Looking to put together a very inexpensive AR

[WobblyPossum]

My girlfriend has been wanting an AR of her own. She's not a hobbyist shooter like most of us are and will likely shoot it very rarely. I want to put together a fairly inexpensive one for her for Christmas but I also don't want to assemble something that's complete junk. So far, I've assembled a lower receiver using a Palmetto State Armory stripped lower that seems to be in spec regarding tolerances and dimensions. Since I already had a spare Colt fire control group, A2 pistol grip, and carbine stock, a mil-spec buffer tube, and a buffer and spring, all I had to purchase was a Sons of Liberty Gunworks lower parts kit. I have about $100 in the complete lower. Now I need an upper. To stay with the low cost idea, I wanted to get one of the Palmetto State Armory uppers that used the FN CHF barrels they used to sell and found them all to be out of stock for the past few months. Is PSA still selling those? In case they aren't, is anyone selling something comparable in terms of complete upper assemblies? I'm not looking for something duty grade to trust with anyone's life. I just want a fairly reliable plinker for as low of a cost as I can reasonably assemble one.

[Wake27]

I haven’t seen the CHF uppers for sale for a while. How much are you looking to spend?


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[Greg]

I built a KISS carbine using one of the PSA CHF uppers and the only negative things I can say about the upper is there was ZERO grease of any kind on the barrel nut and it was over tightened.

Obviously, I fixed that.

If you can find them (especially during a holiday sale) they give you a lot of value for the money.

[MistWolf]

Palmetto may not be offering FN barrels anymore. They bought a barrel making company and now make their own barrels.

If you want a 16" middy with a pencil or ultra lightweight profile (which I would recommend for your purposes) you'll need to keep your eyes peeled add they are currently all out of stock. When they become available again, act fast as they sell out quickly.

Whatever you get, make sure to replace the extractor spring with a Colt or Sprinco extractor spring. Don't use a carbine weight buffer. Use an H or H2 buffer. Or, get an A5 type RE, A5H2 buffer and Sprinco green spring.

[JRB]

I've built around a dozen PSA kits. There won't be a 13th unless a friend of mine comes to me with one already purchased and needs help building it - but I'll never recommend it.

Being a cheap option, to me, means it should run cheap steel case ammo. The only PSA upper that I've ever seen run steel case was a 10.5" pistol build with an SS barrel I did for a friend.
Every other one, CHF or not, always choked on steel case .223, and also had problems with various brass case stuff. Yes, that's even with new extractor springs, swapping in vetted Colt or BCM BCG's and checking headspace, playing with different buffer weights, etc. Shit show.
If I want to feed something the more expensive $0.30-.35/rnd brass case ammo, I'll spend more money on the weapon in the first place to get a better result. For cheap blasting/plinking/newbie training, I'd rather spend more on a better quality upper and end up with an upper that runs well on any ammo, even if that meant buying used.

Obviously, total cost by round count may end up cheaper to get a cheap PSA and run it on the cheapest brass you can find - but any gift especially to a girlfriend should be something of at least decent quality, even if she'd never know the difference. At least, that's my take on it.

I personally wouldn't worry about CHF on a low round count gun, I'd instead recommend a quality vendor that builds reliable uppers that can be trusted to run well. New shooters are much less likely to enjoy a range trip if the gun's always screwing up.

On that note - I'd honestly rethink the .223 AR entirely for her and just buy her an M&P 15-22 instead with a PA red dot or similar. Let her get used to it and burn up bricks of .22 rolling cans around on a plinking range and if she decides she wants to get more serious, it'd be worth the effort for a properly built AR at that point.

[Beat Trash]

If you hadn’t already built the lower, I would recommend you just buy an S&W M&P Sport II and be done with it.

If you could find an M&P Sport on sale, I might consider buying one anyway. Then sell off that lower, or sell off the lower you put together.

I’m seeing them on line under $490 for the complete rifle. Sell off the lower for $125-150 and you’d bet set.

[leathermaneod]

I've built around a dozen PSA kits. There won't be a 13th unless a friend of mine comes to me with one already purchased and needs help building it - but I'll never recommend it.

Being a cheap option, to me, means it should run cheap steel case ammo. The only PSA upper that I've ever seen run steel case was a 10.5" pistol build with an SS barrel I did for a friend.
Every other one, CHF or not, always choked on steel case .223, and also had problems with various brass case stuff. Yes, that's even with new extractor springs, swapping in vetted Colt or BCM BCG's and checking headspace, playing with different buffer weights, etc. Shit show.
If I want to feed something the more expensive $0.30-.35/rnd brass case ammo, I'll spend more money on the weapon in the first place to get a better result. For cheap blasting/plinking/newbie training, I'd rather spend more on a better quality upper and end up with an upper that runs well on any ammo, even if that meant buying used.

This is very odd. I only have one sample of a PSA rifle, but I’ve been very happy with it and it runs steel cases ammo very well. Not completely flawless, but almost.



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[MistWolf]

Ability to shoot cheap steel cased ammo usually means an AR is over-gassed. I'd rather not have an over-gassed AR, even if it's an economy model.

The PSA I had was a good rifle, once I got the feed ramps matched and installed an H buffer & Colt extractor spring. It was an earlier model with a Wilson Combat stainless steel barrel and all indications were that the gas port was just right. I ran it hard to see how the stainless steel barrel would hold up. The outside of the barrel turned brown from the heat, but it held up well. It was an A2 profile- like an M4 profile but without the step for the M203.

[WobblyPossum]

This one would definitely need to be a lightweight barrel setup. My girlfriend thinks my Colt Trooper is too heavy. It’s a shame if they’ll no longer be selling the FN barreled uppers. I saw this one and thought it would be perfect for this build: https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-...ng-handle.html

I hadn’t considered the S&W M&P Sport. I didn’t know they were so cheap.

I was hoping to keep the cost of the entire thing under $500 before throwing a PA red dot on it.


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[Guerrero]

This one would definitely need to be a lightweight barrel setup. My girlfriend thinks my Colt Trooper is too heavy. It’s a shame if they’ll no longer be selling the FN barreled uppers. I saw this one and thought it would be perfect for this build: https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-...ng-handle.html

I hadn’t considered the S&W M&P Sport. I didn’t know they were so cheap.

I was hoping to keep the cost of the entire thing under $500 before throwing a PA red dot on it.


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They might all be gone now, but if you could find the "gen 1" Sport, I hear they're better. You can also sometimes find the Ruger AR556 in sub-$500 territory.

Try watching the Mr. Guns and Gear Facebook page for deals:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Mrgunsng...=page_internal