What's the advantage to building vs buying?

[BIG JOE]

It's fun to assemble an AR lower. As far as cost you got to do your budget. If this is your first one buy the upper assembled. What are you intend to do with this? Hunt, Shoot it once a year and put it back in the safe? You can spend as much as you want either way If you want it you will buy what you want. Once you get BRD money spent can be always be justified.
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[RKBA]

The only advantage to building is that you can pick each and every part. That's it.

The world of AR's now is about customization, and getting the configuration you want, the look you want.

These days are very different from the early 2000's or late 1990's. And I'll explain why building has lost all of the other advantages.

Want cheap? It is very, very hard to beat the prices of the low cost AR out there. They are cheaper than they were 15-20 years ago!! Adjust for inflation, and they are even more insanely cheaper! $300-$400 AR's? That's insane. Crappy Taiwanese parts kits in the day were $400-$450 without a lower. These cheap AR's are not great, but they are way better than in the past.

Want quality? There's several brands that offer mil-spec or exceed mil-spec at reasonable prices in just about any configuration you could reasonably want. You don't have to spend a fortune either. In fact, a Colt 6920 today, is cheaper than it was 10+ years ago.

During the ban, and even for several years after the ban - it was slim pickings to get quality. Back then the debate was "Colt vs Bushmaster vs DPMS vs Olympic"...and Bushmaster was, spec wise, junk compared to what is offered today, yet it was considered a higher tier AR. There's a dozen brands offering top quality now.

[dammitgriff]

Where can I get a factory-built AR in .30 carbine?
Never mind, found Inland Mfg.’s video on YouTube:

[SilentRecon]

This is a nice diagram to understand the answer to your question in the simplest of terms.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[N4KVE]

You dont "build" ARs.

You merely assemble a bunch of pre built parts that pretty much come from 3 or 4 places that provide AR parts.

At the lower end of things, there's not much difference between some hourly wage schmoe sitting at a work bench in a partitioned warehouse shop and a Shoney's employee sitting at home in his garage doing the same job.

Pretty much sums it up. In my case, I started with an Anderson $40 lower. Then a parts kit, then a bolt/carrier assy, then a complete barreled upper. The advantage is I used the parts I wanted. Not what an assembler thought I would want. Also, it spread out the purchasing of the parts, vs buying an assembled gun. But with an AR going for less than $400, that was not a big deal. In the end, it cost the same as an assembled AR, but I assembled it with the parts I wanted. GARY.

[N4KVE]

IMO if you just want a range fuck around toy, lowest acceptable quality imo is just buying a sub $300 PSA AR.

If you want something for like home defense or if you actually use it for work, you'll probably want to buy a proven rifle or just build one from parts from reputable vendors.

Hard to tell these days. A year ago my friend bought a Ruger AR556 pistol. It had a few problems first time out, so he called Ruger to check for their warranty procedure. They told him they did NOT make an AR pistol. They did say his serial # came back to a stripped receiver they sold. But recently, they did jump on the AR pistol band wagon, but well after he bought his. I did bring his gun to a local gun smith who fixed it for $25. GARY

[P5 Guy]

Does Dow's Arms Room make ARs?

[Skoll]

IMO if you just want a range fuck around toy, lowest acceptable quality imo is just buying a sub $300 PSA AR.

If you want something for like home defense or if you actually use it for work, you'll probably want to buy a proven rifle or just build one from parts from reputable vendors.

Hard to tell these days. A year ago my friend bought a Ruger AR556 pistol. It had a few problems first time out, so he called Ruger to check for their warranty procedure. They told him they did NOT make an AR pistol. They did say his serial # came back to a stripped receiver they sold. But recently, they did jump on the AR pistol band wagon, but well after he bought his. I did bring his gun to a local gun smith who fixed it for $25. GARY

I had honestly never considered Ruger a reputable AR vendor. I was thinking someone like Colt at the very least. Or BCM, etc. Any of those that you know have an actual pedigree in conflict.

[Greg]

IMO if you just want a range fuck around toy, lowest acceptable quality imo is just buying a sub $300 PSA AR.

If you want something for like home defense or if you actually use it for work, you'll probably want to buy a proven rifle or just build one from parts from reputable vendors.

Hard to tell these days. A year ago my friend bought a Ruger AR556 pistol. It had a few problems first time out, so he called Ruger to check for their warranty procedure. They told him they did NOT make an AR pistol. They did say his serial # came back to a stripped receiver they sold. But recently, they did jump on the AR pistol band wagon, but well after he bought his. I did bring his gun to a local gun smith who fixed it for $25. GARY

I had honestly never considered Ruger a reputable AR vendor. I was thinking someone like Colt at the very least. Or BCM, etc. Any of those that you know have an actual pedigree in conflict.

Agree. I see a lot of folks w PSA AR’s coming into to get them “fixed” from the factory

[N4KVE]

I had honestly never considered Ruger a reputable AR vendor. I was thinking someone like Colt at the very least. Or BCM, etc. Any of those that you know have an actual pedigree in conflict.

Better reconsider. Colt has a new “econo” line of AR’s called “Expanse”. Cheaper, non Colt parts similar to the many other low cost AR’s available today. They had to do this to be competitive in today’s market of low cost AR’s. GARY.