If buying a pre-built AR, am I being lazy?

Big Bad

Big Bad

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Looking over some of the threads here, it sometimes seems like many if not most are doing their own builds from a lower. When I was talking to a dealer the other day about buying a pre-built one, I maybe got some raised eyebrows and the question "You want the whole rifle?"

LOL, I know what I want and that rifle is it, every component being good, and if I fork over for it I will of course accessorize it, but to be cool should I have gone out and gradually acquired a box full of parts and assembled them myself? Is it considered misguided or lazy to rely on the pros nowadays? Just a fun question, but maybe I am indeed missing something?
 
No more so than if you buy your beer already brewed or your car already assembled, just because some people are into and know enough to do it well doesn't mean you have to
 
Most people advocate that you learn a lot in terms of how it functions/troubleshooting and how to service it while building it. While true, if someone was selling the rifles I ended up building, I would have just purchased them. I think a lot of people build because they want x barrel, y handguard, z lower etc. and if you build it you don't end up swapping the stock parts for the upgrades and placing them in a box or trying to get money back on them. So it depends what your end goal is. If you're happy with the rifle being sold and want to add Glass or a grip, go for it.
 
Building an AR is like reloading ammo, just a painfull process that rob you of precious time you can be shooting instead.
 
It was fun for the first one but now days they come in every possible configuration from the factory that I don't care if I ever build another one. Unless you can get most of your stuff from one place the cost of shipping parts make a built rifle way over priced.
 
I only own one, but I bought it ready to fire. My thinking was that I get a decent quality base gun (a Windham in my case), shoot it, figure out what I liked and didn't like, and start swapping parts until I got it just right.

And that's pretty much how it's gone. I've learned a ton about the platform by tweaking and swapping parts, but every morning since it arrived on my doorstep, it was ready for a range trip.

One of these days (going on 4 years with it now), it will be "complete" - if such a thing is possible. In the meantime, I have a ready to shoot, work in progress.
 
Big Bad said:
Looking over some of the threads here, it sometimes seems like many if not most are doing their own builds from a lower. When I was talking to a dealer the other day about buying a pre-built one, I maybe got some raised eyebrows and the question "You want the whole rifle?"

LOL, I know what I want and that rifle is it, every component being good, and if I fork over for it I will of course accessorize it, but to be cool should I have gone out and gradually acquired a box full of parts and assembled them myself? Is it considered misguided or lazy to rely on the pros nowadays? Just a fun question, but maybe I am indeed missing something?
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Was in the same boat. Had a few offers for great deals on components from cgn'ers and was reading the build threads, but at the end of it decided I wanted to get out shooting right away, and there were some really good looking rifles in the $1000 range. So ended up at sfrc looking at some value priced AR's when the salesperson asks if I would like to see a Colt they just got in. So she brings out an MRR 11.6 and the wife saw my reaction to handling it and asked, money aside, which one I liked best. That's how I got my first AR.

I don't intend to mess with the Colt other than accessories, but now that I appreciate and enjoy the platform I am interested in my own build to take advantage of upper/calibre options.
 
I bought my first AR and I ended up changing out 40% of the parts to ones that worked better for me. Learned my lesson and have built all subsequent rifles from parts instead.
 
I bought a stripped lower - to have in my safe, with an eye towards building it some day. Picked up an AR 15-22 on the cheap not that long ago and quite like it, so, now, looking at that lower and thinking hmm...

Have decided that I'm going to sell the lower (since i have the 15-22 which fits the "AR" restricted requirement) and instead will keep an eye out for a good "starter" rifle. Once I've had that, and shot that for while, i'll do what i usually do, and dig into it more - and make my own decisions on what i want and then will likely look at building one at that point.
 
Big Bad said:
Looking over some of the threads here, it sometimes seems like many if not most are doing their own builds from a lower. When I was talking to a dealer the other day about buying a pre-built one, I maybe got some raised eyebrows and the question "You want the whole rifle?"

LOL, I know what I want and that rifle is it, every component being good, and if I fork over for it I will of course accessorize it, but to be cool should I have gone out and gradually acquired a box full of parts and assembled them myself? Is it considered misguided or lazy to rely on the pros nowadays? Just a fun question, but maybe I am indeed missing something?
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Why buy something from an amateur gun builder (that includes your self) when the professional firearms builder can do so much better.
 
skoal said:
No,not really
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Yes really. I've seen ar15s put together with good parts that run like a bag of ####.

If you do the build right it may run as well as a quality prebuilt like a dd or cc.

Op. Get a quality prebuilt and accessorise as you see fit.
 
King0265 said:
Haha true. It’s fun and rewarding tho
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Juggernaut77 said:
I bought my first AR and I ended up changing out 40% of the parts to ones that worked better for me. Learned my lesson and have built all subsequent rifles from parts instead.
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The only thing I changed out in my current AR was the pistol grip, which was crappy in the original. I do like the Lego aspect of the AR platform but OTOH I'm too old to have played with Lego as a kid so maybe never caught the fever from the Danes.
 
Not at all. Depending on your budget and if you want to build a rifle or not, it's a very smart choice. I love building stuff so I never bought a pre-built AR yet but honestly after all of my own problems with parts not working right, it may be better to buy an off-the-shelf rifle for reliability purposes.
I just like tinkering and making a rifle perfect to my own needs (weight, barrel length, handguard options, specific stocks, etc). If all you need is a rifle that works, there's no shame or laziness involved in buying a ready-to-go model.
The only area where it might be better to build a custom rifle is for a very specific application, if you know you can build it cheaper, or if you know you're going to be swapping out almost all of the parts down the road. If not, get an off-the-shelf version.
 
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