You haven't missed anything over at ar15.com,other then a bunch of fuckin' losers that spew shit. Its mostly good for a cheap laugh,very little truthful information. Thats the downfall of a forum,that is made up of a bunch of end of days,the goverments attacking us dickheads.


I've bought alot of ar parts over the past year and have lost count of how many dealers have said they're sick of the shit coming from ar15.com. One example is a company that is currently offering eagle arms(division of armalite) lowers for 75 bucks a piece. They buy 1000's of lowers. One batch of 500 lowers had something like 5 out of spec lowers in it. Somebody on ar15 got one and then all the shit started. Suddenly there's dozens of these eagle arms lowers out there that are shit.Even though there never was that many to begin with. This company had to go through all kinds of bullshit,to clear this up. It really was no big deal,armalite stands behind their product and they can send you a replacement direct and you don't need another ffl fee. The end result,is this company claims they will never offer another sale like this,the phone is still ringing off the hook from people who thought they might have a bad reciever.

I've built several ar's. Like the information above,its simple and all ar's are franken ar's,even complete rifles are nothing but the very same parts you can buy put together by some monkey. Thats the way it is with a battle weapon. There are deals on the net right now,for a lower reciever at less then $100(the only part you have to sign for),then buy a kit upper. This will consist of a barrel that's already headspaced and attached to an upper reciever,a bolt and carrier,buttstock,hand guards and charging handle. You can pick one of these up for under $500. You don't need chrome lined barrels,contrary to what alot of dickheads would have you believe.

Until a couple of years ago,Ar15.com was manned by quite a few knowledgeable folks,especially the competition and how to forums. David Tubb, John Feamster, John Holliger and several other notables were often there. Then, like RMK said ,it was over run by knuckleheads and children, I wouldn't waste my time there now. Run a search on "Service rifle" and you will find several sites that are oriented toward competition, but also will provide much info on accuracy parts and what to do with them. Once you have a barrel with barrel extension and a bolt headspaced properly, the rest is chimp work (sort of) .
good luck
Covey16

CrazyQuick
Have you looked at the J&T Surplus website? I have used them for parts and 1 upper. They were great to deal with and have a wide variety of uppers. Prices are good and parts are high quality. You can find a lot of junk AR parts on the web if you try to go too cheap.As far as lowers,Armalite and Rock River and Bushmaster are consistently good. I have ASA,Bushmaster and Armalite lowers and they are all good.The ASA actually has the best finish. Most lowers are machined from Maremont Forgings(weell mostly all) and many are finish machined in the same shops with different names on them.
Don't go too cheap and pay attention to what barrel you are getting.
Like a great AR gunsmith once said when asked about AR accuracy improvements "Free float a good barrel, next question." The rest fo the gun, other than the trigger is not that important as long as you use good parts.
good luck
Covey16

Well I just bought two eagle arms lowers from quanticoarms.com,for 75 bucks a piece. They're nothing but an off brand armalite and armalite is of good quality. The finish on them is great. I'd suggest buying the eagle arms lower while they're still on sale.



A friend has both a colt and Model 1,I have a model 1 and an RRA. I think model 1 is a real sleeper and the model 1 matches finish with the eagle lower. My friends colt hbar is accurate,but both of our model1's will match it for function and accuracy.



Colts I feel are over priced.There aren't really any secrets to a colt. Colt in the majority of cases use Continental machine and tool lowers,uppers,bolts,carriers and various other parts,short of barrels. You can purchase CMT parts on your own also,they are spendy. The real kicker,is colt uses ER Shaw barrels in the majority of cases,the same barrel model 1 uses and so does a host of others.ER Shaw is an accurate barrel in most cases,but for the price you're paying colt,you should be geeting a krieger. The bottom line with colt,is you're buying a name.



Bushmaster is a good brand,but they use the same parts as any of the others do and put their names on it. You're paying for a brand name again and their varmint uppers are a joke,they charge an arm and a leg and don't even give you a good weaver style front gas block,but some piece of modified shit,that you can't even mount a flip up sight on.



Rock rivers are on par with bushmaster,colt and armalite but they are usually priced cheaper,they also have a goverment contract right now,so they'll be raising their prices.



Armalite and oly both have good reps. for quality.



The bottom line is,most all brands use the same hand full of manufacturers and put their own names on it.The majority of the barrels on all these models are either ER Shaw or Wilson,neither are premium quality barrels.



What are you going to use this rifle for crazyquick?



Personally,I use them for plinking rapid fire,and varmints. I buy stainless 20 inch heavy barrels with 1-9 twists,not varmint weight barrels and match them with flat top A3 uppers and weaver style front gas blocks. I scope mine and have flip up rear and front sights. I also use free float tubes,for hand guards. I use collapsible CAR style buttstocks. I've found this setup to be well balanced and holds target well.



I would have to agree that a quality barrel matched with good ammo is the key. Save your money on the aftermarket triggers. They're a rip off,the standard trigger can be cleaned up by a competant smith,for a fraction of the cost of replacing. I've seen them safely adjusted down to 2.5lbs.



I'm personally waiting to see what the assault weapons ban does in september. If it sets,prices are going to drop on these things.

How much work is putting one of these kits together, how many specialized tools are needed?

RMK, you've pretty much nailed down exactly what I want. I'm not after the best accuracy available, nor the lightest most compact carry rifle. Basically something just to shoot, and possibly to shoot varmints with since I dont have any other small bore rifles.

I've been looking over Model 1's webpage a lot lately.

Probably a 20" barrel, maybe 24, probably not stainless nor fluted. Most likely a free float tube. Toss up between A2 sights or a flattop though.

What are National Match sights, just a smaller rear peep and a finer front post?

Right now I'm just shopping and learning. I'm waiting untill September before I get out the wallet.

The NM sights are more refined. Smaller aperture.