I have been lucky enough to have invested in crypto a couple years ago and after everything that has happened recently I'm ready to splurge a little. I've just gotten into thermal and now I think I've made up my mind in purchasing a RDIAS for a ar15 platform. Are they just that rare or am I not searching the right sites? Can someone educate me on this and post a link if you know where one is for sale or not. Thanks

They go very quickly when they come up for public sale.

Good luck, I have been looking for a year. So really good luck you just got to jump on it quick when it does pop up.

Do you know what sites they usually pop up on?

Seen this after I asked, thanks

For the price of a RDIAS you can buy a Colt M-16A2, and likely save several thousand dollars.  I had a great RDIAS, but found it a kludgy conversion by design and less "flexible" than I had convinced myself it would be.  I never put it in a 9mm lower (I have MP5s for 9mm), I never got a franken AK lower for it in 7.62x39, and I never shot stuff that would "blow up my lower" and then I would move it to a "new" lower.  I didn't like the choices of lowers that would fit a RDIAS (I had a Bushmaster) and getting what you like engraved with "AUTO" will require cutting through the anodize and spot refinishing...all very goofy.  If you can afford a factory Colt machine-gun, then I think that is the gold standard in 5.56 full auto.  Heck, buy a Colt 614 and you will have a factory Colt machine-gun and enough left over to buy an Uzi.

Congrats on the crypto lotto, wish I would have bought a ticket when bitcoin was selling for anything under $1000

M16 Market Data
Transferable M16 machine guns and estimated market values:
RLL $13-16k
RDIAS $30-35k
RR Non-Colt Cast AR15 Conversion $17-19k
RR Non-Colt AR15 Conversion $17-19k
RR Colt AR15 SP1 Conversion $17-19k
RR Colt AR15 614 $23-25k
RR Colt M16 $24-28k
RR Colt M16A1 $24-38k
RR Colt M16A2 $28-33k
RR Colt M16A2 Commando $33-48k (Marked "Auto" instead of "Burst")

Websites to watch for good deals on machine guns:
http://www.sturmgewehr.com
http://www.atfmachinegun.com
http://www.autoweapons.com
http://www.impactguns.com
http://www.subguns.com
http://www.onlythebestfirearms.com
http://www.davidspiwak.com
http://dealernfa.com
http://www.gunbroker.com
http://www.nfasales.com
http://mtmmfg.com
http://www.classiiidealers.com/
http://www.westernfirearms.com/
http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/class-iii-full-auto/
http://www.urban-armory.com/
http://www.ar15.com/forums/f_7/118_NFA_Firearms_andamp__Parts.html

Website that tracks machine gun values:
http://www.machinegunpriceguide.com/

Ruben has 2 for sale on subguns

There was a NIB Colt M16A2 in EE the other day, was still in the original bag that Colt sealed it in, I know it was more than and RDIAS but in the long run it will be worth more than an RDIAS.

Personally, I would buy a gun over a drop in

They do come up for sale but go pretty quick.  I have had an aluminum BroadHead that was excellent and now have a steel C-Ray which is also excellent.  I have had a PAWS/Olympic receiver, Colt M16A1 (perfect), and a Sendra/Wilson.  Both the Olympic and Sendra were not spec but M60Joe made them correct for little money.

While I agree the registered receivers are plug and play what they can never do is drop in some of the newer AR configurations.  There are some pretty cool modern AR's coming out that an RDIAS can make select fire so the extra hassle of moving the FCG around is worth it to me.  The new CMMG delayed radial blowback AR's rival the HK's in smoothness take Glock mags, hold open on the last round, and suppress very well.  The RDIAS drops in with some very minor fitting on the lower.  I have a Q Honey Badger in transfer that when it got to my local dealer I took the RDIAS and it dropped right in.  I bought a couple of Spikes lowers when I got my first RDIAS and the sear drops right in and they already have pictograms for safe, semi, and auto.  The Gen 1 Noveske lowers are plug and play also and are marked Safe, Semi so a laser engraver for $50 can engrave Auto in the third position and a little alumablue and ready to go if the third marking matters to you.  I belong to multiple ranges.  One allows full auto, the rest don't.  I like I can setup my AR's with the RDIAS but if I am shooting at another range set them up semi and leave the RDIAS at home.  As you can tell I like them and I wish you luck finding one.  They are worth the money and the wait and I am sure will make you happy once you find one.

they show up monthly on sturm or subguns

go to the websites and do a search...sometimes you find one that never sold...i bought a mac 11a1 that was there for 5 months....and got a good deal because----it was there for 5 months

For sure that is possible.  As Renegade mentioned there are two Rueben has listed on Subguns.  Those are Broadheads and the one I had ran great.  There was also a Whitman steel (I believe) listed by an individual which I have also read are good to go.  They might be sold or still available, just have to ask.  My first RDIAS I did not see many listed for a while so I placed a WTB on subguns and Sturm (old site) and got probably 6 offers in the first week.  Beware some were clearly scams but had a guy in state offer up the Broadhead to me.  Offered to meet, was able to take pictures of the sear on a current newspaper with something I asked him to write on it, etc.  My second one I got lucky and saw it listed on another board that is less used for classifieds and someone out of state but I had met before at a shoot.  It took almost a year though with 2 form 4's and going through the 41F transition.  I would really have to want it, to go through that again.

If you have cash in hand, post a WTB ad on sturmgewher and Subguns.  When I was ready in 2012, I got several offers to sell me one within days.  That's how I bought my first one.  Enjoy!

Not to come off rude, but the idea that a RR will be worth more in the end than a Rdias seems kind of silly and not based in reality.

I would never post a WTB for this kind of item...too many scams and BS.
They turn up regularly even on GB. Prices arent very far off. There was a LL that sold for 14k i almost bought... 35k would be a fair price for a steel RDIAS with a goods petigre, nothing sketchy...

A rdias is really a great item, they last forever and you can treat you m16 like you would a $600 semi without worry.
Ive got to have 200,000+ rounds on mine and while i have gone through 3 springs the trip appears to have several million rounds of life left on it......burned out several host guns now.... the host were cheap compared to hk stuff

The rDIAS is the most flexiable NFA to work with and it takes maybe 5 min to fine tune to each host.
The HK Sear is definately flexiable but complicated(not really), but expensive.

The whole point of a the sear is to hack/slap it in... if your worried about engraving and anodizing youve missed the point.

I agree completely with this characterization of the RDIAS conversion.  And the RDIAS as a hack made sense when they sold for $100 and a Colt factory MG was at least 6x that price.  Now, things have been turned on their head as the RDIAS is at roughly a 10k premium to a Colt factory gun.  I personally don’t see the sense in paying a premium for a hack conversion, but get the appeal for some folks — and more power to them.

As long as everyone knows that a rdias "hack" conversion involve 5 dollars at home depot and 5 minutes of time for each host to make a sear 100% reliable. Slap the geiseielle trigger in there and your in heaven

Ive installed my rdias with no shim and it's 50/50 with a .030 worth of shlop.
The bigest way to damage a rdais is to slam the upper closed on the lower on an in proper setup(mainly .22lr)

I get it sandpaper, superglue, and shimetry sound hack.. but its ideal!

I'm 100% agree with MGnoob.

That certainly doesn't jive with my experience with my JCB RDIAS.  I've used it in a dozen or so hosts over the last 5-6 years and haven't had to time it with any of them.  Maybe your RDIAS is slightly out of "spec" - not that there's a standard spec per-se, but clearly some work better than others.  It'd be worth the money to send yours to M60Joe for a tuneup.  I sent mine to him in ~2013 for one of his fancy trips and an extra set of pins & springs and it was well worth the money.

-bob