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Thread: At what price point would you start switching to lower tiers?

  1. #1
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    At what price point would you start switching to lower tiers?

    I'm writing this as a followup to a post I wrote this morning talking about the Canadian AR market.

    I am really hoping this is not going to be a slagfest thread. That's not what I'm shooting for at all. I am a believer in upper tier ARs and not at all one of the "My OLY is as good as your COLT!" people.

    But what I am wondering is, just how much is that upper tier worth to all of you?

    For example:

    In the US, ARs are pretty cheap. Up here, they're MUCH more expensive and the spread is huge. So what if your price spread was very different than it is?

    Imagine that a Bushmaster was $1000, and a Colt was $3000. Would you still buy the Colt? Or would you be thinking that a well staked BM was starting to look pretty attractive?

    Imagine these were your options and this was the pricing for base models:


    Imperial Defense UK $900


    Armalite, Bushmaster, Stag, CMMG $1500


    S&W MP15 $1700


    Sabre $1800


    Daniel Defense $2000


    LMT $2500


    Colt $3000



    I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this; everybody has a different set of demands and a different budget. I would always rather have one of the last 3 on the list, but I am wondering if you would all pay the extra thousand or two dollars for the upper tier, or would you buy a known-quantitiy mid-tier like CMMG and tweak it with a new BCG and do some staking on your home workbench?

  2. #2
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    Just get one of the "lower" tiers, get a new BCG from Bravo, and spend the rest on training.

    I have Noveskes, Colts, Rock Rivers, Sun Devils, LMT's etc etc, and for what civilians do with them, you are gtg with the "lower" tier, they are just fine.

    If I had the US options, I would go with the upper tier, but with your price differences, just change out the bolt carrier group and spend the rest on training and ammo.

  3. #3
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    quite simple... i'd order whatever stripped lower was the cheapest, and order LMT parts from the States and build my own.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by bkb0000 View Post
    quite simple... i'd order whatever stripped lower was the cheapest, and order LMT parts from the States and build my own.
    Unfortunately there is no cheating allowed here!

    Most of the important bits - barrel for instance, or upper, or LPK, require an export permit for each item - assuming your government will allow the item to be exported at all, which is often not the case! They can be very sticky about flash hiders, for instance.

    The export process is not cheap. I believe for parts the cheapest I have seen is $149 for the first part and $99 for every other part on the same order.

    As you can imagine that adds up to similar pricing to whole ARs pretty quick!

  5. #5
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    how close are you to the border? get a PO box on the US side and bootleg the gear back home.

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    how close are you to the border? get a PO box on the US side and bootleg the gear back home.
    I doubt the money saved would be worth all the trouble that would get someone in. Last new years I went to Canada, they spent 2 hours going through my truck while they made me sit outside in 20 degree weather.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by misanthropist View Post
    Armalite, Bushmaster, Stag, CMMG $1500

    Daniel Defense $2000
    The difference in these rifles is worth $500 to me.
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    Given those prices, I'd get a Daniel Defense. They're generally considered one of the best ARs out there, especially for the money.

    Next up, I'd go with a Smith & Wesson.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by perna View Post
    I doubt the money saved would be worth all the trouble that would get someone in. Last new years I went to Canada, they spent 2 hours going through my truck while they made me sit outside in 20 degree weather.
    Actually in this case the problem is not Canada...there is no legal issue with bringing any AR parts IN except the lower, and that is just a matter of filling in paperwork.

    No, the problem is the US department of state! Exporting the stuff from the US side is the dangerous part as lots of AR bits are ITAR controlled and giving them to Canucks is verboten.

    So if it were just a matter of paying duty I probably wouldn't worry...well, I'd probably just pay and forget the whole thing.

    But if you get caught EXPORTING the stuff from the US without the right fees and paperwork, THAT is when the Homeland Security fun begins. I wouldn't be violating Canadian laws, I'd be violating US laws and that is not something I'm super hot on doing!

    Anyway I'm not asking what I should do given that I am facing these prices - I know what I would do! I'm more interested in what everyone else would do, and what the tiers are worth to each of us individually.

    I am pretty much in line with the last couple of posters...I think once you begin spending on US built ARs the DD is the way to go. But I live with these prices every day. I wondered if everyone would feel the same if the prices were just suddenly dropped on them? Or if the home stake job CMMGs would be good enough at that price.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by bkb0000 View Post
    how close are you to the border? get a PO box on the US side and bootleg the gear back home.
    Advocating or encouraging the violation of this or another soverign nation's weapons laws will not be tolerated on this forum.
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