Opinions on my first SBR

[Bang4Buck]

So I took the plunge and created an NFA trust. Now it is time to start shopping. I want a quality SBR but I also don't want an overly complicated build that takes as much time as the 308 I am building.

I'm leaning towards Mega Arms stripped lower GTR3s or GTR3s ambi (send this off for engraving before submitted to BATFE!) with a Colt or DD LPK. I'd just assume buy a complete upper from someone like BCM: http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-1...1elw-kmr10.htm

Is there any reason to go shorter than 11.5 inches? I'm new to this but from what I'm reading you lose some performance and another inch or two really doesn't mean much to me
Where on your SBR do you guys get the engraving that seems to look best? MagWell, Trigger guard? I will probably use Indent for the engraving
From what I have read I can take the same upper and use it on multiple SBR lowers, correct? I believe this allows me to buy/register several lowers now but use the same upper on all of them which would obviously save money in the short run.

Anything obvious I'm missing here?

[elnino31]

Length is more personal preference than anything else. The shorter you go, the more it will abuse a suppressor. But, if you're not running a can, why not go 10.5? I wouldn't get too caught up in ballistics, but that's just my opinion.

You can have as many uppers per lower as you'd like.

Front of Magwell is a good concealed location for engraving, but I would engrave the trigger guard if you're getting the mega

[Hmac]

Generally, 11.5 inches is considered the sweet spot for length vs reliable gas performance, based pretty much on Paul Buffoni's observations on dwell time vs barrel length. If you accept that dwell time affects gas performance then 11.5 would be significantly better than 10.5, statistically. If you're going to buy a complete upper from a reliable manufacturer like Noveske or BCM then it probably doesn't matter because their choice of gas ports is made based on the gun running well.

Engraving, I've always done that in the trigger well since so that it's completely unobtrusive. Leading contenders for engraver of the year are apparently Ident Marking and Orion Arms. I've always used Ident Marking since they seem to be cheaper faster than Orion, but either is good, and there may be local engravers that can do the job too. I didn't want to take that chance.

I send my receivers off for engraving while I'm waiting on my paperwork. I'm aware of the theoretical problems it can cause, I just doubt that it's a problem, especially with a quality engraver.

On a lower receiver for which you have a transfer tax stamp, you can put any upper on it with any barrel length. If that barrel is 16 inches or longer, then the rifle isn't an SBR while that upper is on it. You can loan it out, take it out of state, even sell it as long as it doesn't have a short barrel.

[GeorgeB]

I did a tremendous amount of research before I purchased an upper. I found Paul Buffoni's remarks on why BCM prefers an 11.5 over 10.00 to be very persuasive.

Frankly, while you can spend a lot more, I don't think you can better than a BCM upper and lower.

[SeriousStudent]

OP - That BCM upper you linked to is a good one. I just put 240 rounds through a brand new one just like it this morning. Absolutely no issues, and it ran like a top. I need to fire another 800 rounds or so, but it ran great with 30-round PMags (Gen 1, Gen 2 and Gen 3), NHMTG 20-rounders, and even Lancer 10-round mags.

In fact, I think I convinced a buddy to buy one just like it.

[Bang4Buck]

I did a tremendous amount of research before I purchased an upper. I found Paul Buffoni's remarks on why BCM prefers an 11.5 over 10.00 to be very persuasive.

Frankly, while you can spend a lot more, I don't think you can better than a BCM upper and lower.

The challenge is finding a stripped BCM lower.

For the money I'd just assume buy a quality striped lower like mega. I'm sure the BCM lower is great but I will want a different trigger such as SSA or SSA-E and possibly grip, so why not build the lower the way I want it?

[dentron]

The challenge is finding a stripped BCM lower.

For the money I'd just assume buy a quality striped lower like mega. I'm sure the BCM lower is great but I will want a different trigger such as SSA or SSA-E and possibly grip, so why not build the lower the way I want it?

You dont need a stripped one. G&R sells bcm complete lowers with geissele trigger options. That is the way I would go.

[Wake27]

The challenge is finding a stripped BCM lower.

For the money I'd just assume buy a quality striped lower like mega. I'm sure the BCM lower is great but I will want a different trigger such as SSA or SSA-E and possibly grip, so why not build the lower the way I want it?

You won't find a stripped BCM lower, unless someone buys a complete one and then strips it themselves, which I've still never seen. Go to Grant's site and customize it there.

[TehLlama]

You won't find a stripped BCM lower, unless someone buys a complete one and then strips it themselves, which I've still never seen. Go to Grant's site and customize it there.

... if you can loiter and wair for a blemished one, do that. Since you'll be 'ruining' the resale value on it by engraving your trust information, those are the PERFECT answer - I've spent hours trying to find a cosmetic or other issue on it; for the life of me I can't find a blemish on mine more significant than the really minor tooling marks where the 67' chamfer mill on the magwell was a bit worn and it didn't get sanded a ton before getting sent to be parkerized - so instead of butter smooth wear on the magwell, as I've bashed aluminum mags into it the parkerize is wearing off unevenly. Short version - they're fine, and it's taken me weeks of looking to even tell that it's cosmetically 99% (and I'm the guy in our aerospace machine shop that rejects parts within spec that aren't pretty enough)... so they're GTG and are really highly recommended for this use. That's what I'd do if I wasn't sitting on a pile of Noveske blemished units (so my BCM Blem unit lives on a 16" setup).

Uppers - you can procrastinate on the upper (or just get an 11.5" BCM KMR unit - or better yet just find a used one), but that's probably 'the' answer for lightweight handy setup. They also show up here used in really great shape quite often, usually because the owner wants to update to a shiny new handguard and barrel and the cost of swapping those is too small (not that the button rifled 11.5" BCM uppers are excellent, but some people really want BFH even if they'll never benefit from a CHF barrel; handguards might be a rail that was the heat last year (C4, Lite, RIS-II, URX3/3.1) instead of this year's (KMR, NSR, URX4) but 12mo old tech is far from dated and in a lot of ways are still preferable for most people.

[Bang4Buck]

You won't find a stripped BCM lower, unless someone buys a complete one and then strips it themselves, which I've still never seen. Go to Grant's site and customize it there.

Well then I'd have to strip it and send it off for engraving, and as a relative noob I'm not 100% confident in stripping it and putting it back together at this point. Looks like I can piece it together for slightly less.

Mega GTR-3S 206
Quality LPK (colt or DD) figure $100 at the most
SSA-E $200
Extension 40
Spring 10
buffer 30 (which buffer do you guys recommend the H or H2?)
end plate 30
STR stock 80

I'm all in for around 700 exactly how I would want it