Beckerhead firearms

Still looking at getting a AR. The Ruger is top of the list. However building one might be fun.
Thoughts?
 
LG&M said:
Still looking at getting a AR. The Ruger is top of the list. However building one might be fun.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

you can buy a working AR for short money

learn to shoot it

then learn what you want "more"

too many people "build an AR as their first AR, and have no clue what they are doing"

not saying that's you...

but the AR overall? stupid platform. lego modular military kit.

so many more interesting rifles.
 
LG&M said:
Still looking at getting a AR. The Ruger is top of the list. However building one might be fun.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Building is very fun. Potentially frustrating, but very fulfilling in the long run. Relatively easy to do with the right tools. Armorer's wrench, lower/ upper vise blocks, and any special tools for the delta ring or proprietary rails and you're good to go.

If you invest in all those tools though, you might as well make 3 or 4 more builds to really make them worth buying... :p

I have a complete upper that was store bought, and an upper I half built (gas block and rail change), and both my lowers are 80% that I milled to 100%, and then populated with some decent LPKs. Fun fun fun.
 
LG&M said:
Still looking at getting a AR. The Ruger is top of the list. However building one might be fun.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'm not crazy about the Ruger. Colt 6920's are going for under $1000 at times even with Magpul MOE furniture.

I went on youtube and watched a few videos on assembling a lower half. Did it with less-than-proper tools, gun still works. Still better off to buy the right stuff. Do a lot of research first, not all parts are created equal, buffer weight, trigger, ect...

If you plunk down the cash and buy a top tier rifle, you'll never wish you had got something cheaper. But if you go cheap, even if the gun runs perfectly, you may end up wishing you had just spent the extra money. Years ago I was looking at entry-level 1911's and I ended up dropping $1300 on a Springfield, the sticker shock wore off pretty quick and now I'm glad I did it instead of spending half of that on a questionable gun.
 
I'm on the other side. I bought a high-end AR the first time. To be fair, the rifle is great as is, although I did end up dropping in several upgrades anyways, mostly having to do with me being a lefty. But right now, you can build for dirt cheap. I ended up doing another build using a PSA blem lower and a custom-built upper, and, for about 500 bucks less, ended up with a rifle that was perfect for me. I figure, unless you want the standard stuff in the lower, build the lower. Buy a pre-made upper, so you don't have to worry about headspace. You may not know what you want until you've already run an AR, but the nice thing about them is that you can upgrade to your hearts content. It's not like you can't spend the extra cash to make your rifle better with an AR. It's one of the easiest platforms for that (not like a 1911, which is notoriously buggy to build).

Qeth, as far as heat goes, I don't know what the ID is on the SLR, but if it's wide enough, you could have the barrel straight jacketed by Teludyne; that will dissipate heat AND increase accuracy. I know that the Aero Precision handguard is wide enough, but don't know what the specs are for the SLR. It's got to be wide enough to fit a suppressor. Of course, that's an expensive route to go.
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
Qeth, as far as heat goes, I don't know what the ID is on the SLR, but if it's wide enough, you could have the barrel straight jacketed by Teludyne; that will dissipate heat AND increase accuracy. I know that the Aero Precision handguard is wide enough, but don't know what the specs are for the SLR. It's got to be wide enough to fit a suppressor. Of course, that's an expensive route to go.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sounds expensive :eek: I could have picked up a nice AR10 or other high end 308 for what I've sunk into my AK :o

Also, I run an Ultimak, and it clamps onto the barrel; jacketing would interfere with the clamps.
 
Qeth said:
the clamps.
Click to expand...

the_clamps_by_jungleanimal.jpg
 
Qeth said:
Yeah, sounds expensive :eek: I could have picked up a nice AR10 or other high end 308 for what I've sunk into my AK :o

Also, I run an Ultimak, and it clamps onto the barrel; jacketing would interfere with the clamps.
Click to expand...

Maybe, maybe not. It's a custom jobby, so maybe they could work around that.

It's a good time right now to build an AR. You can do a full build for under 500 these days, if you know where to look. Most decent pistols cost at least that much. Leaves a lot of room for upgrading.
 
crimsonfalcon07 said:
It's a good time right now to build an AR. You can do a full build for under 500 these days, if you know where to look. Most decent pistols cost at least that much. Leaves a lot of room for upgrading.
Click to expand...

I should buy some stripped lowers since they're only $40 right now.
 
Bladite said:
you can buy a working AR for short money

learn to shoot it

then learn what you want "more"

too many people "build an AR as their first AR, and have no clue what they are doing"

not saying that's you...

but the AR overall? stupid platform. lego modular military kit.

so many more interesting rifles.
Click to expand...

It's more like Barbie than Lego... :)

Disagree with the "stupid platform" statement. There are many interesting rifles, but the AR is among them.

Qeth said:
Building is very fun. Potentially frustrating, but very fulfilling in the long run. Relatively easy to do with the right tools. Armorer's wrench, lower/ upper vise blocks, and any special tools for the delta ring or proprietary rails and you're good to go.

If you invest in all those tools though, you might as well make 3 or 4 more builds to really make them worth buying... :p

I have a complete upper that was store bought, and an upper I half built (gas block and rail change), and both my lowers are 80% that I milled to 100%, and then populated with some decent LPKs. Fun fun fun.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is true. It's more like plumbing than gunsmithing. Not sure how it happened, but I apparently have built 7 or 8 of them between uppers and lowers, and have helped several customers put one together. I somehow still seem to have 8 or 10 LPKs and about a dozen BCGs when I finally cleaned up my work area. Couldn't believe how many boxes with various parts I had squirreled away. Still working on sorting and organizing.... :D
 
Silverthorn said:
Piston or Gas ? Fight !
Click to expand...

I think you mean "piston or DI". Both are gas systems.

On the AR there is no reason to run a piston, the DI works just as well. Plus the DI is standard so everyone has the parts for it. Piston systems are all proprietary so you have to get the parts from the specific manufacturer that made your gun and a lot of times they won't just send you parts. They will make you send the gun back so they can fix it. Even if they pay shipping both ways it's still a hassle for most people.
 
Silverthorn said:
Piston or Gas ? Fight !
Click to expand...

bigghoss said:
I think you mean "piston or DI". Both are gas systems.

On the AR there is no reason to run a piston, the DI works just as well. Plus the DI is standard so everyone has the parts for it. Piston systems are all proprietary so you have to get the parts from the specific manufacturer that made your gun and a lot of times they won't just send you parts. They will make you send the gun back so they can fix it. Even if they pay shipping both ways it's still a hassle for most people.
Click to expand...

I was in the piston camp until my first upper (a piston upper) would FTE or FTF every other round. Great CS from that company, they paid for shipping and everything, but like bighoss mentioned, pain in the ass to ship it, wait 4 weeks, and then cross your fingers that it's fixed. With my 2 current uppers, if something goes wrong, I have about another 3/4ths of an upper in spare parts to tinker (and I'll be honest, I make the uppers so I can tinker, so it's a win win).

Also, as I posted in the previous page, my AK looks like this:



But I just saw what it'd look like with the Zhukov stock (pic taken from Rifle Dynamics)

DSC_0131_1024x1024.JPG


That extended handguard looks pretty sharp, but I can't justify the extra weight and cost of a new handguard :(
 
Thanks all, I always give new firearm purchases a lot of thought. Sometimes I loose the urge altogether but I have been looking at the AR for about 2 months now even though I have no real need, like that matters.;)
I know / think all I am looking for is a basic open sight carbine. The Colt 6920 OEM 1 looks good.
so dose some of the PSA complete uppers.
 
rigid650 said:
Um, Bladite, that engraving looks NSFW...
Click to expand...

iffn you're looking at knives and guns (and worse!) at work, you can look at ponies :D

build an AR, but with a weird caliber.

5.7

6.8

338

.50? :D
 
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