AR Sponsor
Posted: 6/6/2017 4:02:43 PM EDT
|
Gent's,
I want to add one to my collection. Recommend me a good one with reliability 1st and accuracy 2nd. I have no idea where to begin? Factory built? If so, make/model? Build? Barrel length? DI or, Piston? 5.56 or, 300 Blackout? It will never be suppressed or, an SBR - just want a fun little plinker and something w/a little more punch to keep next to the bed. Your feedback is appreciated! Cheers 
|
|
I'd recommend 300 blackout if you're looking for a shorter barrel. The round is designed to fired from as short as 8" and will have less of a percussive force then a 5.56 in the same barrel.
The negative is the price on ammo. 300 bo is a little pricier but hopefully that will improve as popularity increases. PSA has been good in my experience but did require a little tweaking to get it running right. Other, more expensive brands are also available but I'm not sure what your budget is. |
| Depends on what you wanna do with it and how deep your pockets are. I wouldn't go 300blk if its for plinking or you just wanna get some friends out and shoot up a bunch of ammo. It adds up quick. The 7.62x39 round is 1/4 - 1/2 the cost of 300blk and they have pretty similar ballistics. You can shoot up a case of 7.62x39 and not have to eat ramen noodles for a month. I don't know that many people hunting with an AR pistol, but if you are, the 300blk has more options for hunting rounds. |
|
A budget would be useful in this. If money is no issue i'd say go with a piston 300 blk.
If money is an issue, don't go the x39 route as others have suggested. I've got a buddy who's kicking himself after he built one because the only thing it feeds reliably is brass x39 which is even more expensive than .223 brass.... Not to mention parts aren't nearly as abundant or cheap as 5.56 parts. So if money is an issue i say just get a DI 5.56 basic bitch upper and if you want reasonable ballistics go with a 10" upper as others will suggest. |
|
Good thread for me too...I was looking at getting the Sig MXC 300blk pistol...it's comes with the folding brace, lightweight and built for 300blk and suppressed too.
However after researching it after the bolt carrier recall issue there are report the new bolt carrier isn't working right, wearing odd spots and now you can't drop in a AR trigger like a Geiselle. So off to looking at other true AR pistols. I recent held a Core 15 pistol in 300blk. It's DI and seemed ok except I wasn't so sure on the larger hand guard of the Core15. Looking for other recommendations..... |
| A nice 10.x" upper will be the most useful and reliable IMO. It's still a little heavy, but feels much more maneuverable than a 16". I would suggest you buy a stripped Anderson or PSA lower and built the lower yourself for fun (and to get exactly what you want), then slap on a Sig brace, and you're GTG. There really is no reason to SBR if you can shoulder a brace, it feels just right to me, and I don't want a forward grip anyways. |
|
Quoted:
Gent's, I want to add one to my collection. Recommend me a good one with reliability 1st and accuracy 2nd. I have no idea where to begin? Factory built? If so, make/model? Build? Barrel length? DI or, Piston? 5.56 or, 300 Blackout? It will never be suppressed or, an SBR - just want a fun little plinker and something w/a little more punch to keep next to the bed. Your feedback is appreciated! Cheers If your plan is to potentially have to use it inside your bedroom, then you'll find that a short barrel AR in 5.56mm, will be a real ear ringer on the order of 160 to 170 decibels - enough to cause permanent nearing loss when fired in an enclosed space with no protection. .300 Black out is a bit better, and lower pitched, but it's still a high pressure round fired in a short barrel. 9mm is a much better choice for confined spaces. A 147 gr sub sonic load will produce a muzzle blast down around 118 dB in my 10.5" AR9, and around 114 dB in my 16' carbine, - which while not exactly pleasant is a lot quieter than the average handgun (around 150 dB for 9mm, .45 ACP, etc). 120 dB is the pain threshold for most people, and for every additional 10 dB the sound intensity and pressure increases 10x, while the perceived loudness of the sound doubles. For example, 130 dB has 10 times the intensity as 120 dB, and is perceived as being twice as loud, 140 dB has 100x the intensity of 120 dB and is perceived as being 4 times as loud. At 160 dB, the sound is 10,000x as intense as 120 dB and will sound 8x as loud, and at 170 db, the blast will have 100,000x the sound intensity as 120 dB and will sound 16x as loud as 120 dB. |
|
Awesome, thank you guys for all the feedback & suggestions...I'll start researching the suggestions each of you provided - I appreciate it!
BTW - my budget is to stay right around $1,500.00 or, less as long as, the reliability is there & I can get at least 3-5 MOA @ 100 if I do my part. |
|
Quoted:
Awesome, thank you guys for all the feedback & suggestions...I'll start researching the suggestions each of you provided - I appreciate it! BTW - my budget is to stay right around $1,500.00 or, less as long as, the reliability is there & I can get at least 3-5 MOA @ 100 if I do my part. |
| I get <3" groups at 100yd with a PSA 10.5" upper and one of their lowers....bought separately... and the buffer tube exchanged for a KAK 8 1/2" tube for a SiG brace.. just tube... could do better with a better trigger...just oiled it well and has run like a champ since... |
|
Quoted:
I've never spent more than $800 (pre-glass and accessories) on a build so I'll leave the higher-end suggestions to the other folks here. I think you'd be well suited with a piston 300 BLK build. |
|
Go 7.62x39 and don't look back. I have 2 x39 uppers. One a 16" carbine length gas with a used barrel out of a Colt Sporter. The other a 10.5" carbine length gas pistol with a Faxon barrel that was bought new.
5.56 in a pistol is all noise and muzzle fire ball with a BIG drop in velocity. The .300 is a good choice if you want to suppress. But unless you have deep pockets, ammo cost willl severely limit your shooting. The taper of the x39 case causes it to want to feed toward center instead of to the right or left where the M4 feed ramps are. So on 7.62x39 (or .458 SOCOM or anything else that wants to center feed) I recontour the area of the barrel between the feed ramps with a Dremel to create one wide feed ramp. A few barrel makers like Gorilla Machining do this and Bushmaster use to do this when they made 7.62x39 AR15s. See blog post here: http://www.majorpandemic.com/2014/11/making-762-39-Work-Reliably-on-AR15.html Also, over gasing can cause issues with ANY AR15 caliber. If your AR will function with anything heavier than the standard carbine buffer then it is overgassed. My 16" 7.62x39 does not have an adjustable gas block, but all uppers I've put together in the last two years do. The two best things you can add to any AR are a really good 2 stage trigger like a Geissele and a good adjustable gas block like an SLR. I ocasionally shoot some brass cased PRVI but almost exclusively shoot Russian steel case. Lately its been mostly a mix of Tula and Golden Tiger. I buy it by the 1000rd case whenever SGAmmo has a good sale. I have a few ASC magazine and have had zero problems with them. However, based solely on what I read here, all my recent mag purchase have been C-Products Defence. |
| If $1,500 is your limit and you are thinking going the 9mm route I would suggest something other tham a 9mm AR pistol. At that range you might as well go with a CZ Scorpion or even an MP5 clone. Scorpion would be about half your budget allowing you to add optics and a stabilizer brace otherwise yiu can afford the stamp to SBR it. I have four SBR'd ARs, an SBR MP5K clone, and an SBR Scorpion. The MP5K is my baby and is absolutely beautiful to shoot. The Scorpion runs great, just doesn't have the feel of the MP5K, however I still recommend it highly. |
|
Quoted:
Go 7.62x39 and don't look back. I have 2 x39 uppers. One a 16" carbine length gas with a used barrel out of a Colt Sporter. The other a 10.5" carbine length gas pistol with a Faxon barrel that was bought new. |
|
Quoted:
Have any issues feeding steel at all? If you can't shoot steel 7.62 it defeats the purpose imo. |
|
Quoted:
The only failure to feed I ever had with either of them was the one time I was loading mags with one round each to check for bolt lock back while adjusting the gas block and I loaded a round in the mag backwards. It just wouldn't feed base first. Who'd a thunk it. |
|
Quoted:
Hmm, i need to figure out what uppers that guy is running then... Still, having x39 in a AR platform just feels.... uncouth. I was running a standard lo pro gas block and standard carbine buffer with the Colt barrel and bolt. But I recently changed to an SLR adjustable gas block and a Dead Foot Arms folding stock which has its own proprietary recoil system. Both set ups worked 100% but now I can fold the stock. On the pistol, I’m running the same SLR adj. gas block and a Taccom Ultra Lightweight buffer with the 10.5” Faxon barrel and MGI bolt head. The Ultra Lightweight buffer lightens the upper another couple of ounces and also seems to lessen perceived recoil. As long as I open up the feed ramp in the barrel as described before I install it and I run good magazines, I seem to be able to do the rest of the build about any way that I want. If I have been shooting steel and plan to shoot brass, I scrub the chamber well with a chamber brush and carburetor cleaner. I never had issues anyway, but understand that firing brass after steel without cleaning the chamber has caused extraction problems for some. I do this with my 5.56 also. |
|
If you want to build something to have fun with and run reliable I would strongly suggest you stay with 5.56mm and milspec type upper and lower. I would even suggest a standard lower parts kit as they are low priced yet work great, just doesn't have that super crisp target trigger. There are numerous companies offering complete uppers in a variety of barrel and handguard lengths and types for low prices. Anderson lowers are outstanding and can be had all day long for $50. Standard carbine buffer and recoil spring work just fine and are also low priced and bolt carrier groups can also be milspec type for trouble free functioning. Muzzle devices of every configuration can be easily obtained also, with the GI A2 flash suppressor being easily obtained for less than $10. You can easily build a complete AR pistol for $600, ready to shoot, that looks great and fun as hell along with being super reliable.
I have built 2 AR pistols, both 7.5" with stainless barrels and milspec GI type upper/lower and parts and both have worked flawlessly. When you start getting into the exotic stuff that's when reliability suffers. |
|
Take a look at the Thordsen cheek rest. You will need to use their buffer tube. I would recommend their "Standard" "Extended" tube and cover. It will work well with the end plate in your picture, which I think you will like. That endplate positions the rear sling mount well for both one point and two point slings.
I'd recommend changing to a simple open 3 prong flash hider. This type is both the quietest and the best at reducing muzzle flash of any non suppressor muzzle device, both of which are important with such short barrels. In tests, the AAC Blackout Non-Mount flash hider does best in the tests I've seen. But all the open 3 prong flash hiders performance is very close. And good copies of the original early 1960's 3 prong M16 flash hider copies are very inexpensive. |
AR Sponsor