Thinking of a AR any help :)

[TBDesigns]

I've really wanted a AR for awhile but I've only owned a hand gun where should I start? Upper? Lower?

Any suggestions.

[Noobert]

Budget? And do you know what style you want? Like would you want a short carbine, or a regular rifle etc?

[TBDesigns]

Budget?

Not really sure on budget. I've been getting a few people wanting to trade parts and etc for my design work I'm just clueless on what to pick up.

[Noobert]

What sort of parts are they willing to trade?

[TBDesigns]

Lowers/Uppers and misc stuff like the stuff on http://www.parallaxtactical.com/store/

[r6raff]

Your question is pretty broad. Here is a decent start

What would you like to do with it? short range plinking, long range precision, Home defense, SHTF, bling bling etc...

How much do you want to spend? You can build as cheap as 600bucks or go big and spends thousands.

What caliber? You can make an AR in just about any realistic rifle or pistol caliber. Obviously the most popular is 223/5.56, some good alternatives are 7.62x39 and 6.8 while using the AR15 lower, using an AR10/308 lower 7.62x51 is the prefered or typical cartridge.

[r6raff]

Lowers/Uppers and misc stuff like the stuff on http://www.parallaxtactical.com/store/

Thats like linking a website that lists all GM vehicles and saying I want one of these vehicles.

The AR weapon system has evolved, giving birth to thousands of accessories, grips/rails, stocks, barrels, brakes/fh etc... ARs are literally big boys legos. Aside from service and leo/issue weapons, I encounter very few ARs that are alike.

[TBDesigns]

It would be for short and long range shooting at the range. Not looking to spend thousands even though I might just end up spending thousands later down the road on accessories and etc. I was thinking the 223

[pacifico23]

Get whatever the best deal is first. If not that then get the lower and lower parts. As far as what to get I would stick to .556. If you want something bad arse go with LMT, Noveske, Daniel Defense, BCM upper. If you want a plinker I would go with RRA, Spikes, CMMG or Stag uppers. The lowers don't matter to much.

[AeroEngi]

Get whatever the best deal is first. If not that then get the lower and lower parts. As far as what to get I would stick to .556. If you want something bad arse go with LMT, Noveske, Daniel Defense, BCM upper. If you want a plinker I would go with RRA, Spikes, CMMG or Stag uppers. The lowers don't matter to much.

Make sure you have your flame suit on

[r6raff]

Check the BCM website, mainly because they have a large assortment and combinations and have tons of pictures for each with different optics.

I love BCM, they are great, that said, I still wouldn't hesitate to get a Daniels Defense, LMT, Larue, Noveske, slightly less expensive would be Stag, CMMG, Spikes and a few others I can't recall.

Really, most manufactures will be more than adequate for civilian or plinking usage and it really comes down to how much you want to drop and whether or not you want that "Peace of Mind"

When it comes down to it (besides high quality glass) your cost for ammo will trump the cost for your weapon easily.

Just have fun with it, ARs are seriously big boy legos. Be ready build another, they really are addicting.

[FMJBT]

After building many variations of the AR platform, the configuration that I find most useful for pretty much everything is this:

-Flat top upper receiver
Carry handles are cool looking, but at some point you'll probably want to try optics, and optics on top of carry handles just look and feel goofy

-16" to 18" stainless steel barrel 5.56 chambered with either 1-8" or 1-7" twist rate, threaded muzzle. Standard DI gas system in either mid or rifle length.
This seems to be a good length for all around use. From point blank out to around 700-800 yards this length of barrel will get it done. The faster 1-8 or 1-7 twist will stabilize even the heavier 77 grain match bullets while still shooting well with 55 grain plinking rounds. I'd much rather deal with the effects of over spinning a bullet (spin drift at longer ranges) than the effects of under stabilizing. The threaded muzzle is a good idea too, allowing for a variety of muzzle devices that can help tailor your build to whatever purpose you want. I'd go with the DI gas system simply because it has the potential for greater accuracy than a piston system.

-Free Floated Forend
Free floating the barrel is probably the single biggest thing you can do to increase accuracy. Many types of free float forends are available. Everything from simple free float tubes to railed forends that will hold hundreds of pounds of picatinney accessories. I prefer simple forends with a single top rail like the Troy TRX or Midwest SS. Keeps the weight down while allowing for customization to add rails only where you need them.

-Optics
For a general purpose build, it's a good idea to stick with either a low power variable like a 1-4X or a fixed low to medium power with a secondary red dot optic mounted either on top of the primary, or off to the side on a 45 degree offset mount. Lots of choices out there for optics. I have a few favorites but I'll refrain from turning this into an optics discussion....

Hopefully this helps

[motorwerks]

Go buy a lower they are all BASICALLY the same most are forged in one of about 4 places then finished in one of a ton of places, they all hold the trigger, stock and upper and do pretty much the same thing....... We'll see ya back here in about 11 days.

This is almost the exact same thing I tell all of my friends that say "I want to assemble an AR" I figure this way if they put forth the effort to do the research go to an FFL then I can help out from there. But I've spent a TON of time explaining in detail differences between all of my guns, uppers, lowers, triggers, etc just to have it all go to hell.

[mindwip]

One of the bigger decisions is feature or featureless?

[Research Monkey]

In the same boat (but I already picked up a stripped spike's lower today @ riflegear) so I hope people keep responding to this thread