Complete Newb Here

**P39** · 23 November 2012, 16:43

Yea, well....I have to "hide" things like this. Wife does not have access to the gun safe and when I tell her the cost of one of my beloved firearms, she responds with a far less than favorable "WTF??" so given that she has not a clue of the value of a quality firearm, I have to stash cash and DIY an AR.

**Nicholsonmotorsports** · 24 November 2012, 07:21

Well I can't complain there my wife is the one buying it for me (perks on being newly wed haha). So I went browsing yesterday and saw a lot of different guns. The 2 I liked the best were the Colt and the M&P. Is the M&P a good gun? Guy at the gun store sure thought so and it's also closer to the $800 range of my budget instead of the upper end. If it is a good gun to go with I was thinking the M&P and then have money left over for scope, red dot, whatever I decide to do with there.

**MoxyDave** · 24 November 2012, 12:23

Originally Posted by Nicholsonmotorsports

Is the M&P a good gun? Guy at the gun store sure thought so and it's also closer to the $800 range of my budget instead of the upper end. If it is a good gun to go with I was thinking the M&P and then have money left over for scope, red dot, whatever I decide to do with there.

Smith & Wesson makes a high quality firearm. I haven't handled one of their AR15s but I have several other S&W guns and they're all high quality. I think you will be very happy with the M&P15 Sport.

Nutnfancy reviewed the M&P15 sport a while ago and he really liked it. Have a look.

**P39** · 24 November 2012, 12:48

My brother just picked up the M & P 15 Sport. He has modified it a bit however it's a very nice weapon right out of the box.

**FortTom** · 24 November 2012, 14:59

Originally Posted by Nicholsonmotorsports

Haha yea everything you just said was reasons I was looking to build also but like I said I am just afraid ill buy cheap components. And as far as MI not that I know of I'm down south in TN.

Also, are you going to be building or assembling? I mean, are you going to buy a complete lower, then a complete upper and assemble them, attach goodies and go shoot, or are you going to start with a bare lower, and go from there?
Although a "build" will teach you basically all you need to learn about an AR, you have to consider the costs of all of the individual components, plus, tools, that you may or may not already have. An "assembly" would be easy, but if it were ME, and I was a complete beginner, I think I'd just go the easy route and purchase any of the above mentioned complete rifles. Break it in, and i't'll probably shoot great for years, depending on how many K rounds you shoot a year. My latest was sort of a hybrid of building and assembling.
I bought a complete LMT lower, and upper, then added own rails, BCU, PRI charging handle, BUIS, trigger assembly (upgraded) and all the other goodies, optics, etc. I could have easily bought almost 2 complete servicable rifles for what I put in mine after optics, mounts, centurion rails, PRI gas buster CH, NiBoron BCU, etc..but I have a rifle that has fired every single shot perfectly. I could have bought one just as reliable for 1/2 as much. With a 1K budget, I'd think rifle and optics (if you're going with optics). Then the next time around, you can "build" one, piece by piece, not only based upon budget, but all the little preferences and nuances you'll develop with the time spent shooting the one you bought as a complete weapon.

FT.

**Nicholsonmotorsports** · 24 November 2012, 15:49

Thanks for everything. I ended up going with the smith & Wesson. Shot it a little today. 200 rds shot great as far as I know and seemed to be very accurate as far as my skills go. Now I gotta decide on where to go with optics. I will definitely build my next one just for the pleasure of doing it....that is if that's still possible when that time comes. Thanks again for everyone's input and help

**KevinBLC** · 25 November 2012, 01:44

I'm in the same boat, let me know how that Smith & Wesson treats you. I'm trying to decide if I want another Colt or build my own.

**P39** · 25 November 2012, 07:51

Congrats on the purchase.

All I can offer on the DIY build is that it's enjoyable. Part of the fun has been searching out what parts to buy as well. I am still waiting on parts to show up and still have a couple things to order but I'm close.

**browcs** · 25 November 2012, 11:03

Enjoy the S&W. Post a review in the member submitted reviews section whenever you have a chance.

**Nicholsonmotorsports** · 26 November 2012, 10:26

Shot another 100 rounds through the S&W yesterday and I gotta say I love this thing. Now granted I don't know one from the other but I absolutely love this gun. Now for the big optics decision. I really like the function of the hybrid being able to magnify the red dot or flip it down and just use the red dot. But I believe that's out of my price range for now. Any suggestions for $200ish?

**UWone77** · 26 November 2012, 11:27

Yeah, save up another $200 for an Aimpoint PRO. If you have to have an optic now for $200, I'd go with the Vortex Sparc or Strikefire.

**P39** · 26 November 2012, 16:59

Originally Posted by UWone77

Yeah, save up another $200 for an Aimpoint PRO. If you have to have an optic now for $200, I'd go with the Vortex Sparc or Strikefire.

I'm kind of in the same position as nicholson.....thanks for the recommendations. For what they are, both of these get decent reviews.

**Nicholsonmotorsports** · 26 November 2012, 17:29

Thanks again for the help. And it's kind of one of those situations where I don't HAVE TO have an optic now it would just be nice. And with the holidays and motor freshen time for the race car money is pretty tight so I don't know when I'd be able to get a $4-500 optic.

**UWone77** · 26 November 2012, 18:32

I don't know what your needs are or what you plan to use the gun for, but I'll say this from experience. Everytime I go with the cheaper option, I regret not putting the money I spent towards the cheaper item to the more expensive item I ultimately wanted.

At $400 with a useable mount, in my opinion the Aimpoint PRO is one of the best deals out there. If you look hard enough, you may find one for less than that.

**Creeky73** · 27 November 2012, 14:33

Put me in the group that advises you to pass on building your own. If you don't already have the tools, figure another $200 or more acquiring those tools. Then also figure in exactly what it is you expect to build. Most people don't elect to build a "budget" AR. The main advantage to building your own is that you get to hand-pick your components, and I have no idea why you would hand-pick the cheapest parts to build from. I bet you would be hard-pressed to build a decent AR for less than you could get one from Spikes, Palmetto or other places. Also, if you don't plan on building several AR's, then I would say that acquiring the tools and knowledge to do it just once is a waste of time and money. If you plan on making building black rifles a regular thing, by all means, buy up all the tools and have fun. I wish someone would have given me this advice when I started out; instead I have a whole bunch of tools laying around collecting dust, all for my one AR build. I sure would like a do-over on it, I would just buy a Daniel Defense set up the way I wanted from the beginning, and still save money over how I did it.

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