Who has luck with cheap / Franken AR's?

[Red*Lion]

I no longer have any complete AR's that were bought as new rifles. All of mine are complete uppers (BCM, PSA and others) on built lowers or entirely built rifles. I have not had any problems with any assembled upper that I have bought and all have run fine. I had one PSA complete MOE lower that I changed out the trigger after it was burst firing, but no other lower issues. When I build, I expect to have to do some tweeking, adjusting and break-in, so I do not get bummed by having to do so. I have been able to figure out all problems thus far and all of my AR's run fine.
I do not expect to get much more than 5,000-7,000 or so rounds out of a cheap barrel like the one on my PSA 8.5" AR pistol before it starts to loose accuracy. Cheap parts wear out faster, but that is ok with me.

[Disciple]

My wife thinks it is hers and won't let me paint it or add optics.

[jbjh]

I LOVE coming back to M4C, and reading these refreshing truths.

You WARN people on other forums, NOT to cheap out on their build... and they do so anyways. Frankenbuild breaks, and they're all - "WHUT happened??!!"


EXACTLY what we warned would happen.

Oh come on TWW. You’re not referring to Calguns are you? Maybe it’s because I mostly look at forums using Tapatalk now, so I see a lot more GD, but that place is starting to look like TOS and 4chan had a baby. Without the smart people.


Sent from 80ms in the future

[Circle_10]

I only have one AR that was bought as a complete rifle, which is my Colt 6520.
Every other AR that I have was assembled to some degree or another after purchasing the components separately. Some were complete uppers I bought and slapped on lowers I already had and some were purchased as a bunch of parts that were put together from the ground up.
I’ve actually had pretty good luck with all of them with the exception of one SBR upper that has always exhibited inconsistent to poor accuracy. Functions good, but has just never grouped well.
In general I try to use quality parts, lots of BCM, Colt, Sionics etc, deviating from this only when I need something specific that I can’t get from them (C7 uppers, 11.5” chrome lined pencil profile barrels, 14.5” barrel with Non-F FSBs etc)

What I have learned though is that going forward, unless I’m building some specific Retro clone (and honestly with things the way they are now I probably won’t be “wasting” my time or money on any more Retro guns now) my preference is probably going to be to stick with buying complete uppers. I can assemble an AR from a bunch of parts, I’ve done it and I’m glad I know how to do it, but honestly I’m at the point where I prefer to just get a complete upper and pop it on a complete lower and be done with it.

[Devildawg2531]

I've never built an AR and don't have interest honestly.

Question is buying the upper and lower seperately from the same manufacturer make the gun a mutt?

[1986s4]

I guess one would call my favorite AR a "Franken gun" but it is built of top shelf parts that I bought separately over time, waiting for interwebz sales. LMT striped lower w/Colt LPK. Colt barrel w/Colt BCG, etc.. Accurate and 100% reliable since built, over 1.5 years now. Since all the parts were bought on sale it definitely came in under $1000.00, maybe closer to $800.00
It is without optic since I prefer irons, no rail just a Magpul SL handguard.

[chuckman]

I bought for cheap a frankenbuild. It had a DD barrel and a BCM BCG, but everything else was COTS, budget-build stuff. I don't clean it a lot, but I do keep it lubed, and it's lightweight and a beater: I think I have put around 3K rounds through it.

[Hank6046]

I have a PWS DI upper I got through a dealer special when I worked at a gunshop/range in 2013 or 2014. 14.5 carbine with a keymod 12" rail. Originally had a palmetto blem lower, with CMMG lower parts kit and a commercial Nickle Boron BCG from WMD. I have since replaced the lower with an Aero, and the BCG with a fail zero, approximately 5k rds on the upper. The only thing is it does get warm quick.

[Straight Shooter]

My sample of one PSA mid length I bought to see for myself if they were "junk" or not.
Got the 16" SS Freedom barrel on it and has performed in a steller fashion for the 1600 + rounds thru it so far.
I got this rifle cheap...and its worth more than I paid. Wish I could say that about a lot of stuff.

[Averageman]

I have a 14.5 BCM upper on a Spikes lower and a mish mash of mixed lower parts and a custom trigger in it. It's never hick upped on me yet and that sucker is at least 15 years old.
It's what got me in to AR's really, I've got four now and yes, everyone of them has had little parts changes and new triggers put in them.

I actually was assembling one evening and finally got tired and went to bed. I woke up about two hours later, pulled the gun back out and turned the hammer spring over correctly and went back to bed.
This stuff is a sickness of sorts.