Haters: Individually Built ARs

[17 squirrel]

"Provided by the lowest bidder" is true, BUT made to an exact spec range is the important part! Some of these manufacturers make parts and whole rifles based on, "well they look the same"! That's what mil-spec is, the absolute range in tolerance and material allowed!(which I'm sure you know). If it doesn't meet spec, it isn't fielded(technically), and if it is, lawsuits and or criminal charges follow, aka L3/EOtech.

The haters always forget that part..
Myself, I never had a piece of equipment that was issued to me fail when I needed it the most.. Never..

 

[flatlander]

"I have and will continue to only bet my life and my families to factory guns. If you are willing to trust your builds to that standard then that's your business."

I had to chuckle at your thought process, Sir. Nothing against you. For 22 1/2 years, I trusted my life to Army issued rifles. We had a saying, "Best quality equipment money can buy! Provided by the lowest bidder."
I trust my life to my home built weapons, just as I do to my home rolled ammunition, just as I did to aircraft I rigged to rappel or knots tied by my hand. When the fecal matter is about to hit the fan, you have to trust your equipment. Those that don't, usually stay at home on the couch.*

I spent over 20 years as some form of Grunt in the .mil also. We said the same thing before every jump As was said, the bid was low but the quality was strictly monitored.
When I did contracting work in Iraq, not only were we getting the lowest bidder we also didn't get the best quality at times. I may be a slow learner but I do learn.
I will continue to strive to get the best quality weapon I can and that does not include somebody elses build. I also only shoot factory loaded ammo. Maybe I'm just picky.

Bob

 

[ljk]

"Best quality equipment money can buy! Provided by the lowest bidder."

"lowest bidder" is a relative term, why? Because .gov has the deepest pocket, and nobody is spending their own money.

 

[Vigilant]

When I did contracting work in Iraq, not only were we getting the lowest bidder we also didn't get the best quality at times.

Bob

Lots of Bushmasters made there way over there for contractors, much to their dismay!

 

[flatlander]

Lots of Bushmasters made there way over there for contractors, much to their dismay!

ding ding ding

And those were the U.S. weapons !!!!!

Bob

 

[Vigilant]

Pretty sure those contracts were spearheaded by Erik Prince of Blackwater seeing as it was their "Official" primary weapon!

 

[223 Gunner]

Lots of Bushmasters made there way over there for contractors, much to their dismay!

I thought some DPMS AR's made their way over as well?

 

[romad7]

It kills me that folks live for a warranty.
No knock but unless my gun blows up in my hand I am not mailing it off to be worked on.

Mostly the same here but I make sure the parts I use are backed by a good company. Had to send a Noveske barrel back under warranty and they took are of everything. Buy good parts from good companies and it's all good.

 

[throttletony]

This are the same feelings that I have towards the haters. Are there any good one liners to hit them with?

What would you change on your rifle?
HOW much did it cost you?

I don't build the rifles that I have to please others. On the other hand to be honest the rifles that I build with the parts that I choose may not necessarily appeal to someone else so it could potentially affect any resale prospects.

lower resale value and lack of warranty are about the only negatives (assuming that there's no major issue with an individual component)

 

[Trigger Time]

I thought some DPMS AR's made their way over as well?

Yep they did, also American spirit

 

[edporch]

I build AR's for my use to satisfy MY needs and enjoyment.
I use good quality parts so I know what's in it.
Whether somebody else likes them makes ZERO difference to me.

 

[Lebowski]

I build my own ARs because I'm cheap and like to buy it piece by piece over a course of a couple months. I could also just buy a factory gun, but why should I? I can build something of similar quality, that doesn't look like every other AR15 in existence, for less money.

My first AR I owned, I built. It taught me how ARs work and was a great learning experience.

I'd much rather have a frakengun than a stock big brand rifle.

 

[Thegeek]

I would say it because of re-sale value. People in the market, do not know or trust your ability to build a rifle correctly.
I'm always suspicious about "home builds", thinking did this guy do something wrong and figured out it was wrong and now going to cost him more to make it right than what he wants to spend. So now maybe he is trying to sell it to someone else and pass off his problem.

I rarely buy an AR used, for the fact they are like a "hot rod", has the guy been doing Youtube videos, running it hard, heating up the barrel with mag dump after mag dump. Just too many unknowns with a home build. Like someone else stated, at least with a factory gun, if something should happen to go wrong there is some recourse with the factory.
Then there is the quality of the parts, along with skill level. I have assembled a few lowers, but that's it, I don't know how to change a barrel or build an upper.
So if I buy your home build and the barrel is not indexed correctly or you somehow ruined the barrel, I'm going to have to try and find someone who can install a new barrel, now all the money I "saved" buying your rifle is out the door and I have the added hassle of finding a competent gunsmith to install a new barrel.
I can understand a gun shop not wanting to take on the risk and their reputation when one of the regulars buys your mistake. Now the shop is on the hook to make it right.
These are probably some of the reasons people frown on home builds. I say if you do a home build, it should be a rifle you never intend to re-sell, as you may or may not get your money back.

I'm not knocking guys who build their own rifles, I think there are some very competent people on this site, I'm just not one of them, so my hard earned money will not be buying a potential mistake.

As always YMMV.

Spot on. It's not so much what as who. I'm into sportbikes and there are some people out there who shouldn't even own tools let alone use them. It's why I hate buying used ANYTHING.

 

[KG1]

I think the gist of it is. Don't put together an AR with different cheap parts and claim that it's just as good as a top tier factory AR. Just do your thing and enjoy what you have.

If your stuff runs and does what it's expected to do then carry on.

 

[Twinsen]

this is what i think when i see someone trying to sell their frankengun... heres a really cool gun that i put together all by myself. I dont want it now that i made it and put 100 rnds down the pipe but you should really want it cause look at all the different name brand parts i used. oh and please pay me retail + assembly time for my used gun.

its the same thing with cars (exaple civic) when people start puting all sorts of parts on it to make look cool and go fast. you can be sure as rain that its driven by someone who ran it hard, may not have had any profession experience when they made the mods and will likely have serious issues with it.

 

[Lebowski]

I mean, really, as long as you choose a quality barrel, BCG and trigger then the rest is just preference. Could make a cardboard handguard and a stock out of barbed wire and it could still out shoot an off the shelf rifle with nicer furniture but crappier internals.

 

[KG1]

I mean, really, as long as you choose a quality barrel, BCG and trigger then the rest is just preference. Could make a cardboard handguard and a stock out of barbed wire and it could still out shoot an off the shelf rifle with nicer furniture but crappier internals.

I agree that I would much rather put together an AR with quality parts of my choosing than buy a run of the mill off the shelf AR.

Is the AR that I put together on par with a top tier factory built AR? I wouldn't go so far as to make that claim but I feel confident that it's a sure bet that it'll beat a great majority of the mass produced 2nd tier quality factory stuff.

 

[jd4320t]

Never put money into a frankengun unless you plan to keep it. They simply don't sell for what people ask ever.

I have three. They are what I want. I know if I ever sold them I'd be lucky to get half of what I have in them.

 

[sgreen3]

I build my ARs to please me to be able to do with them what I need it to do, end of story. If one of the rifle elitists don't like it because I used an Anderson lower or didn't use a Noveske barrel on build I honestly could care less I've ran plenty of carbine courses with my franken AR and have plenty of fun out of it otherwise. More often then not its guys that want to down play or bash a guy because he spent 2 time less than what he did with the buget AR and will have the same amount of fun out it since neither the high dollar gun or the budget build will probably see nor more than a couple range trips a month with a couple mags threw it then put back in the safe to sit. Moral of the story build what you want whit the parts you want to buy, its your money!

 

[SwingW/theWing]

I think that for the most part people don't sell the AR that is purpose built for them. I know the last thing I want to do is drop in a SSA-E trigger and it will be perfect. But I certainly would not sell it...maybe pass it down to a kid. Would have to build three more AR's though for all my demons running around. Have to be fair and all