Originally Posted by tradja;824680In 2006, I bought my first AR for $525. It was a well-worn parts rifle from my local pawn shop. It featured a PWA preban lower, unknown LPK, and a 16" A1 upper marked with Martin Marietta forge marks. The semi-auto carrier was not staked at all. The extractor spring insert was blue and very beat up.
[img
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/tradja/Guns%202010/AR.jpg[/img]
It had frequent failures to feed with the Wolf steel case ammo I was feeding it. With the few boxes of brass-cased ammo I fed it, it ran well.
I mostly got to practice FTF and FTE drills with it until I sold the stripped preban lower for $475 to a guy in CT, leaving me with a complete rifle kit less stripped lower, and only $50 down from my original outlay.
I bought a new Stag lower receiver for $89 and my local semi-retired FFL/gunsmith spent an enjoyable evening teaching me how to install the LPK. The resulting build ran a few boxes of brass ammo well, and surprisingly, seemed to run Wolf better than the old build, which I do not understand since it was the same BCG and upper. I meant to keep it, but 2 years later, I just sold it for $500.
So yes, I bought a cheap parts rifle that lacked most of the features on The Chart. However, it was a great learning experience that ended up being relatively profitable, and I was able to identify the attributes that I wanted on my "good" rifle. I have been very happy with the LMT lower and BCM middy upper I had purchased since (with research from this site and The Chart) and had no further need for the A1 Stag build.