Building or buying AR-15

[Scout_honor]

I built my first, bought my second. Building taught me how the platform works and let me customize exactly what I wanted. But quality complete rifles exist at good prices now. If you want to learn and tinker, build. If you just want a good rifle, buy complete. Both are valid..

 

[WIlliams_shoots]

That’s been my experience too. Building is great for learning and customization, but buying complete makes sense if you want something reliable and ready to run

 

[nksmfamjp]

I found I could build much better rifles than I could buy. Even great rifles often have average barrels and sub-par triggers….why upgrade.

The problem is there is so much garbage out there listed for sale, how do you separate the builds tha5 don’t feed, don’t shoot, are mismatched piles of parts from the premium purpose built builds? Most are separated by brand. An nksmfamjp build just doesn’t sell, I guess. That said, I enjoy them immensely..

On the other hand, the Colt OEM rifle is kind of the best of both for a basic combat rifle build.

 

[Sideways]

I buy - don't have a workbench or tools