I have a buddy in Colorado who the hammer’ about to fall on them for AR’s and wants to get in the game quick. Hard budget cap of $1k, he’s semiretired and that’s the limit his wife has set.
Best I’ve done so far is at Arms Unlimited, a basic pin-and-weld 14.5" 6920 at Arms Unlimited for $795 with only iron sights.
https://armsunlimited.com/colt-carbine-223-semi-auto-rifle-w-quad-rail-14-5-pin-weld/
Can we do better getting him a Home D Ready iron and optic for under his allowed budget?
I see you can get a SOLGW mostly complete lower from PA and a Sionics upper from Sionics for about that. Not sure if the lead times work with the deadline.
Even with shipping/transfer, I would grab the Colt! That would leave him enough for an optic if he wanted something inexpensive. Or just buy 10/12 PMAGs and some ammo run the irons and call it a day.
I mean ya can buy a PSA complete rifle for half that amount, buy mags ammo, and optic, and prob be OK but you’re taking a chance on getting a lemon. Boils down to how much is he really gonna shoot/train etc. There are options around but the Colt is prob the better one.
I snooped around and found this: AimSurplus, LLC
AimSurplus, LLC
I don’t know anything about S&W rifles: AimSurplus, LLC
I keep seeing diff options @ AimSurplus, LLC Just have him check there and then guide him to the best options.
Honestly, for a turnkey AR of known quality you cannot go wrong with a 6920. And then pickup an optic from Primary Arms to go with it.
“Get a 6920 and…”, sorry channeling old school M4C. 
Honestly that is still good advice. That 6920 ain’t a bad deal. It’s CO, so ain’t he stuck with 15 round mags? If he buys that, he’s close to budget. An optic might be a “later” thing. For an HD carbine I’d suggest he spend the remainder on a weapon light. Some mags if there is cash left, otherwise collect a few at a time. I hear the 15rd PRI is ok. Or there is some outfit that sells modified Magpul 20s that are CO legal.
Hell, I’m thinking about ordering one at 8 bills just cause I’m weak like that. I’m fresh out of Colts these days. Too bad the first thing I would do is mill off that muzzle device. Well ok., form 1 first mill second.
There’s just so many out there to choose from.
M&P 15 SPORT III Series is $799 MSRP.
$479 (thats crazy) → https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-pa15-7-nitride-pistol-length-556-shockwave-marauder-ar15-pistol-black.html
Short article of brands and the tiers they play in.
https://www.snipercountry.com/ar-15-brands-ranked/
BTW, transfers… FFL’s should charge no more than $1 to facilitate the 4473. That’s just my opinion… if we want to help keep 2A alive.
You can grab the IWI Zion for a solid price.
If you just need cheap, and can find on sale, the Andro Corp sub-$400 rifles seem to be OK.
The “Gremlin” Mk 18-ish has an Andro Corp barrel. I’m mainly looking to give my buddy a range of “community picks” options to wring as much value out of his kilobuck as he can. 
Why is the wife setting him a limit? Get the Colt and then get an optic later on…
I don’t know, could be something like the occasional wager my girlfriend and I have about final tabs vs expected budgets on projects. None of my business how others run their households as long as they don’t try to drag me into it, I figure… the only thing that matters to us here is that the hard budget cap exists and our goal here is to wring as much value out of it as we can.
Why not a PSA? Everything I have of theirs is just fine.
2 complete uppers here. An upper and a lower can be cheaper than a whole gun too, at times.
That’s the bigger problem. Get rid of the wife.
Has it been voted into law yet?
If he’s lived until retirement without an AR it probably won’t get out of the safe much if at all. What about a stripped receiver and a 10-pack of 30rd pmags before the ban is in effect as long as everything else isn’t restricted? Spending less than $200 should keep the wife happy.
If private sales of so-called assault rifles become banned the rifle will be worthless anyway. Maybe buy a cheap rifle. There’s several I’ve seen lately under $400. PSA, DEL-TON, Anderson and others. The new Bushmaster in Nevada (who knows about them??) is advertising blem rifles for $500. Any of the aforementioned should hold up well stored in a safe. Actually, I’ve got a PSA that’s performed flawlessly through four cases of M193. just sayin’
I wouldn’t be against a complete PSA rifle either. While the Colt is tried and true go look up the vid of Garand Thumb destroying a PSA AR after thousands of rds @ full auto!! Dam thing held up pretty well.
If it was me, and I was looking at having one bite at the apple, I’d go with the best I could get for my budget. The accessories will be available later.
Not paying a lot of attention cause I ain’t living in CO. Isn’t their bill kinda falling apart?
My home is local to PSA. I see a lot of problems with their stuff. Like, a lot of really dumb problems that shouldn’t make it out of the door. I know that they also make good (acceptable, rather) stuff, they’re just unwilling to commit to doing so consistently. They instead outsource QA/QC to the customer, and then pay a dude to do brand image damage control on TOS.
They could be a good option for the dude, I don’t know.
Dunno, I don’t have time to keep up with it as I have my hands full fighting my own battles with the Jackass jackoffs of WA. I’m just giving his situation as I understand him to perceive it. Remember, here even the M1 Carbine my Uncle Frank stormed a Nazi Konzentrazionslager with is banned…
I actually sent the deal to my cousin, and he passed because it’s marked “223”! Is that a deal breaker? In an AR for what that’s designed for, I would rather have the option of it being 556 so you can run anything through it. I guess there is more 223-marked ammo than 556, but unless you reload, you would have to watch what you buy in ammo. I’m just wondering your thoughts.
No way would I want anything with a barrel marked .223.
All 5.56 NATO chambers here, so we can shoot anything and everything with aplomb.
I guess .223 Wylde would be fine, but no experience with it.
At least in the case of this 6920, it is marked .223 but has a 5.56 chamber. Largely, but not always, an industry standard these days.