I’m new here. I stumbled upon here after almost making the mistake of buying a bushmaster carbon 15. Good thing i found you guys!
Anyway as i get older i have found its often better to pay for a top end product then buying junk (motorcycle gear, tires, tax preparation, ect)
So i decided that I want a BCM, however money is going to be tight as I am house shopping. I don’t want to wait to get one nor do I want to buy an inferior rifle only to buy a BCM in the future. My budget allows for the following.
BCM mid 16" upper
BCM BCG
BCM blemished lower
Cheap hand guards
cheap rear site
I will eventually upgrade to better hand guards and optics but I want a rifle one soon. I want to be one and done on my ar purchase. There are a few other rifles and handguns i would like.
Will putting cheap handguards and a $30 rear site have that much of a negative impact?
I wont be using this for patrol or anything like that
(on a side note, this will not put me in debt or anything like that) My only debt will be a mortgage)
Thanks in advance
i tried searching but didnt find much about cheap handguards
I am currently building a new patrol rifle for work using a BCM 16" lightweight hammer forged middy upper. I am going to run MagPul MOE handguards on it until the new Centurion Arms FSB cut-out handguads are released.
The MOE handguards still allow you to mount accesories such as lights, vertical grips, and sling mounts.
The MOE handguards will serve you well and they only cost about $35 or so.
I would avoid buying any other the cheap UTG, EAA, Tapco garbage handguard systems that are available. Run the MagPul MOE handguards until you can save up enough to get a quality freefloat system from the likes of Troy, LaRue, Daniel Defense, Centurion Arms, etc.
As far as a rear sight goes, I would shop around on the different forum equipment exchanges for a used Daniel Defense 1.5 rear sight, or just save up for a new one. A “Cheap” rear sight that goes for about $30 new shouldnt be considered if you want it to fall apart on you when you need it. It is that cheap for a reason.
I am assuming that you are not going to be running an optic on this rifle to start off with due to your budget, so I would suggest running a fixed rear sight like the Daniel Defense or the new Troy fixed rear or the LaRue BUIS.
So for about $100 you can get a set of Magpul MOE Midlength handguards and a Daniel Defense 1.5 rear sight.
Look to Impact Weapons Components for anything you need to bolt something up to a MOE handguard. Personally, I don’t buy “rails” with everything they’ve come out with for the MOE’s. Serves one well…
Op if you are able to save $ to buy quality parts for the build, why start skimping on sites. Save a few more bucks. What good are cheap sites on a good rifle?
I put the C8 handguards on my first rifle. They have worked fine so far. This was before the MOE’s were available. If I had to do it over again, I would buy the MOE HG’s for about $15 more for the reasons mentioned a few posts up.
Great advice above. I agree with Nick get a used rear sight like a DD or LaRue here in the equipment exchange. Lots of guys are probably selling their standard C8 or RRA midlength hand guards on the EE now that magpuls are out. I’d go MP because of the flexibility they offer. I’ve taken my rails off and switched to all MOE hand guards they do everything I need. Don’t buy a crap rear sight go with quality used.
I agree with everything above. Don’t skimp on the sight especially if it’s your primary sight. I wouldn’t go with anything less than the Magpul BUIS for a sight. I highly recommend the MOE handguards, although I didn’t really have any problems with the RRA midlength handguards that I originally had with the exception that they didn’t offer as much flexibility with attachment points as the Magpuls.
