My First AR Build

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mooseandsquirrel

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Building my first AR (can't afford to buy one assembled right now) and would appreciate any advice I can get about parts. It's my first AR so I'm not planning on going "all out" on premium parts, this is more of a learning experience where I can make some mistakes and learn from them. I started with an NEA-15 Z Marked Matched Billet Upper & Lower (bought for cost savings to start) and will build on this receiver. I'm looking for value in the parts as opposed to buying name brand for the sake of it, and am curious if buying NEA parts will make for a better match with the receiver.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
If your dead set on this build, have you gone over what you need? Here is a helpful checklist:

http://www.brownells.com/UserDocs/Miscellaneous/ARCLform.pdf

Do you have the tools for this project? This is crucial.

Have you researched building an AR? I don't believe the terms "..I can't afford..." and "..where I can make mistakes.." belong in a AR build, so make sure you really take the time and look at the the plethora of videos on You Tube showing detailed assembly from start to finish.

I can assure you, it will be cheaper to purchase a completed NEA or Norinco AR than to build an NEA from the stripped upper\lower combo.

Just my 2 cents.
 
Thanks Shin, as for the tools I'm counting on a good friend with a half dozen builds under his belt. The "can't afford a complete AR" is a simple fact of life right now, and the "where I can make mistakes" simply refers to what I can learn from this build to take to the next one. I wish I could afford to just order the NEA but unfortunately that's not an option. My goal is to upgrade the quality of certain components where the value will be greatest and save where I won't see any real difference. For example maybe spend a bit more on the barrel, and not necessarily on a match trigger as it's never going to be a DMR. Having said all this I'm open to any advice you or anyone else can offer.

Thanks
 
Your budget build will cost you more than a complete rifle, the ammo will cost many times more

You already spent 250 for the upper/lower
Add min $200 for barrel
200 for bcg
100 for LPK

So you are already at $750 which is above a norinco and pretty much a DPMS oracle, and still need stock, hand guard, gas system, flash hider, buffer assembly, charging handle, sights, etc

You will not save any money building one
 
DILLIGAF said:
here is my budget build. tells you were and How much I got the parts for

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/832422-Im-Broke-AR-build
Click to expand...

Another example of trying to build on the cheap, when the reality is a better rifle could have been aquired for that amount; negating the point.

Also, these franken-builds are tough to recoup money on, people are not as inclined to pay for someone's pet project.

In the end, building an AR is loads of fun; but you are not saving a dime, you will pay more.
 
^ sorry for not beeing able to afford an AR all at once, And buying a Norinco was out of the question.

As for resale, CGN is a great place to part out any project.
 
Buying, using, selling even a DPMS Oracle has the advantage of not be a parts gun.
Most reliability issues people have can be traced back to the mix and match, choose your own adventure AR build.
 
DILLIGAF said:
^ sorry for not beeing able to afford an AR all at once, And buying a Norinco was out of the question.

As for resale, CGN is a great place to part out any project.
Click to expand...

well instead of buying parts spread out just wait and spare some money then buy it all at once? how is that hard...not trying to be rude or anything
 
^ Where would be the fun in that? And I wouldn't of had the satisfaction of pulling the trigger and holding my breath on the first shot.
 
Just finished my first AR build and did exactly what you are wanting to do. In the end the rifle cost me just over 1000$, no optics yet. I thought it was a good learning experience and would like to do it again when funds are available. There are lots of good deals out there if you have the patience to wait for them. There are a couple site sponsors that have deals and by building you get to pick the parts you want and not end up with a pile of take-offs. S&J hardware barrels are on sale right now, use their BCG and your headspace should be good, check out EE and site sponsors for remaining parts. I am by no means an expert just offering my experience.
 
I have built a total of five complete AR 15s now, all of them a hodge podge of parts. A total of about six thousand rounds through all of them with zero failures.

ARs have failures with improper maintenance or not really understanding how the rifle works, and therefore, not tuning them right, leading to short stroking or failure to eject/extract.

My AR has run without failure for the past 3k rounds without failure with only wiping down the bolt and carrier and relubing them every five or six hundred.

But I regularly check things like gas block tightness and the condition of other parts.

The only thing I will agree with on frankenguns is the resale thing, but I don't sell my guns so that is not a problem for me.

For totally non norinco builds I average about 1200-1500 bucks depending how I/who's paying wants their rifle set up.
 
DILLIGAF said:
^ sorry for not beeing able to afford an AR all at once, And buying a Norinco was out of the question.

As for resale, CGN is a great place to part out any project.
Click to expand...

You saved up to buy the parts individually, you could have waited the exact same amount of time and bought a better completed AR, very simple....

f:P:
 
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