Impingement AR Build Cost

[bruiser09]

Below, I have pasted a text file I wrote showing what I might need to spend on a custom AR15 build.

I've only built a few and it can be surprising how fast the parts add up.

The bottom line, from my limited experience, is that an impingement rifle will run between $700 to $2k.

The extra money spent doesn't always mean you get a better gun.

I swapped out several buffers on one build to eliminate FTF / FTE where I wanted to run suppressed.

On that gun, the final cost didn't change but the performance was vastly improved.

I'm posting this to share and learn.

 

 

AR (Impingement) Build Cost 

 

Upper:

80-150      reciever

100-200    barrel

20-70        muzzle (compensator)

30-70        gas block

10-20        tube

30-250      hand guard

20-40        buffer tube

20-50        buffer spring

20-40        buffer

total:

330-890

 

add:

20-50        charging handle

100-250    bolt carrier group

total:

450-1190 AR upper (pieced together)

 

Or save buying:

complete upper assembly (no BCG/CH)

350-500

add BCG/CH total:

470-800 AR upper (assembly)q

 

Then add:

100-350    lower receiver

50-150      stock

10-200      trigger

20-40        grip

40-80        lower parts kit

total:

220-820

 

Added to upper:

$670 - $2010 AR (pieced together)

$690 - $1620 AR (assembly)

 

You can spend slightly less and quite a bit more than the prices shown here.

These prices reflect popular choices as indicated on the web.

This is not a build list; additional parts may be required.

[mikegideon]

I have them from the cheapest to pretty expensive. One of the main reasons I love the platform.

[btq96r]

Too many people think about cost first, not what they want their AR to actually do.  The role you envision the gun for should determine your build list.  If things are getting pricey for the parts you want/need, saving up should be method over going for something cheaper.  Buy once, cry once.

[bruiser09]

I completely agree. And regardless of price, the single element I look for is reliability.

I have owned many nice vehicles for example. But there is always that one car that started every time. I miss that one.

(rolled it, interstate black ice, 286000 miles, ran like a sewing machine)

I have $2500 in a SBR without a single regret.

You're right. Price isn't first.

[mikegideon]

1 hour ago, btq96r said:

Too many people think about cost first, not what they want their AR to actually do.  The role you envision the gun for should determine your build list.  If things are getting pricey for the parts you want/need, saving up should be method over going for something cheaper.  Buy once, cry once.

That's the FIRST thing I think about. I have 8 AR's. With the exception of the two fighters, which are virtually identical, they're all very different guns. The platform is real versitile. My little collection spans 4 calibers. Only one is a $600 gun.

[Murgatroy]

I have built several ARs at this point. I built one to see how cheap I could, and it ran my $450. My daughter loves it. She has a blast with it. And to be fair she is one of the highest ranked shooters in her age group in the state.

 

I have built some not so cheap ones, and the one I consider my go to is not a cheap on, but not an expensive one. It was built to do what it does and all the parts were chosen to suit what I wanted. It was about double the cheap one. However it was still half the cost of buying one with similar features from a higher end company.

 

The rest I have built were all middle of the road and come in at or around the $600 range. 

 

It comes down to what you want and what you are willing to spend, but I think your estimate of $700 on the low end is exceptionally high for a build in today's (or well, this week's) market.

[bruiser09]

Great to hear that I'm off. I truly did not know that one could be assembled for so little.

It should serve to encourage others to try their hand at a build.

-bob

 

[musicman]

Ditto Murg's experiences here... except I've never built a gun over $800 or so.  Cheapest was right at 410 and some pennies.  I just built (except for the trigger, still deciding) a varmint gun with an 18" stainless fluted bull barrel and 17" free float rail.  Depending on what I choose for the trigger it'll be $775-850 total.

For my wife I built a simple, pencil barrel 16" gun.  I chose some dressier bits and custom parts instead of a milspec lookin thing, and it came in under $600.

Someone (I forgot what shop... saw it on slickguns.com/net/biz/tv/erwhatever) was selling Anderson lowers for $42.  I jumped on a similar deal a couple years ago and got 5.  One low shipping price, and my ffl charged me one transfer fee for all 5.

The key for me to build cheaply is to first know what I want.  For rails, etc, I had a few in mind, and just for the right deal on one to pop up and snag it.  The only thing I had a hard time with recently was finding decently priced stripped uppers.  Dang Primary Arms had the best price on Andersons awhile back but would only let you buy one.  Thankfully, shipping was only $3.xx, so I bought one and my neighbor got another for me.  Still ended up about $14 less for the pair than buying from AIM, who was the only other place that had them at the time.