I bought a PSA Magpul complete lower from a guy in the parking lot of a gun show

I then ordered a 20" PSA Upper

I still have the lower with a BCM upper

I sold the 20"

1976 production Colt SP1, 20 in.

Bought sometime around 1980. Sold it to a friend (he still has it) and bought a another Colt A2 6500 (also 20 in, government  profile) in Jan. of 1987. A factory mix of A1 and A2.

I still have it. Not modified and never will be. Thats what all my other AR's are for.

Jonesing bad for one in 1992.  Gun show in Oklahoma City...I traded two Colt 1911s for a Colt HBAR Sporter and a hundred rounds of reloads (don't yell at me--I didn't know back then).

Every other round of those reloads split the case at the end, had problems with extraction.  I thought for sure my rifle was a piece of crap.  After an embarrassing education with an indoor range's gunsmith and a box of new shells, I was good to go.

Had that rifle up until a house fire took all my weapons in 2013.

I bought a Bushy XM15 Patrolman and an Eotech before I sold my Sendra to my brother.

Olympic Arms Plinker with a SS barrel.

The only thing original on it now now is the lower and the barrel though.

My first AR was an Armalite.  It was a pre-ban gun I bought new in the mid 90s after the ban started.  It was completely unreliable and I ended up trading it toward an FAL.  That experience turned me off of ARs for nearly a decade.

This but a A2, and no the hair cut wasn’t free, cost me like 3 bucks at the Sandhill px

Pos clinton ban era olympic.

Second range trip hammer broke on the firing pin and got hung under the edge of the pin

Full runaway.

My first AR started with the seed that was a Geissele SSA-E I earned in the mud and snow of the mountains outside of Reno at my first Cola Warrior in 2016 (CWWII).

I started buying the other parts to do the build including the lower in 2019.  It was finished into a complete, functioning rifle in April of 2020.  It continued to be a work in progress.  I just got an optic and mount for it in November.  I got a light for it last month (it's been borrowing an Inforce from my FAL in the meantime) plus a second QD swivel mount so I can attach the sling to the front left side of the rail, with the new light going to the right side and the remote switch on top.  I've been at sea, so I haven't put it on yet or zeroed the optic.  I'm tempted to replace the lower with a LMT MARS-L (but otherwise similarly configured) and maybe put a RBT in the current one (and put the Geissele in the LMT).  I also want to replace the selector with the one from FCD once I no longer need to swap between CA and free State configurations.  If I get another lower, I may use some titanium lower parts as well.  So, still a bit of a work in progress.

Upper assembly:

-Aero Precision No-FA Upper
-FCD/Microbest NP3ed Slickside Bolt Carrier Assy.
-LMT Enhanced Bolt
-LMT BUIS (yards-marked) with Compass Lake NM FSP
-Geissele NSN Airborne CH
-Geissele 10.5" Mk16 FF handguard
-Daniel Defense 16" Mid-length LW-profile barrel
-BAD Titanium Gas Block (pinned in place) w/DD gas tube
-bayonet lug harvested from a Brownell's FSB
-FCD 6315 flash suppressor with Colt grenade retainer spring
-Arisaka light mount and QD swivel mounts (I'm used ALG swivels and a BFG VCAS)
-Trijicon TA-33 ACOG (RH-5.56) with Midwest Industries QD mount
-Light is a Surefire KM2 head, Arisaka 600 body, and Surefire DS00 tailcap with a Modlite Modbutton Lite remote and Arson Machine wire keepers

Lower Assembly:

-Aero STS lower and buffer tube
-Geissele SSA-E trigger
-Geissele H1 Super 42 buffer/spring
-LWRCI compact stock
-Magpul MIAD grip
-Norgon left-side mag release
-Geissele Maritime bolt catch
-Radian ambi short throw selector
-LMT winter trigger guard
-LMT QD end plate
-FCD buffer retainer
-remainder of lower parts from Aero

Some changes are made to the grip, stock, and muzzle device when fully assembled in CA.





And my new light:

The first AR I owned was a 20" pre-ban Colt AR15A2, which was bought in the Spring of 96 for about $800-850.

I was issued an M16A2 seven years prior at Sand Hill, though.

Colt SP1, what a POS!

In 1992, there was a gun shop in El Paso, Texas, called "Guns West," in the basement of a beauty shop on the west side.  The guys who ran it were doing some....let's say marginally legal stuff.  They were "unbanning" things before 922(r) parts were even available, for example.  They were selling AR15's that they claimed were being assembled from surplus national guard armory parts.  Riiiiiiight. I was a new gun owner so at the time I didn't have much horse sense with regard to firearms.   I can't vouch for their story other than to say that the rifles were A1 style carbines made from parts of highly questionable quality.  To be blunt:  some of the components almost had to be floor sweepings or out-and-out manufacturer rejects.

My SP1 style carbine wouldn't run at all.  At all.  I knew the armorer for the sheriff's department and let him look at it because I knew he could troubleshoot it.  My only other rifles were a MAK90 and a B-West sidefolder (also a piece of shit).  I had traded a pre-ban Ling Hua Chinese AK for that parts gun AR, and I was not a happy camper.

My buddy looked over it with a fine toothed comb.  This is what he found:

1.  Bent extractor
2.  Bolt rings of different thicknesses, none of which were in spec
3.  Unstaked castle nut
4.  Inadequate extractor spring
5.  Either an out of spec ejector or ejector spring--I forget which.

He  told me, "you're taking this back to that store for a refund, and I'm coming with you."  I had hoped my Ling Hua AK was still there and I could insist on undoing the trade.  Unfortunately, it was gone (of course).  Then they said they didn't have enough cash on hand to give me a refund.  My sheriff deputy buddy almost pulled credentials on them and hinted that a couple of phone calls to a certain agency might result in a very bad day for them.  After a few frantic insistences that they'd "make it right" from the gun shop owners, I proceeded to take my refund in merchandise.  That gun shop had little inventory, so I'll bet I cleaned them out of every round of 7.62x39, every SKS and AK magazine and accessory, and some other stuff I can't even remember.  I literally had enough cases of 7.62x39 that I didn't buy any more for a couple of years.

I never went back to that gun shop, and the experience soured me on AR's for a year or so even though my buddy kept telling me, "that piece of shit wasn't a real AR.  A good quality one is a great weapon."

That gun shop was gone a few months later.  The owners may have gone to prison for all I know.

PSA premium rifle kit, was still waiting on my trigger guard but snapped a pic the day I got it together.

It’s seen a lot of changes since then.

That is the most serene AR I have ever seen.  

I have a Diamondhead rear sight and a Daniel Defense drop in carbine length quad-rail with a Steamlight TLR-1 HLs

2007 DPMS 20" A2.

First AR and still my favorite.

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Colt match target, 16 inch barrel, full stock. Put a muzzle brake on it because the barrel tip looked ugly
with no flash hider-that thing was LOUD. 1995, right after AWB. Missed the boat on getting a real AR.

Colt CAR-15 R6001.

I miss my 80's.

Grail gun for me- awesome gift, you still have it?

Bushmaster XM15-E2S.  Fixed collapsible-looking stock, mini-y comp, no bayo lug.  Still have it in the safe.

DD m4v7, the older one with the tube MFR rail.

Still have it, great rifle!

Mine was/is a ban compliant Bushmaster XM15 E2S 20" Rifle A3 that I bought before the ban expired.
I still have it today, although the upper sits in the safe and I use the lower for other stuff.

I was 16 or 17 and just started working.

I “needed” an AR to stat competitive in the arms race between my older cousin and my self.

I saved up $300 and got a dpms lower with an A2 stock.

Drooled over uppers for months until I saved up $550 and bought an RRA mid length 16” 1/9 upper.

Honestly it was a great rifle and I ran the fuck out of it.

It ended up with a vltor 6 posisition stock, drop in 2 piece Midwest rail and a vortex red dot.

In hindsight I should have saved a little longer and bought a complete colt.

Bought my first AR at a store in San Marcos CA, in 1987. Owned by a Marine at Camp Pendleton. Colt A2 lower with an A1 upper.

Was gonna use it for the start of an NG shooting team, only teams were in Northern CA, which might as well been on the moon.

Larue

When I sold the Sendra to my brother, I had swapped out the original furniture for OD A2 handguards, an Ergo or some other rubberized grip, and buffer tube assembly with a 6pos carbine tube and an OD waffle stock. It had some no-name FSB pic-rail mount and a Streamlight Polytac or something like that. Sort of a C7 clone.

My brother kept it in his apartment when he was living off campus while going to OSU a couple years later as his HD gun. But before that, he did the same shit I did with it - hiking and camping with buddies, and humping that rifle all over NE Ohio.

High school friends militia is the best militia.

Olympic Arms K3BM4. It's roughly still in its original configuration.

Bushmaster of some variety. Didn't keep it long. Bought my 2nd and sold off the bushmaster.

1983 SGW - the only one I bought already assembled and top rack #3.

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2007 RRA Entry Tactical
Was a great gun but heavy.
Put the upper on a different lower and sold it to a coworker.
I still have the lower which I formed 1 and is now my dedicated 22lr gun.

1997 Bushmaster 20" A2. Still have the receiver and stock, everything else has been replaced.  Used it for CMP, it's on its 4th or 5th barrel

16" Olympic nothing special.  But damn if I didn't think that thing was the coolest thing ever at the time as I fed it a steady diet of the cheapest steel case ammo I could find.

Bushmaster Dissipator.  Probably around 2002 or 2003.

Same plan I got my first one with, GM Hydra-Matic.

I purchased a PSA Stealth stripped lower first. I didn't have a lot of spare cash, so I bought parts slowly. I later installed a DPMS LPK and a White Oak A2 stock kit and just had a complete lower for a while. Finally, I think PSA was having a sale and I bought one of their 20" A4 complete uppers with FN barrel. I topped it with a carry handle and A2 handguards from the EE. I still have it in that same configuration, it's a great rifle. Buttery smooth.

Colt Sporter ll carbine, new in 1984.

Summer after I graduated high school  in 1989.
PWA commando. Still have it

My first was a 16” Bushy W/ fixed carry handle. I still have it and it’s the lightest AR I own.

My first, a few years earlier...

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Bushmaster ban era A2 16" carbine with A2 stock, with a heavy barrel with no muzzle device.

Got it around 2002.

Post sample Colt M16 carbine back in the nineties shortly after I got my 07/02. Ran flawlessly, really miss it.

I put my first one together from a PSA kit (FN barrel) and a Del-Ton stripped lower. I think it was around 2009 or 2010.  I still have it, but it has morphed into a completely different rifle.

It's still very reliable and very accurate for a chrome lined bore.

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12.5" pistol in 2014

BA barrel
Troy Handguard
Anderson lower
OG thiccc sigbrace
Redfield 2-7x scope in an Aero ultralight mount
45° offset irons
Can't remember the rest.

I caught a lot of shit in GD over it I remember a bunch of guys actually thought I was strapping that thing to my arm to shoot it tho

Mine was a PWA Commando, 11.5” permanent flash hider, A1 upper, two position stock. All a 19 year old could want.

Smith and Wesson M&P 15.
Check my join date.
Yeah, I'm that guy. And yeah, I paid way too much.
Thanks obama.

CMMG upper
Sabre Defence lower
both bought at a Gun Show in 2005.

M16A2 for me, same haircut.

The first I owned, rather than signed for, was a Colt A2 sporter with no bayo lug or FH thanks to Bill Fucking Clinton.  Got my hands on a pre-ban HBar a while later that was stupidly accurate.  I probably should have kept those but they paid for an SR25 after Sandy Hook.

DPMS lower from a gun show in Maine. Then I went through about a half dozen different barrels, stocks, and hand guards before finally making it look just like a Magpul MOE in FDE

1979, brand new Colt AR15A1.

Fulton armory lower
Bushmaster m4 complete upper
CMMG parts kit.
Shoots like a dream. I rarely shoot that gun these days.

Edit: I fucked it up buy castrating it with a jaggernaught kit to make it Ca compliant. I need to fix that gun. I actually forgot about it.