A pipe wrench and some elbow grease is all you need

That is just incredibly wrong. Although that is actually how BCA does it. And no, I meant buying a used upper/lower or rifle

Used seems like a bad idea tho if something wrong no warranty at all

Idk maybe I’m wrong idk a ton about ARs but still@

Depends on the original company that built it

Well im not confortable with used. Would a store bought Ruger AR5.56 or S&W be better they are around the same price point

I don’t know off the top of my head which of those brands has the best track record, I would suspect S&W, but there might be some SOTAR info on it

ruger doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to centerfire handguns or ar's. S&W makes good handguns but idk about their ar. Jerry Michulek uses one with basically all the parts replaced

MP II is considered the best off the shelf budget AR I thought

I tend to stick with what I know is proven, so as far as budget goes, I typically recommend aero precision

The upper cost the price of the complete guns I was just talking about

I'm a dad college stuident and a husband My wife and I carry glocks and have good holsters and traiining it's hard to spend alot of money on an AR

Budget imo is bottom tier dollar but functional, so above chinese no name parts but not above PSA or anderson

Aero would be imo the best entry level

I built mine, used a SAA upper, toolcraft BCG, ballistic advantage barrel, then anderson lower

So like a hodgepodge of entry and budget shit

budget is a tad above psa and anderson. Those two are just to be avoided at all costs except for psa's ak's

Idk, run a go/no go gauge and inspect rifle

I’ve had 3-4ish thousand rounds between two PSA rifles with zero issues

what?

But personal anecdotes and such

See some say PSA is trash others say what you said

and the SW and Ruger are not milspec

The shit 10.5” PSA freedom upper ate 1.5k with my fostech echo

BIL has a ruger and he likes it but idk how much he actually shoots

thankfully with tolerances you usually know it won't work pretty quickly, because the parts don't fit. Otherwise you know when it has a catastrophic failure and destroys expensive parts and / or your face

I want the CHF best one I think

You can always find someone selling uppers too on gunbroker

I’m in the camp of get the best that you can afford

If you want better than PSA or anderson but can’t eat the cash save up and buy the parts and put them together

Or have someone else put them together, 10 bucks says you know someone who can put an AR together correctly

Yeah that's what I did. I work two jobs making barely above minimum wage. I don't want a weapon that my life may depend upon to end up getting me killed when it OOB's

just kinda bought one part a month

Other thing is if you intend on using a gun for defense go shoot the piss out of it

Main reason my PSAs got shot so much was because “god forbid I have to use it I need to know it works”

I don’t even care to shoot ARs

Well that was until I bought the echo

That’ll make you poor fast

if I ever end up in a situation when I have to defend myself, it'll likely be with a pistol at least

Depends on why I get to first tbh

9/10 it’s the pistol