I’ve been reading a lot before I started to bug you guys on this forum. I am new to the AR-15 platform and I’m trying to put together or buy a good rifle on budget for well under $2,000 total, but I’m not willing to sacrifice functionality. Reliablility is a priortity, then accuracy. I’m trying to get a solid 1-1.5 moa rifle (I’m a hunter also), but the rifle will be built for home defense/ woods carry. From the reading I’ve done the following brands seem to be good bets: Spikes, BCM, Daniel Defense.
Can yall give me a breif description of pro’s/con’s of the above brands with respect to accuracy/reliability/cost please. Is it better to peice together or buy complete for my budget’s sake. Will I be sacrificing reliablity by piecing together parts myself? I’m chasing my tail on this. Are there other brands that I should consider for the price range I’m in? Do I need a fixed front sight (I know I need a free float hand gaurd, preferably something that I can replace one day with a slick rail other than quad-rail)?
Other accessories that I’m settling on so far that budget should include:
Aimpoint T-1 2 moa
good light (surefire g2 or x300 or Streamlight TLR-1)
BUIS rear/front
I know, I know I need to keep reading and I plan to for sure, but I got to admit this is a little overwhelming- a lot to take in for sure. If there is anyone out there that knows there stuff well and is willing to give me a few minutes of the their time over the phone I would really appreciate it. I have so many questions and I don’t even know enough to know how to ask them!
Most will respond get a basic colt, bcm, DD fro 1-1.5k shoot the shiz out of it and then decide what else you need.
If you are focused on accuracy and hunting i can also suggest a larue predatAR which has a lightweight stainless barrel and would come in around 1700 with iron sights.
Do some research on “Chrome lined vs stainless” and decide if that is what you want or not. Its a great value.
IMHO the two best values out there right now are:
Rainier arms RUC
Larue PredatAR
But at the end of the day they are not that much different than a basic Colt 6920 or standard DD/BCM.
I dont understand this part. Have you thought of an actual optic?? You mention hunting thats why I ask.
The T-1 is a good optic, I run them, They can be accurate but you gotta slow down. Especially if its really bright out and the setting is high.
You cover what you want the rifle to look like but what is its PURPOSE?
That is gonna be somewhat of the deciding factor for what parts go into it. Perhaps a complete rifle would be better suited for what youre after. Not only that but there are rifles out there that pretty much cover what you need
I am not saying your wish is not possible but, your optic (T1) may cost you $500 used good sights $100+ and a sf(X300) may be more than you desired budget. I dont know what qualifies as well under. My advice is make your gun around its main purpose and fix your budget from there. (ie. if your purpose was a precision rifle your budget would only cover the optic, if its hunting you may adjust for that, or patrol hd same thing)
good luck to ya
Thanks for the responses everyone. The primary purpose of this rifle will be fighting/defense. I want to have a rifle ready to fight with. I plan to train with it and become proficient with it as a weapon for potential use in protecting my family. It needs to be able to take the abuse of heavy use and possibly one day full auto fire. It needs to be utterly-reliable.
With that being said, like the most of you, I’m not made of money and I can only afford one rifle at a time. I would like this rifle to serve under a secondary philosephy-of-use also—hunting. Not a long range precision rifle, just deerstand hunting out to 150 yards or so. If the rifle is accurate enought for me to be able to take neck shots on 70 lb deer (i hunt in the hillcountry of TX) and headshots (brain) on feral hogs then that would open up a lot more shot opportunities for me and I would feel less hesitant to take it out and leave the big rifle at home. Also, I figured this platform will be good for bringing young ones into the world of hunting being that it shoots real soft and they won’t have to struggle with locating game in the scope.
Your T-1 with a magnifier ought to get you out to 150 yards without much trouble. I like Eotechs better for that use for the 1 MOA dot instead of the 2 MOA on the current T-1. I also prefer the Eotech magnifier and would go that route over the Aimpoint magnifier.
If you’re new to the platform, I wouldn’t try to build a rifle. Buy a Colt, DD, BCM, Noveske. Shoot it, take training courses (very important if it’s a SD/HD rifle), find out what you like and don’t like, then modify the rifle you have or build/buy a new one.
How are you going to convert it to full auto someday?
Thanks for you response. I’m not sure I understood exactly what you were saying in regards to my quote that you modified to bold some words, but I think you were pointing out that my optic (red dot) is a larger size (2moa) than my desired accuracy (1-1.5moa). If so, it’s because I’m not willing to give up the advantage for my primary purpose of this rifle (fighting) in order to gain advantage for my secondary purpose (hunting). Also, even though the dot covering up your target can be hindering on small targets (smaller than 2moa) it doesn’t neccessary hinder your accuracy potential on larger targets like deer where you can center the dot within a silhouette. Please forgive me if I misunderstood. I know you probably already now this.
Thanks for the response. At the risk of sounding really ignorant…I thought that being able to convert these upper-end rifles to full auto was one of the advantages of buying them…no?
And yes, thats what I was saying, wanting a 1moa rifle while using a 2moa dot…kinda defeats the purpose of wanting such small grouping.
I completely understand hunting and realize the shot plecement on a deer/elk is pretty big.
You first need to figure out this rifle and what you want it for, it comes down to specifics.
Have you thought at all about keeping it simple?
When I say that I mean the stock plastic handguards, carry handle, irons…go out and shoot it for a month or two and find out what style you have, what you like to do with it and how well you shoot.
If your rate of fire is a few shots in a couple minutes, and youre really not after speed, go with a optic like a 1-4x.
If you want to run drills and engage multiple paper targets, get something faster like a T1 or Eotech.
Only YOU know what you want, none of us can tell you
If I do decide to buy a complete rifle from DD, BCM, or Colt. Should I get a Fixed front sight or a RECCE style (with a flip-up front site). I think I would like the RECCE style better, but I don’t know as much as y’all. Wouldn’t I have more flexiblility with the RECCE (replacing barrels, etc.)
Thanks for the responses everyone. The primary purpose of this rifle will be fighting/defense. I want to have a rifle ready to fight with. I plan to train with it and become proficient with it as a weapon for potential use in protecting my family. It needs to be able to take the abuse of heavy use and possibly one day full auto fire. It needs to be utterly-reliable.
With that being said, like the most of you, I’m not made of money and I can only afford one rifle at a time. I would like this rifle to serve under a secondary philosephy-of-use also—hunting. Not a long range precision rifle, just deerstand hunting out to 150 yards or so. If the rifle is accurate enought for me to be able to take neck shots on 70 lb deer (i hunt in the hillcountry of TX) and headshots (brain) on feral hogs then that would open up a lot more shot opportunities for me and I would feel less hesitant to take it out and leave the big rifle at home. Also, I figured this platform will be good for bringing young ones into the world of hunting being that it shoots real soft and they won’t have to struggle with locating game in the scope.
I posted the above earlier, but I’m still learning how to use the forum tools (quote, etc.)
Google the Firearms Owners Protection Act, specifically look at the Hughes amendment. Citizens can’t own a fully automatic weapon unless it was registered prior to May 19, 1986. You can try to buy one – they’re around – but they’re typically running around $12,000 - $22,000.
Be prepared to lay down some heavy duty coin to buy full auto. Right around the $10-15 thousand range. NFA law dictates that only machine guns manufactured prior to 1986 are available for legal purchase by us lowly civilians.
