Jow Forumsentooman here, I've been saving up to build a new computer for a year or so now. But, now that I've reached my savings goal, I don't think I'm interested in dropping a grand and some on a new computer. I don't game anymore and I've been shooting with a friend a lot more recently. Handguns and shotguns mostly.
So, I'm interested in exploring an AR 15. I could toss that money into a gun. I am interested in getting good at shooting. And I think having a firearm would be good for emergencies too, y'know, if SHTF. I really enjoyed building my computer back in the day, I would be interested in getting my hands dirty for a gun too. I imagine I'd have a greater understanding of it and how it works if I put it together myself.
Is this reasonable for a gun beginner? Where should I start?
an ar15 is super easy to put together. if you can assemble a computer, you can absolutely assemble an ar15. the ar15 aftermarket is second to none in terms of number of parts as well as price range. just take your time, research, and buy quality parts- just like a computer. some areas you can go cheap on, like furniture- its not as important as the barrel or bolt carrier group. its analogous to the cpu and video card of a comp. anyway, do lots of research. remember, the barrel and bcg are the most important parts, buy quality
Luis Lewis
Thank you for your answer. I'm totally on board with buying quality. I'll keep my head in the research. One thing I haven't found a specific answer for is barrel stuff. What's the deal with the length? Some are like, 10.5" and some are like 18"! What's the pro/con of that sort of thing? Would longer barrel cause less recoil?
I'll keep in mind that I can cheap out on some parts. My big thing so far is to figure out what I should go expensive on, and what I can cheap out on and update later.
Luis Martinez
16" is the norm at this time, 18-20" only offers a minor improvement in velocity but is more expensive, lots of quality barrels available. I'd concentrate on barrel, BCG, trigger, handguard.
Justin Murphy
you gonna need a good vice and some muscles bruh.
Luke Gomez
If 16 is the standard I'll go for it. Especially if the extra 2-4 inches are negligible. But what about a short barrel? A short AR 15 would be kinda cute.
I'll keep those four things in mind. Everything else is fairly low priority?
Luckily I'm a Jow Forums + Jow Forums dual citizen desu. no homo
Grayson Garcia
assuming youre american, the national firearms act says that rifles have to have a barrel length of atleast 16" or more. you can have less but for simplicity's sake, lets just say 16". from there, the popular barrel lengths are 16", 18" and 20". for 5.56, as you increase the barrel length, you increase velocity, up to a certain point anyway, i think its past 24" or 26" where you start to get diminishing returns. the barrel length has to do with what youre shooting at and at what distance. along with barrel length, theres "barrel twist rate", "ar15 gas system length", and "ar15 barrel materials". i out them in quotes so you can google them, theres a lot to say about each. for example, a 20" rifle length barrel will be more pleasant to shoot than a 16" carbine gas length. you could also assemble an "ar15 pistol" which allows you to have a barrel length less than 16' but with no butt stock, unless you apply for a form 1 short barrel rifle. there are plenty or "ar15 arm braces" which again, you can google.
Cooper Jenkins
Are you planning on building or buying from a manufacturer? Do you want an AR pistol or a rifle. What do you want to get out of you rifle. For around a grand you can get a good Bushmaster, or maybe a BCM upper and an okay lower. Invest on a good trigger, barrel, BCG, and maybe a nicer rail for it
Owen Cook
Short barrels are cool, but theres some issues regarding legality of them that you should verse yourself on before building one so you dont end up building something that will get you put in fuck me in the ass prison for 10 years. I would reccomend a 16" barrel, I'll link you a decent build for a grand in a few.
Jason Lee
I'll google all of those terms. This is exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for. I could mess around with an AR pistol one day, maybe. But I'm looking for a fairly vanilla experience for my first weapon. I'll get to research.
I'd prefer to build within what would be reasonable experience and price wise.
I would like an AR rifle, not a pistol.
I want to use it for sport shooting, I guess. I'm not a hunter. I'm looking to use it for target shooting.
I can drop more than a grand. My budget is fairly flexible. I'd rather spend a little more all around for quality. I'm shooting for somewhere around 1500. I'll take your advice into consideration, thank you so much.
Yeah, I definitely don't want to mess with legal grey areas for this gun. I would really appreciate any build you could provide for me to look over! I'll keep my eyes out.
Here you go. This is a good basis for a $1000 build. I would also reccomend a Holosun red dot sight.
John Lopez
looking at it right now. Thank you! did you make this yourself?
And I'll peep out that sight. Is there any reason to use irons? Would that confer me any sort of benefit to get good with it?
Gabriel Edwards
Yeah I literally just built it for you right now. Irons are good from a fundamentals standpoint. I think every rifleman should be proficient with them. Modern optics are good enough to the point where you don't really use them though. My primary rifle doesn't even have irons, although I do have a 20" AR with them, I'll phonepost them in a minute.
You can always use a set of flip up iron sights that stay down when you don't want them, and you press a button and they pop up for when you do.
How do you like your WWSD rifle? I'm thinking about grabbing the barrel and handguard for my next build.
This is why I don't phonepost.
Luis Martinez
Make sure to set aside a couple hundred dollars from your budget for magazines and ammo. You can typically find AR mags for about $10 each and 5.56 ammo is like $0.30 per round for the cheapish stuff. I’ve seen bundles of 1000 rounds of ammo and 10 mags for $300 on palmetto state armory’s website, that is a good deal. You can also try ammoseek.com to look for ammo, it’s basically a search engine for ammunition retailers. I would get at least 5 mags and 500 rounds of ammo but more is better. There are lots of videos online about how to build an AR and it’s really not that hard if you have the tools for it. I don’t know if they’ve been banned off of youtube under their new rules but if so, you can probably find them on full30. The lower receiver parts are generally not that important except for the trigger, which is easily upgraded later on if you want. Try to focus on getting a good barrel, it’s the part that matters most for accuracy. If you don’t want to get all the tools to build the upper reciever, you can easily buy a pre-built upper and build your own lower.
Matthew Wright
>Is this reasonable for a gun beginner? Where should I start? If its your 1st gun, plan to spend $500 on the AR and another $500 on ammo. Consider taking a carbine class if you can.
Leo Torres
I fucking love it. Naked it weighs 4.5 lb, same as a 10/22, but with 10x the muzzle energy. It's wonderful.
I can understand hesitating on the lower. It's not perfect, but it is very light.
David Hall
I've got a few things on armslist right now when they sell I'll probably order the barrel & handguard. I really like the aero and minimalist lower I have right now.
Jacob Sanders
consider a titanium barrel nut. saves a little weight
