View Full Version : I want to Gucci it up a bit
Shot an American Defense ADM4 Mod2 with a flat CMC drop in trigger and high end optic and kinda fell in love with it. I have a dozen or so ARs that range in quality level of PSA premium to Stag to Daniel defense. Optics range from Sig Romeo 5 to Nikon monarch to aimpoint. So my stuff is "fine" or "acceptable" or "decent" but not nearly as nice as that ADM with the ambi controls, overall aesthetics (because looking good is at least a quarter inch group size reduction), and a little nicer impulse feel. Was nice just running an unfamiliar rifle and optic as fast or faster than my own.
Anyway, that got me thinking, makes more sense to dump a couple three $800ish builds and replace with one Gucci. Either off the shelf or build from scratch.
While looking at complete builds, radian weapons mod1 looked like exactly what I want. Other than the $2200ish price tag (with mil/Leo discount) I like it.
So what else is out there I should check out? I do like the integrated ambi controls. I saw CMT and Lantac receiver sets that looked like a good start. Kind of thinking $400ish for a stripped receiver set or $1800ish for a factory rifle (minus optic) is where I want to be. Yeah....want a Gucci rifle but really want it on a BCM or DD budget :)
Oh...."just get the American Defense if you liked it so much" seems like a good answer. Makes perfect sense. However, I get kind of hung up "I liked your rifle so much I went out and bought a duplicate for myself" just seems like an uninspired, unoriginal, bitch move to me. Sure an individual piece of kit or part, yeah, I like yours so much I'm getting one for myself. But just copying another guys whole weapon I don't want to do.....
Nothing wrong with wanting something new, and the Radian weapons are nice. Are you leaning towards building, buying, or searching for a good price and going from there?
ETA- If you are pretty sold on the idea of a Radian, let me know.
You owe it to yourself to at least look at KAC. I don’t have much time on mine and it actually had to go in from warranty work after the first range trip, but From everything I’ve heard and read I must be the unlucky 1% of that. There are great reviews on Radian, Triarc, Noveske (depending...), Hodge, etc, but even Hodge which is easily regarded as the best of those, doesn’t really do anything special besides the barrel metallurgy. The Mod 2’s gas system is pretty unique, as is the bolt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nothing wrong with wanting something new, and the Radian weapons are nice. Are you leaning towards building, buying, or searching for a good price and going from there?
Honestly not sure. All I have now are ones I built and most of those on 80% lowers I machined. So I'm comfortable building.
That makes me recoil a bit at a price tag > $1800ish...receiver set, furniture, rail, trigger, barrel....yeah it all adds up but still seems a lot less expensive building.
I do my own cerakote work so paying extra for that feels "dirty". Paying for a basic MOE stock, plastic magpul buis, shorter than ~15" rail - i.e stuff i would buy on a complete rifle just to turn around & swap out - makes me shy away from off the shelf. BUT....I look at the Radian or the ADM or whatever & if it checks enough boxes, I think that would be fine. Just don't want to pay a premium price then throw more $ on top of that swapping out parts to have exactly what I want (other than optic of course).
$1800 isn't some magic # or the exact amount of fun money I have.....just when I itemize the parts it seems like what all i want should be around $1800. Maybe I'm way off or missing something big $ on the Radian, but seems like I should be able to build very similar in the $1800ish neighborhood. Not knocking them or calling out too high a price tag - brand name/reputation, attention to detail assembling, guarantee, incoming QC on parts, initial design work, etc - that's all worth something.
Also, I don't really keep up on who makes what or every single player in the game. So there might be some awesome ambi off the shelf rifles out there that i don't know about because I haven't seen one. Put it this way, Trijicon MROs were on the shelf a good 9 months before I ever knew they existed :) I just don't keep up with this stuff...
Honestly not sure. All I have now are ones I built and most of those on 80% lowers I machined. So I'm comfortable building.
That makes me recoil a bit at a price tag > $1800ish...receiver set, furniture, rail, trigger, barrel....yeah it all adds up but still seems a lot less expensive building.
I do my own cerakote work so paying extra for that feels "dirty". Paying for a basic MOE stock, plastic magpul buis, shorter than ~15" rail - i.e stuff i would buy on a complete rifle just to turn around & swap out - makes me shy away from off the shelf. BUT....I look at the Radian or the ADM or whatever & if it checks enough boxes, I think that would be fine. Just don't want to pay a premium price then throw more $ on top of that swapping out parts to have exactly what I want (other than optic of course).
$1800 isn't some magic # or the exact amount of fun money I have.....just when I itemize the parts it seems like what all i want should be around $1800. Maybe I'm way off or missing something big $ on the Radian, but seems like I should be able to build very similar in the $1800ish neighborhood. Not knocking them or calling out too high a price tag - brand name/reputation, attention to detail assembling, guarantee, incoming QC on parts, initial design work, etc - that's all worth something.
Also, I don't really keep up on who makes what or every single player in the game. So there might be some awesome ambi off the shelf rifles out there that i don't know about because I haven't seen one. Put it this way, Trijicon MROs were on the shelf a good 9 months before I ever knew they existed :) I just don't keep up with this stuff...
Radian has been the best of the ambi lowers ever since they came out a long time ago. I like KAC, but Radian just wins hands down for ambi. I don't think anyone else is a close second. I'm not sure how important that is for you. The trigger is very nice in them, and the barrels are SS and very accurate.
Eurodriver
06-20-19, 19:27
Your dozen ARs with optics at a conservative $1000 each would get you NODs, a Full power PEQ, a KAC SR15 and a T2 with like 8 cases of ammo.
Why would you buy a dozen poverty rifles when you could get a complete quality kit?
Sell all that shit and start over.
Your dozen ARs with optics at a conservative $1000 each would get you NODs, a Full power PEQ, a KAC SR15 and a T2 with like 8 cases of ammo.
Why would you buy a dozen poverty rifles when you could get a complete quality kit?
Sell all that shit and start over.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190621/e0ce8483cc130a083605417a59c35547.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just be aware that in some cases complete guns are more than the sum of their parts. However if you have 12 AR patterned guns you should have a good idea what specifically you're looking for. If you haven't, then you wasted a bunch of time and money...
Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190621/e0ce8483cc130a083605417a59c35547.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This and euro’s post sum up my thoughts. I like redundancy for a backup or 2, outside if that, its cash just sitting there. Id sell most, get 2 good guns (whatever you want) a silencer, nods and/or thermal(especially if you night hunt), a good sight, etc. buy a bunch of ammo and train.
The gun really doesnt matter. A good shooter with a 6920 will demolish a mediocre shooter with the best gear.
If you just want to collect guns, thats a different story.
titsonritz
06-20-19, 23:27
Radian has been the best of the ambi lowers ever since they came out a long time ago. I like KAC, but Radian just wins hands down for ambi. I don't think anyone else is a close second. I'm not sure how important that is for you. The trigger is very nice in them, and the barrels are SS and very accurate.
I want one of their lowers.
I want one of their lowers.
Radian lowers go out of stock pretty quick. I put in a back order through Brownells a while ago, and recently just got it. I'm not familiar with ADM, but I can see why the Radian ambi features are well liked.
The right handed bolt hold open using the mag release is a very nice touch. The lower is also comes partially complete with nice parts like the bolt release, Talon safety, enhanced take down pins. It's also really well machined, and comes nicely cerakoted. There are also nice touches like the bolt release, and the rear take down detent being held in by hex screws.
The only downside is that they may be hard to source, and it is slightly heavier than a standard forged lower.
I just want to collect guns :) Cerakote & build them as a hobby so ARs & 1911s just kind of accumulated over time. Shooting, gun stuff in general is where my free time & fun money mostly goes. Am far from poor....will drop big $ on something if I feel the value is there. But at same time want to feel like money was spent wisely, got a good deal.
Radian lowers go out of stock pretty quick. I put in a back order through Brownells a while ago, and recently just got it. I'm not familiar with ADM, but I can see why the Radian ambi features are well liked.
The right handed bolt hold open using the mag release is a very nice touch. The lower is also comes partially complete with nice parts like the bolt release, Talon safety, enhanced take down pins. It's also really well machined, and comes nicely cerakoted. There are also nice touches like the bolt release, and the rear take down detent being held in by hex screws.
The only downside is that they may be hard to source, and it is slightly heavier than a standard forged lower.
See....that's why I started this thread. No idea I could just buy their lower. That's definitely an option. As a "stamp collector" I'm accustomed to waiting on stuff :). Brownell's back order best option or should I ask my local FFL to start scrounging? He's pretty good at digging up stuff - Sig Legion & CZ Scorpion when they were like hen's teeth, he rooted around & came up with them quick at fair prices.... never had him look for something "obscure" though.....
Do the searching yourself. That's part of the fun! You can buy direct from Radian, but Brownell's would be the faster option. I doubt the secondary market is going to bring better prices on the Radian lower than you would find with Brownell's.
Yeah, good luck with that. IME, the only way to do something like that is to cut corners on quality. So, even if you made sure to make all of the critical parts of the build premium enough to be called "Gucci", the rest of the parts would have to be so cheap (and crappy) to hold a ~1300$ price point (and without optics). Hell, between the barrel (including gas block and muzzle device), trigger and rail, I'm already north of a grand for a top shelf build.
Yeah....want a Gucci rifle but really want it on a BCM or DD budget :)
I'll dial back a bit. I actually thought you were wanting a high-end precision gun rather than a high-end duty type carbine in which case $2000+ is fairly easy to eclipse (without optics).
Yeah, good luck with that. IME, the only way to do something like that is to cut corners on quality. So, even if you made sure to make all of the critical parts of the build premium enough to be called "Gucci", the rest of the parts would have to be so cheap (and crappy) to hold a ~1300$ price point (and without optics). Hell, between the barrel (including gas block and muzzle device), trigger and rail, I'm already north of a grand for a top shelf build.
I don't expect it to happen, just would like it to work out that way.
I got my expectations out of whack initially. Radian website was showing a sale price of $2200 last week. I thought I would get 15% military/leo discount off that once I sent them documentation making it $1875 which is DD M4V7 neighborhood. Didn't realize that was a sale price or that 15% doesn't apply to sale prices.... Not a big deal - $300 some difference - but I liked the idea of $1875 for the Radian.....
Totally get it. Again, good luck in your search. Let us know how it turns out.
I don't expect it to happen, just would like it to work out that way.
I got my expectations out of whack initially. Radian website was showing a sale price of $2200 last week. I thought I would get 15% military/leo discount off that once I sent them documentation making it $1875 which is DD M4V7 neighborhood. Didn't realize that was a sale price or that 15% doesn't apply to sale prices.... Not a big deal - $300 some difference - but I liked the idea of $1875 for the Radian.....
Radian said they are ramping up lower production.
You can get their stripped uppers at AR15safespace at a great price. Build it all out for under $2k.
jackblack73
06-21-19, 15:54
Not very Gucci, but if you want to try out some ambi functionality for relatively cheap check out a Boonie Packer Redi-Catch. It gives you the ability to lock the bolt back by pressing the mag release like a Radian. I installed them on all my rifles. You don’t have the bolt release but I don’t find that nearly as useful. I used to have Magpul BAD levers but realized I never used them to release the bolt, just hold it open.
Found a 16" (size I want) for $2050 shipped. Radian said 4-6 week lead time to get direct from them & if Brownell's didn't have (they don't), probably none available in distribution.
So better price, shorter wait time.
Only worry is I called the gun store that showed it in stock on their website. Of course they don't physically have but "website is updated in real time with our distributors yada, yada, yada". Guy seemed sincere, but since it seems no one shows having a 16" in stock and nowhere near that price I'm thinking "if it sounds too good to be true....."
Found a 16" (size I want) for $2050 shipped. Radian said 4-6 week lead time to get direct from them & if Brownell's didn't have (they don't), probably none available in distribution.
So better price, shorter wait time.
Only worry is I called the gun store that showed it in stock on their website. Of course they don't physically have but "website is updated in real time with our distributors yada, yada, yada". Guy seemed sincere, but since it seems no one shows having a 16" in stock and nowhere near that price I'm thinking "if it sounds too good to be true....."
While you wait, if you haven’t checked out Garland Thumb on YouTube, you should. He has reviews on the Radian and some other boutique brands.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Radian has been the best of the ambi lowers ever since they came out a long time ago. I like KAC, but Radian just wins hands down for ambi. I don't think anyone else is a close second. I'm not sure how important that is for you. The trigger is very nice in them, and the barrels are SS and very accurate.
LMT Mars lowers are the new standard I start all of my builds on now.
LMT Mars lowers are the new standard I start all of my builds on now.
That’s what I used last myself. Kept silent, as I don’t have experience with the other ambis. Would love to hear a comparison to the Radian.
Defaultmp3
06-22-19, 08:23
That’s what I used last myself. Kept silent, as I don’t have experience with the other ambis. Would love to hear a comparison to the Radian.I have heard that there have been QC issues lately with the MARS-L, with the buffer retaining pin hole being out of position.
I prefer the AX556 to the MARS-H I have, as I still prefer the combination left side magazine release and bolt lock, along with the left side magazine release bring rather difficult to actuate on the MARS-H, not sure how different the MAR-L is.
The MVB Industries ambi lower is quite interesting to me, but I haven't really heard any reviews on it.
I have heard that there have been QC issues lately with the MARS-L, with the buffer retaining pin hole being out of position.
Out of position how? Off center, too shallow?
everready73
06-22-19, 19:15
Out of position how? Off center, too shallow?
I think the move may have temporarily caused some qc issues with LMT. Done one on the other site posted pics of a defender lower without the bolt catch holes drilled at all
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.