The lower you linked is one of the other uppers I’ve looked at and it’s solidly in the price range I’m comfortable with, even without the BCG and CH. This kind of feedback is exactly what I’m after, too! My budget has a little flex, but not much more than, say $100-$150 max. This and a good lower would be exactly what I’m after right now. I want to get a rifle together and shooting and then I’ll start considering upgrades, such as a decent trigger and good optics.
I can get Anderson lowers locally for about $60 - plus tax and Commiefornia’s idiotic DROS fee. One thing I have decided is that I am steering clear of poly lowers, especially the ATI that is most common locally. Why spend $50 for a plastic lower when I can get a good forged aluminum lower for about the same price?
You will not save any money buying tools and an 80% lower.
A basic Colt (read: LE6920/6720), or a pieced together BCM/LMT/Sionics, is much cheaper than a Railed DD or Larue. You will shoot yourself in the foot if you spring for a $500 AR. Heed to this advice.
Lastly, you’re a fool if you don’t save another $300 and buy this:
If I’m a fool for not having wads of cash to spend then so be it. I will buy what I can afford and be happy with it. What I will not do is sit by and be insulted for being poor.
I’ve got one PSA lower and two Anderson lowers, and I dare say I like the Anderson ones better. The finish is darker and smoother, plus the new ones have an integrated trigger guard, which I love.
You’re whole point thus far is that he needs to spend more money, even when he has clearly defined his budget and reasons for it. I think you’d find him more willing to listen to you if you connected that thought to actually inserting a magazine into the gun, pulling the trigger and having it shoot a bullet. You know, to do what he wants to with the gun. I just reloaded 1500 rounds of ammo to shoot over the next few months out of my two ARs, one of which is a PSA and the other one I built myself using mostly PSA parts. My guns shoot a bullet every time I load them and pull the trigger, so maybe you could educate me as well.
I am not getting into a debate over why I choose BCM over PSA. The OP is free to do it his way, for better or worse.
That’s fine, I won’t debate you. If you give your personal experiences, and how they have shaped your opinion both with the equipment you are recommending and recommending against, I’ll leave it at that.