AR upper advice?

I

iggyd

Joined
May 21, 2009
Messages
207
I'm in the middle of looking for an upper to finish rifle build. I thought I'd ask here since there are a lot of you with gun knowledge.

I live in California so the overall barrel length has to be at least 16", no full auto, or suppressors. I know there are debates about DI and piston, but I have decided that I want to go DI to learn how to shoot and maintain first.

With that said I'm looking at the Noveske uppers with a mid length gass tube, but what else is out there that has good quality, reliability, and accuracy? I want to stay around $1400 for the upper, but I'm always down to save money.

Thanks in advance!
 
I think most of the uppers in your price range are pretty good uppers. If it were me, though, I'd get a decent upper from Rock River, S&W, or similar and spend the balance on optics (if required) and more importantly lots of ammo.
 
Take a look at Larue also. Very high quality uppers. Between Larue and Noveske, you can't go wrong.

Jim
 
Are you panning on buying a complete upper?

I would buy your upper reciever to match the finish of your lower. It doesn't have to be the same brand, but you are more likely to get a good match that way. Then put the guts that you want in it IE Noveske barrel, LMT Bolt/Carrier, Adjustable gas tube...these are the parts going into my current build. I only need the hand guard to finish it up.

Living in California you may not have as many options because I'm guessing the lower had to be on the manufacture approved list?

One thing to keep in mind when building/purchasing your upper parts..."m4 feed ramps" or "no m4 feed ramps". You want to buy the upper reciever and the barrel to match. If the reciever has the feed ramp cuts, then you want to buy a barrel matching feed ramp cuts.

feedramps2.jpg
 
I would buy your upper reciever to match the finish of your lower.
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I don't mean to offend but this is really poor advice. The finish on a rifle like this doesn't matter one bit. My BCM lower has a purpleish hue to it and the upper is black. As soon as you stop fondeling it and start shooting it, you won't even notice. You should be focusing on whether or not the parts are mil-spec, which many brands are not.

Check out this site for expert advice on everything AR related.
http://www.m4carbine.net

Other manufacturers to look at besides BCM are Colt, LMT, Noveske, LaRue, and Daniel Defense.
 
In that price range, I would certainly take a look at the piston uppers. Much more reliable but pricer.

IMHO anyone who tells you that you have to spend that much on an AR upper has something to sell. I built my AR for about $650 TOTAL and it has functioned fine for thousands of rounds. This wasn't in 1970 either, it was last year.
 
Check out Bravo Company, they have their brand and LMT, both are tops, IMO. I also like Stag Arms, they have a great customer service and awesome rifles. Soon they will have a gas piston model, looking forward to that! Primary Weapon Systems (PWS) make some really nice “compensators” (IMO) that look like flash hiders, but are ATF ok, and gas piston uppers also.
 
Forgot to mention Bushmaster, I have a couple Bushy ARs and have never had a problem. Bushy & Stags Arms, fired thousands of rounds (Wolf ammo, polymer) and no problems, IMO cant go wrong!! 1400 bananas can buy you a couple of uppers and some ammo!
 
+1 on Stag-I have their 2TL and I just built a Varmint rifle with their 6HL upper.I think I paid about $600 for the upper. Great warranty and customer service. JMHO
 
I agree, Stag builds a good rifle. I would go for the standard upper so parts are readily available rather than the piston one.
 
Thanks for the advice! I am looking for a complete upper, but now that new legislation passed on handgun ammo, I may spend the money on a handgun before they decide to do something about not owning those. That's a simple choice: Kimber.
 
Stag and Bushmaster have complete uppers for sale and everything in btwn. I do like the 4150 bbls though and tend to buy Bushmaster bbls for a custom upper build. Also, I like Yankee Hill Machine free float handguards, great product and price also. Good luck with your build. one piece of advice, invest in head space gauges.
 
iggyd said:
Thanks for the advice! I am looking for a complete upper, but now that new legislation passed on handgun ammo, I may spend the money on a handgun before they decide to do something about not owning those. That's a simple choice: Kimber.
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I wouldn't worry about buying the handgun at this point, but stocking up on ammo would be *way* up on my priority list. The handgun will probably still available after this legislation goes into effect.

Reloading supplies might be a good idea as well....
 
RancidSumo said:
I don't mean to offend but this is really poor advice. The finish on a rifle like this doesn't matter one bit. My BCM lower has a purpleish hue to it and the upper is black. As soon as you stop fondeling it and start shooting it, you won't even notice. You should be focusing on whether or not the parts are mil-spec, which many brands are not.

Check out this site for expert advice on everything AR related.
http://www.m4carbine.net

Other manufacturers to look at besides BCM are Colt, LMT, Noveske, LaRue, and Daniel Defense.
Click to expand...

This is the best advice in the thread so far. Do not go cheap on an upper (especially on the BCG). Parts are not all the same (Bushmaster, RRA, etc are not equal with BCM, Colt, etc). BCM is the probably the best value going right now. DD is not far behind.

Please do yourself a favor and do some research over at M4Carbine.net.
 
matthewdanger said:
Please do yourself a favor and do some research over at M4Carbine.net.
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I'll add another strong endorsement of M4Carbine.net, especially the comparison-chart thread here (and the chart itself here).

Likewise G&R Tactical and M4Carbine.net's knowledge base.

Be aware that while M4Carbine.net (like Grant's shop) is a great source of info for those who truly want to learn and discuss, it can be decidedly chilly to poseurs and folks who get their rifle warm by firing a hundred rounds twice a year.
 
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