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Posted: 2/22/2010 7:16:40 PM EDT
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Would you suggest buying a stripped lower and then buying each piece separately or just buying a complete upper? This is my first AR... I already have the lower ready. Part of me wants to get a stripped lower and then piece it all together, but I don't know exactly how difficult that is and how much money I may save. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance. Thomas |
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Stripped lower is a piece of cake to do yourself. All you need is a screwdriver and some vise grips. Stripper upper takes a few more specialty tools to put together. Might want to find a friend that already has them that you can use. Also, get a matched barrel and bolt if you are going to go that route. It will save you some work and headaches in the long run. |
| I was in the same boat as you and decided to pull the the trigger on a complete DSA upper, if your on a budget this upper is the way to go. I wanted to piece one together but my AR piggy bank was a little dry at time and I was getting greedy looking at my $85 spikes lower and wanted to shoot. With this being your first AR I would suggest a complete upper although you can piece something together relative cheap and not to mention learn a lot while your in the process. Go with whatever your comfortable with and funds will allow. Good luck, make sure post pics when shes done. |
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Quoted:
Would you suggest buying a stripped lower and then buying each piece separately or just buying a complete upper? This is my first AR... I already have the lower ready. Part of me wants to get a stripped lower and then piece it all together, but I don't know exactly how difficult that is and how much money I may save. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance. Thomas If you can find exactly what you want already built it will be cheaper and easier. Building is what you do when you want something a certain way and you don't want to settle for what is already pieced together by someone else. However, I built my first and learned a lot about the gun. A guy I know bought a complete gun and didn't know how to pull it apart 
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i'd go with a barreled upper using the barrel you desire, who cast the stripped upper isn't a huge deal as long as it's the style you desire (A2, A3, sport, yada yada). drop in a nice BCG and you're set. the lower you don't need much in the way of tools until you are mounting the buffer tube.
to build an upper, you'll need a torque wrench, an armorers tool or a barrel wrench at minimum, an upper action block, grease for the threads. those are required for mounting the barrel to the upper. you'll also need a vice to mount the action block and a sturdy workbench. you may or may not need to tap the gas port and dimple the barrel for the gas block, but i THINK most manufactures do this already. you'll also need a MOAKS tool, in/lb torque wrench and loc-tite if you go all out and want to put each screw in yourself. as for handguards, if money is tight, i'd recommend YHM. even tighter still and Magpul makes a carbine handguard for like $30 and they look pretty spiffy. i may end up trying them myself. don't forget BUIS. when i got my rifle, i was very illiterate when it came to black rifles and didn't even notice it didn't have BUIS. if i had, i probably wouldn't have thought it was a big deal because the gun was "tacti-cool",, who needs iron sights when you have a scope, a red dot, a laser and a flashlight? yea, i'm down to the scope and the flashlight, new ff hardguard and cursing up and down wishing i had thought to get BUIS, and the wife cut me off so i can't even grab a set of magpuls for at least a month. lol so... if you happen to have some some mechanical ability, tools (punches, allen wrenches, torque wrenches, vice, workbench) and don't mind spending another $75 or so on specialty tools, i would definately recommend building yourself, if for no other reason than to have intimate knowledge of your rifle. that way, when something breaks, you're more likely to recognize what broke and have a pretty good guess about what you need to do/order to fix it. i'd just highly recommend researching every step in and out. don't just run with the first answer you find. people can post some crazy stuff that sounds logical to someone who doesn't know to begin with. lol |
I think it all depends on three factors:
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Thanks for all the responses! I just realized that I wrote "should I get a stripped lower...?" I meant upper since I already have the stripped lower (now complete).
I'm thinking about getting the complete barrel and then adding handrails and everything else to it. |
| if you are ever going to build another one or modify yours in the future, why not just buy the tools? You can rent em out if youre friends need em or make some bucks assmebling thiers. I got some gun show vice blocks and such for $45 for the lower and upper vice from tonys custom uppers. Uppers arent hard to assmeble, but they can be tricky to get proper alignments..but it really isnt too hard. |
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