Considering my first AR... Thoughts?

[Burchamj]

I can't remember if i've posted on this forum yet or not, but I would go the BCM route. BCM is great quality for the money. Once you past about 1500 you kinda lose out on your price to performance. However some people want to build the best rifle that can be built and more power to them. I will spend my money on other guns or ammo though. My AR is an SBR, but I went with an aero precision lower with a bcm upper. lower was about 250 plus transfer fee and my upper was about 850 with a BCG. I ended up getting a radian raptor charging handle for it but really any charging handle will be fine. You could probably just got full BCM for around 1200-1500 depending on your options.

 

[Burchamj]

I should've added this in to my last post, but you could also go with an aero precision rifle too. I've never used one of their uppers but they are very reasonably priced and I have had no issues with my lower from them. I am looking into getting one of their .300 blackout uppers to try on my rifle. I've heard good things about them.

 

[Hohn]

I should've added this in to my last post, but you could also go with an aero precision rifle too. I've never used one of their uppers but they are very reasonably priced and I have had no issues with my lower from them. I am looking into getting one of their .300 blackout uppers to try on my rifle. I've heard good things about them.

I'm a huge fan of the Aero lowers also, but I would judge the reliability of uppers and lowers separately. I'm not saying Aero uppers aren't gtg; I'm just saying don't assume their uppers are gtg because you like the lowers like I do. Knowing how to machine a good lower doesn't mean you know how to reliably line up gas blocks, are using good barrels, etc.

 

[NICKT93]

If I was only going to own one, that runs out of the box is accurate and fun. Would certainly be a BCM. In my honest opinion they are the best for the price. I own a noveske , have had LMT and LWRC, shot DD and owned a BCM . I loved it unfortunately I was dumb and traded it for a great deal , currently working on getting another one.

 

[Gabriel]

Once you past about 1500 you kinda lose out on your price to performance.

This is how I see it also. I like BC and Seekins personally. Both in that same range as far as price. Once you start paying more, what you gain from that added money is pretty minimal.

 

[maxwelhse]

Came back to put a bow on this thread.

My first AR just became an M&P Sport II. Given how poorly pricing has aged since I kicked this thread off, I figured that was of good as place as any to start for what I could get it for. As of minutes ago, that was $741 shipped, taxed, NIB from RKGuns.

A Bushy 9 months ago would have cost ~$550.

May have a lead on the BCM I actually wanted too and may still bring it home as well.

Thanks again for all of the input, folks!

 

[JCSR]

Came back to put a bow on this thread.

My first AR just became an M&P Sport II. Given how poorly pricing has aged since I kicked this thread off, I figured that was of good as place as any to start for what I could get it for. As of minutes ago, that was $741 shipped, taxed, NIB from RKGuns.

A Bushy 9 months ago would have cost ~$550.

May have a lead on the BCM I actually wanted too and may still bring it home as well.

Thanks again for all of the input, folks!

Congrats on your purchase. I am poor also and bought an Anderson AM-15 a couple of years ago. I does what it's supposed to do just like your M&P will. Now sit back and wait for the "experts" to tell us how we'll be kilt on the battlefield with our budget AR's!

 

[maxwelhse]

Congrats on your purchase. I am poor also and bought an Anderson AM-15 a couple of years ago. I does what it's supposed to do just like your M&P will. Now sit back and wait for the "experts" to tell us how we'll be kilt on the battlefield with our budget AR's!

Thanks! My only sadness at this point is the extra $200 over waiting to see what would happen. In the grand scheme of things, 200 bucks is not the end of the world.

I'm envisioning my M&P being joined by others and an "extra" AR is never going to be a bad thing... Assuming I've not already been kilt.

Also my first S&W firearm, so, that's cool too.

 

[churchmouse]

Thanks! My only sadness at this point is the extra $200 over waiting to see what would happen. In the grand scheme of things, 200 bucks is not the end of the world.

I'm envisioning my M&P being joined by others and an "extra" AR is never going to be a bad thing... Assuming I've not already been kilt.

Also my first S&W firearm, so, that's cool too.

Here is my only "Expert" opinion in all of this.

Sooooooo many people start threads asking these questions.They get steered in general directions and they put the breaks on "Waiting"" for a price break that always either stops them dead in their tracks due to serious budget constraints or costs them more money. If you see it and you want it and you have the money in hand do not sit back as it will either be gone or the price will go up. That is the way of things now my friends and looking for a deal is pretty much not going to happen unless you are well ahead of the curve in the Karma dept.....

That is my advice.

If you like your new rifle enjoy it. I have already passed through that level and moved on. But it does not mean you have to and no, you aint getting killed because of it.

 

[maxwelhse]

Here is my only "Expert" opinion in all of this.

Sooooooo many people start threads asking these questions.They get steered in general directions and they put the breaks on "Waiting"" for a price break that always either stops them dead in their tracks due to serious budget constraints or costs them more money. If you see it and you want it and you have the money in hand do not sit back as it will either be gone or the price will go up. That is the way of things now my friends and looking for a deal is pretty much not going to happen unless you are well ahead of the curve in the Karma dept.....

That is my advice.

If you like your new rifle enjoy it. I have already passed through that level and moved on. But it does not mean you have to and no, you aint getting killed because of it.

Your advice in the current market is exactly spot on, but that's not exactly what happened here from the start of the thread. That part is exactly what just happened tonight, though.

The BCM I still do want, which this thread convinced me to hold out for, has never a single time been in stock any time I've checked with BCM since I started this thread. I can't buy what isn't for sale... or at least I wasn't interested in scouring the Earth for that particular gun.

What happened instead tonight is I decided to do the opposite of the advice of many here (including Herr Mouse himself... sentiment sort of echoed above ) and buy way down market because that is what is available and makes the most sense to me as a stop gap. Not that anyone (including da mouse) gave any bad advice, but what I probably should have done was roll straight to RK and buy a $500 Bushmaster off the shelf right then while still to this moment waiting for the BCM to become available. I had never seriously thought of this as buying 2 guns when I started out, but I probably should have. That lack of vision is what cost me the $200, but it's debatable that the M&P may be a better rifle too. At least S&W is still in business at the moment.

So... In retrospect, in absence of the Ferrari being in stock, I should have decided that a Chevette and a Ferrari later on would be a good decision. That's where the extra $200 came in... Chevettes appreciated!

Credit where it's due, Route45 pointing out the very real possibility of all firearms being subject to a tax stamp in the not too distant future also helped make my decision. If that were to happen, every gun in stock anywhere in the country is $200 off right now. That made the M&P about "30% off". A $200 stamp on a $1700 BCM, while still , is about 12%...

 

[churchmouse]

I mis-spelled brakes.....

 

[MCgrease08]

You did fine with the M&P. It's a decent gun and it should perform well for you. I mean, other than the fact that it was built during what is likely the one of the busiest times in the history of S&W manufacturing demand-wise.

I would challenge what you said about the BCM never being in stock. You must not have been checking all that often. I bought a new BCM upper back in August and almost everything one their site was in stock at that time. I'm not knocking ya, just saying.

 

[maxwelhse]

You did fine with the M&P. It's a decent gun and it should perform well for you. I mean, other than the fact that it was built during what is likely the one of the busiest times in the history of S&W manufacturing demand-wise.

I would challenge what you said about the BCM never being in stock. You must not have been checking all that often. I bought a new BCM upper back in August and almost everything one their site was in stock at that time. I'm not knocking ya, just saying.

The 2020 demand thing crossed my mind too, but that's honestly one of the reasons I'm comfortable with it. If there was ever a company that would be likely to make it right, I would think it would be S&W. We'll see. Mostly it was just high time to go or get off the pot, so I went.

As far as BCM availability, I confess that I didn't check every moment of every day (and honestly, probably not even every week after becoming demoralized by being out of stock for months... I had that tab open on my phone for a looooong time), but book ending "August" as near as I could in both directions, this is what I found... Same thing I found every time I've checked: out of stock. My thought is that it's probably a weirdo configuration that not many people are interested in so they're funneling parts into bigger sellers?

FWIW, if the place I contacted earlier tonight that shows they have one, actually DOES have one, I'm pretty likely to also buy it. I doubt they do and I rather suspect it's a place that is probably out of business and just has a ghost website lingering on. But... We'll see.

 

[Ggreen]

Bcm complete uppers and lowers have been in and out of stock regularly. Lowers were v available this week. And bcm isn't really a Ferrari, they are more of a gmc pick up. Ferrari you're really looking at hodge and knight's. Bcm makes utility rifles, sons of liberty gun works makes an equal of not slightly better rifle than bcm. Then there is a group slightly above those geissele, Adm, radian

 

[maxwelhse]

Bcm complete uppers and lowers have been in and out of stock regularly. Lowers were v available this week. And bcm isn't really a Ferrari, they are more of a gmc pick up. Ferrari you're really looking at hodge and knight's. Bcm makes utility rifles, sons of liberty gun works makes an equal of not slightly better rifle than bcm. Then there is a group slightly above those geissele, Adm, radian

Maybe the issue is that I don't want to be an upper and lower. I want them to sell me the gun that they assembled as a unit in one box. Whether or not that makes any sense to anyone but me, that's what I want.

I'm also now realizing that https://www.bravocompanymfg.com/ and https://bravocompanyusa.com/ have different "shop" pages and perhaps I'm just an idiot looking at the wrong one?

 

[Ggreen]

Maybe the issue is that I don't want to be an upper and lower. I want them to sell me the gun that they assembled as a unit in one box. Whether or not that makes any sense to anyone but me, that's what I want.

It does, but bcm seems to favor selling complete lowers and uppers more than dropping complete rifles. Kind of a quirk to their marketing that seems to work for them.

 

[maxwelhse]

It does, but bcm seems to favor selling complete lowers and uppers more than dropping complete rifles. Kind of a quirk to their marketing that seems to work for them.

Maybe that's it then... Perhaps I could have bought uppers and lowers a dozen times, but never the two shall meet for a final rifle as one sku?

The link I had been going to (the mfg.com link) doesn't even have the option to shop for uppers or I'm too dumb to find it. Anyhow... If that's how they really do it, I'll start paying more attention to the uppers/lowers now that I've found them via the usa.com link.

 

[Ggreen]

Watch primary arms. They had the lowers this week. They still have factory pistol lowers

 

[maxwelhse]

Watch primary arms. They had the lowers this week. They still have factory pistol lowers

I just signed up for notifications.

 

[MCgrease08]

This is the upper I picked up back in August to pair with a BCM lower I already had. I freaking love it.

https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-sta...ted-upper-receiver-group-w-mcmr-13-handguard/