AR Sponsor
Posted: 9/13/2008 12:38:45 AM EDT
| Currently I'm building my first AR. Been around them for 12 years in the Army but never owned or built. This will probably be my only build, at least in the next 5-10 years. So is it worth it for me to buy the upper reciever whole or in pieces. I've completed the lower in pieces. To build the upper I would need some tools, so I'm just curious if it is worth it. Also, I want a 16" M4 profile barrel with gas block with a flat top receiver, so who is the best place to to buy parts/whole upper from on a military budget? Thanks |
That's what everyone says on their first build. Then BRD sets in and you just can't help yourself |
| I've had the itch for a long while, but took some convincing of the wife why I needed an assault rifle. She on board now though. I've been leaning toward the building it myself, just having trouble deciding on parts. I've wanted the standard 16" M4 profile barrel, but I kind of like the 11.5 with the welded on 5.5 muzzle. |
| Welcome to the boards, Top. If you're doing an M4 replica, you may want to consider a CMMG 14.7" M4 profile barrel with permanently attached A2 FH to give you 16". Shortening it 1.3" doesn't seem like much, but I think it makes a world of difference in handling as well as in looks. Two tenths over an issue M4 barrel is as close as you can come to issue without going NFA. Alternatively, you can get a 16" M4 profile barrel, and have someone like ADCO cut it to 14.7 and permanently attach the FH. Steve does good work. Either way, I think you'll be really pleased with a 14.7" barrel. You can get a 14.5" barrel and permanently attach an extended A2 hider, but those look a little goofy. Sixteen inch barrels on an M4 just don't look right to me, and I don't see the point in using an 11.5 with a long FH, unless you're building an XM177 replica - Less velocity, and arguably less accuracy and reliability. |
|
Just so you know, you really don't "need" that many tools to build the upper. Yes the tools are very helpful, or I would assume are helpful. I just built my upper with a rubber mallet, a 3/4 wrench, a couple screw drivers, some pliers, and a whole lot of colorful words. There may be a few other tools I used but I can't think of them at the moment (they were basic tools). It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, but it's built... So don't let the cost of the tools have too much of an impact on your choice, because it can be done with basic tools (which I'm assuming you have because you built the lower). To extend on what VAAR said, Steve and ADCO are very good and very helpful. Extremely fast shipping ($4 flat rate and took only 2 days to ship it accross the country). They also had the best price on my upper receiver ($30 less than next closest) that I could find after days of searching multiple websites. So they are a good place to start for parts, but really most of the vendors listed under the industry forums are really good. I ended up ordering from more than 6 vendors under there and had a great experience with all of them and they all seemed to be a comparable or better price than what I could find from searching google for the parts. If your looking for the best prices I'd figure out what you want and compare the prices between those vendors. |
AR Sponsor