Help w/ AR-15 Build List $1200 Budget

[El Pablo]

You shop at harbor freight don’t you?

Sometimes cheap crap is good enough. More than good enough to buy my cheap plastic storage containers, some tools, etc. garage journal has whole threads dedicated to which harbor freight tools are good vs crap.

Where your life may depend on it, buy good stuff. Search harbor freight jack stand recall.

Going to the range once a year is one thing, depending on it to save your life...

Would a LaRue be worth going up to $1400?
Upper for $792 https://www.larue.com/products/larue-ultimate-ar-15-upper-kit/
Complete lower $599 https://www.larue.com/products/larue-5-56-complete-lower/

I’d take a larue, jp, Daniel defense, noveske, lmt... any day over psa, and over colt most days. Or, build my own out of known high quality parts.

that being said, gunbuffer, Kurtm, and many other current/former 3gunners know far more about the ar15 platform than I ever will. You would do well to listen to them.

I highly don’t recommend vltor stocks if you have facial hair. The are like epilady’s for men.

 

[JD8]

I would not hesitate to put any of the PSA rifles I have owned through any course/ challenge of your colt, especially my FN barrel rifles. Plus I'm not scared of it getting put through it's courses, alot of colt owners are scared they may scratch their finish so they baby their rifles. My firearms are tools and I'm not scared to use them like it.

I want to thank PSA for giving School of the American Rifle on YouTube some good examples for valuable educational information with regards to diagnosing issues.

 

[JD8]

The price of the Colt LE6920 isn't worth it right now, so I want to build one similar but the best my budget can afford. I don't know much about ARs but I want to take advantage of Black Friday deals.

Is anyone willing to put together a parts list? Do I need certain tools? Links to the parts would be great as well. Thank you all in advance.

I agree with what many said about putting your own together. However, realize that quality parts right now are not easy to find, and they are significantly more expensive in a lot of cases than 5-6 months ago.

 

[cal7.62x39]

Because a colt has never failed...
There are always going to be exceptions to the rule. But here's the difference, IF something were to ever happen to a PSA it gets fixed or replaced free. Good luck with your colt.

And by the way, this is 5 different rifles, not just different angles of the same rifle.

 

[zghorner]

yeeeea those of you hating on cheap ARs have to admit overall quality has improved dramatically among the cheaper brands over the past 5 or so years. And for those of us who only shoot a dozen or so times a year a PSA will do just fine.

and i too buy tools from harbor freight...I have some of their pneumatic stuff that is 10 years old and still running great...I avoid most of their electrical stuff though.

 

[JD8]

Because a colt has never failed...
There are always going to be exceptions to the rule. But here's the difference, IF something were to ever happen to a PSA it gets fixed or replaced free. Good luck with your colt. View attachment 181985 View attachment 181986 View attachment 181987 View attachment 181988 View attachment 181989

And by the way, this is 5 different rifles, not just different angles of the same rifle.

Personally, I don't own a Colt, so that doesn't help your argument. What was the cause of those "failures?"

 

[swampratt]

I have a friend that builds custom guns and he told me he has built many 5.56 AR's with the palmetto Freedom Stainless kit. Said it was stupid accurate.
This was a few years ago and it went on sale and I got 2 of them and buddy got 1.
We both built 80% lowers and they fit tight.

I have zero issues with mine or the wife's.
Buddy rough housed his and bent the charging handle somehow.
Other than that they have never had any issues and they shoot excellent.
I played around with some Bench Mark powder and 55gr V-max for my buddies Palmeto 5.56 he built.
It is a 1:7 twist stainless Freedom kit. and his 80% lower.

Here is the 5 shot group at 100 yards with a $99 nikon 3-9x40 scope on it.
The 5 shot small holes are his rifle with me shooting with a front bag for a rest.
Group size measures .611" center to center.
24.6gr Benchmark cci 450 primer and flat base 55 Vmax no cannelure and no crimp. FC cases annealed and fully prepped.
These were shot from the magazine a plastic Pmag.
So not any single loaded long seated stuff here.
This is his hunting rig and needs to act like it.

I think we were into the builds for under 380 bucks without the scope.
That group was shot as quick as I could get back on target.

 

[cal7.62x39]

Personally, I don't own a Colt, so that doesn't help your argument. What was the cause of those "failures?"

Hey buddy I would not consider this an argument, and it's certainly not directed specifically to you, so I apologise if it feels like I'm attacking you directly.

As far as the failures in the photos I don't know the causes, I just googled colt failures and these are just the first handful of ar photos I found. If I had to speculate I would say they are most likely out of battery discharges. I'm simply stating that in my opinion colt may be the same quality as ever, but now lower end companies are making rifles on par with the quality that made colt famous to begin with.

If I had the choice of a bare colt rifle, or a PSA with a LPVO or Aimpoint PRO, a decent torch, sling, better than milspec trigger, with spair mags and ammo for the same price range, I'm going with the dressed PSA.

 

[JD8]

Hey buddy I would not consider this an argument, and it's certainly not directed specifically to you, so I apologise if it feels like I'm attacking you directly.

As far as the failures in the photos I don't know the causes, I just googled colt failures and these are just the first handful of ar photos I found. If I had to speculate I would say they are most likely out of battery discharges. I'm simply stating that in my opinion colt may be the same quality as ever, but now lower end companies are making rifles on par with the quality that made colt famous to begin with.

If I had the choice of a bare colt rifle, or a PSA with a LPVO or Aimpoint PRO, a decent torch, sling, better than milspec trigger, with spair mags and ammo for the same price range, I'm going with the dressed PSA.

So I could google "PSA failures" and post pages of issues in return but all we'd have is two people speculating on what's going on. However, the videos I posted show some detailed examples of issues that can be referenced. I've owned PSA stuff in the past and their price point is appealing but my hit and miss experiences eventually led me to other companies. Colt being the middle of the road nowadays.

In the end, I don't feel attacked at all. PSA is still hit and miss, they can put out a good rifle, their AKs, AK-Vs seem to be well made and I'll buy one if they come back in stock. However, people need to realize, not all parts are the same with regards to not all companies performing their QC in the same manner.

 

[BrandonM]

https://www.okshooters.com/threads/fs-20”-ar15-burris-1-5x-optic.301046/

It’s one option, just saying.