far, couple hundred rounds.

Just no.

Everyone that is saying you can build it yourself for cheaper are right...unless you have to buy all the tools.

If you only want one, buy a factory built pistol like a ruger or springfield saint and call it done. Shoot it for a while and watch youtube build videos and see if you want to make the investment in building more. Be warned though, it is addictive. If you can't find what you want in stock, the local gun store's build will most likely be fine and presumably comes with some type of warranty.

+1.

Ditto on the factory pistol if you can find it for 'instant gratification', otherwise your LGS-assembled one is still your best choice.

https://www.cdnnsports.com/rugerr-ar556r-556-pistol-with-brace.html.

^^^  This

Dang it, @Stephen466  is it too late to get out of that deal?

The AR that I really wanted to buy was the BCM-CARBINE-610-750 11.5" (https://dsgarms.com/ar-rifles-bcm-carbine-610-750), but everything BCM is sold out, as well as a good amount of other stock AR rifles and pistols from reputable companies.  I was thinking that this would be insurance just incase things are still out of stock across the country and some kind of ban goes into effect.  I would still be waiting until more AR pistols and rifles get back in stock and purchase those as well.  I like the RUGER® AR556® 556 PISTOL WITH BRACE that a few people have suggested in the thread, but would it be the same quality as the LGS set up?  I know it's a bit of a Frankenstein put-together in terms of the different manufacturers, but there are some pretty good name brand components in the setup.  Your take?

You understand the the BCM rifle you quoted IS actually a rifle and would have to be registered as an SBR?

Yes, I know

A year ago I'd say wait.  Today? Unless you have a bunch of other options, I'd say go for it.  The receiver set it a good base.  The rest of the parts look fine.  This isn't a great time to be digging around for tools and parts then DIYing it hobby style if you're trying to get a running gun.

You can get a better quality AR for $1500 (if you can find one).  The IWI Zion is a really great gun out of the box for like $800 and the sig tread is around that price.  I would get one of those and then you still have a good chunk of money for an optic and ammo.

PSA lower with pdw brace.

PSA FN CHF pistol upper.

Less expensive. Still FN CHF barrel.

Less expensive lower

Bolt carrier
strike that. left handed.

Still need a charging handle. Assembly is inserting BCG and charging handle into upper, placing upper receiver on lower, and sliding two pins in.

PSA chf are top quality. So is toolcraft bcg. Could do better on trigger in lower. Charging handle would have to be sourced elsewhere.

No, it's going to be better quality than the gun shop build. It has a quality CHF barrel instead of some no name junk the gun shop listed on your spec sheet. In addition to the better quality, it's cheaper, it's backed by some of the best customer service in the industry, and it's going to hold its value significantly better than some franken build from the lgs.

There is absolutely no way that I'd buy that build from the LGS over that Ruger. Anyone who does is a fool that just got ripped off.

One more vote for the Ruger.

Pile of parts - esp a mixmash of parts, even though most are good - most often the whole is not worth the sum of the cost of the parts.

Your build sheet price is about $900 more than what I paid PSA for parts

Why an AR five seven lower?
Why $180 for an upper receiver?
$170 for SBA3, a little steep, but then $70 for a buffer tube. The brace comes with a buffer tube. All it needs is the buffer, spring, castle nut and end plate. About $30 worth of parts.

I didn't see labour on the list, so I guess he makes his money on marking up the parts.

I can see the builders point, he needs to make money and right now he's lucky to even have parts to build.

Personally I'd buy a store bought gun for $700 or $800. If you feel that he's building you something exactly like you want and you don't know how to build it your self then you gotta pay to play.

It sounds like you already commissioned the build. If the guys already building it for now is not the time to back out.

Yup get the cdnn ruger.
Cdnn will ship fast and ruger stands behind what they make.

Avoid at all cost that bear creek arsenal crap as that's just what it is and a 1st time gun can make or break the owner as far as sticking with the hobby.

1st time guy you need to buy quality 1st time around you need something that is nice works and not lower crap quality.

That way when you buy crap you can say WOW now i know why i paid extra.

Buy once cry once is the saying in the gun culture. More so for us NFA guys but it holds true for any gun and gear.

Good luck with you 1st major gun purchase i hope it's a good one so the addiction can take hold.
You buy junk and you'll be in quiter rehab cold turkey.
Get a good one and you'll be looking for dime bags of ammo.

+1, over the gun store franken-build


Also, as mentioned above, a factory gun has a warranty and holds value over a "build". I cant believe someone on here recommended Bear Creek Arsenal..... WOW

Build your own.  I have built many lowers and a few uppers.  I usually buy uppers off the EE that are in very good condition.

Does it have to be a pistol? You can get a complete upper, 14.5" pin and welded barrel with all of the required lower parts (minus the lower receiver, which is around $50-100) for $800 from LaRue. A lower is very simple to put together yourself, and requires minimal tools. You can have it shipped right to your home. They also have a 12" barrel option, but you wouldn't be able to use the included stock in pistol form. Note that a complete rifle from LaRue with these parts would be around $2,000.

LaRue upper kit

I’m trying to wrap my head around a $70 AP buffer tube. Everything on that build sheet looks to be priced at full MSRP. You certainly picked a helluva time to get started in firearms.

ETA Lanbo’s Armory has the SBA3 (with buffer tube) for $105 for Black Friday

I looked over the build sheet, it all looks fairly priced to me...in the sense that I think they are giving you fair prices on what they're building, but I don't think it's a good deal for you.

A lot of first time buyers have the mistaken idea that price is correlated to quality...and that they have to pay for quality parts.  In my experience, this is not really the case.  The difference in cost between a cheap part and a premium expensive part is often not that the more expensive part is more reliably and objectively better, but rather, that the expensive part is optimized for some slightly different purpose, or it's a niche part, or cosmetically desirable.  Yes, it's possible to find some cheap parts, but there are plenty of very reliable good quality cheap parts that you could pick from.

When you are building your first AR, you don't really know exactly what you want yet.  You think you do based on some research, but you don't really know enough to understand the pros and cons and to really know what you'll be happy with in the end.  Therefore I think it makes sense to start off buying the cheapest, most generic, yet still quality AR that you can...and you're not going to get that by doing a custom build.  Just look for the best possible deal you can find on a fully built used AR.  Pre-pandemic, you could get a full AR for about $400.  I have no idea what it costs now but I feel like you can do a lot better than $1200.

After using this for a while, you will start to develop a better sense of what you really want, and you can start buying upgrade parts...or if necessary start over from scratch with a new build.  The process of researching each part to accomplish your specific needs is enjoyable, and knowing that you selected the part that exactly meets your needs is what makes it valuable and justifies the high prices of individual components.

What you are looking at is a random selection of components, some of them generic, some of them premium, but with no specific goal in mind.  It's not going to be the coolest looking, or the best performing, in any particular category.  They've selected a bunch of parts not because they necessarily go really well together, but because they just happen to be in stock...and the end result is going to be fine, but no better than a cheap used milspec AR.

Would this Faxon Firearms Ascent 10.5" 5.56 AR15 Pistol be a good choice?  Should I order it now before it runs out of stock?  

https://aimsurplus.com/faxon-firearms-ascent-10-5-in-5-56-ar15-pistol/

I would buy that over the gun store build you posted originally.

Not a bad choice for your situation at all. Not the best, but certainly will work as intended for a reasonable price.. considering you're getting into the game this late.

AIM Surplus is a GTG (Good To Go) vendor as well. I'd vote get that, or the Ruger build listed above. Either one will serve you well.

The real problem for you is.. wait for it... AMMO.

Good luck brother!