In terms of $$

[Brodady]

A question for those who know their gun prices.
How much 16" Grendel could I get for 400$? This is how much money I have to spend right now and I thought that I would like to start on my gun.
Thanks

-Brodady

[Clod Stomper]

That will get you started. You can get a barrel and bolt for under $300. Another $100 will get you a complete upper receiver. Then you'll need a bolt carrier, another $75 to $100. Gas block = $20 to $80. Gas tube around $10 to $15. Muzzle devices can be anywhere from $20 to $100 or more. Sights are also all over the place.

Of course if you just want to buy a complete upper, keep saving for a while.

Will

[Brodady]

That will get you started. You can get a barrel and bolt for under $300. Another $100 will get you a complete upper receiver. Then you'll need a bolt carrier, another $75 to $100. Gas block = $20 to $80. Gas tube around $10 to $15. Muzzle devices can be anywhere from $20 to $100 or more. Sights are also all over the place.

Of course if you just want to buy a complete upper, keep saving for a while.

Will

Okay, I'll look into it. Thanks some good information there.

-Brodady

[leopard6.5]

Brodady: I would suggest you ask some questions of yourself first before you set you budget.

1. Do you want to build the upper or rifle yourself or do you want one already built?
2. What will I be using the end product( rifle) for? just hunting, some hunting and some target shooting, just target shooting,etc.
3. What level of accuracy will you be happy with? This is a tough one as a lot of people( me included) underestimate or overestimate this so they either over or under buy.
As I mentioned to you, I went through three different uppers before I settled on what I really would be happy with.
4. What other accessories( bipod, laser, vertical forward grip,etc.) will you end up wanting to mount on the rifle? Some of these will determine what parts you will need. For
instance, if you want to mount a forward vertical grip you will need either a handguard or monolithic upper that has a way to mount it to them( rails or mounting areas).
5. I'm sure there are other questions you may want to answer for yourself but hopefully you get the idea.

You then may want to start a list of all the parts you want and modify the list as you change your mind or you get better info.


Good Luck and keep asking questions.

Lee

[LRRPF52]

Barrel/bolt combo from AA: $260
Stripped upper from PSA: $70

http://palmettostatearmory.com/ar-upper-receivers.php

Pick your other small parts from that list and go from there.

[Brodady]

1. Considering I don't know too much about building uppers, i think it would be quite convenient if i could find a pre-built one that fits my taste and needs.
2. I'll be using it for deer hunting and maybe for taking out some wild boars, I'll be using it a lot for target shooting with my dad too.
3. I don't think I will ever take a shot longer than 500 yards so I wont need anything too fancy.
4. I'm going to put magpul accessories on it such as the moe hand guard, I know with those, the rails are installable. so that's covered.

[jkingrph]

Building an upper is not too difficult. The hardest part to me is getting the barrel nut to line up properly. You do need a special wrench and a torque wrench to accomplish that. I did ruin a couple of nuts, but that was part of learning process.

A couple of builds I went with one of the Daniel Defense rails which use a special nut that eliminates that problem. I was going with a gas piston system also so it made it easy.

I went from total novice builder to accomplished novice builder in about 8 months, building 6 uppers. The all worked better from the start than one high priced upper I had purchased from a well known maker.

Read and study a little, and you can have the satisfaction of making your own as you like. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you will save money cause you probably will not.

[Brodady]

So, is custom building uppers not cheaper?

[LRRPF52]

If you don't charge yourself for labor, quality control, and trouble-shooting. A monkey could put an AR15 upper together, if he saw another monkey do it right.

[Rambozo]

Building an upper is easy as pie. But having never done it before, expect to end up with some redundant or unneeded parts. That's what happened to me. I don't mind it, but it does make the first go a little more expensive.

Don't be fooled by the superficially low price of the home build. An AR is easy to build, but it's still expensive. It just nickels and dimes you, which is okay, because then you just don't feel it as much. The benefit to the home build is the choice of parts. You can pick any combination of parts you like, right from the get go, so that's good too. In all, it's certainly worthwhile to home build it.

Just get the 16" barrel. It's handier.

[texasgrunt]

First I decided what I wanted to accomplish with my stick. I wanted a sub MOA rifle that could reach out there. Not sure the practicality of my decision other than that's what I wanted.

Then when I built my rifle I set up an excel spreadsheet with a column for needed parts, a column for model of the needed parts, prices for each part and finally the supplier/store for each part. I researched for about 12 months on my Grendel build (that's alot of time and probably a little excessive) before I bought anything. The benefit to the long research phase was that as soon as I decided I was sure about a component, I found a different option that was better (in my mind). A TON of changes to my list before I started the purchases. Most important components (quality-wise in my opinion) are the barrel, bolt and lower parts kit (specifically the trigger group).

I used several "do it yourself" tutorials from various sources (AR15.COM, the old grendel forum, snipers hide, youtube, etc.) and pretty much followed the steps one-by-one. Like it was said earlier, a monkey could do it after watching another do it right and I'm living proof! There is a wealth of knowledge out there, some sources like this forum are friendly and others are better for reading than asking questions.

The whole process is fun and rewarding. The main benefit of a personal build is not paying for a complete upper and then having to pay for upgrade parts.

Good luck.

[Brodady]

Okay, this all helps a lot, and I like the excel spreadsheet idea. I think I have a general idea of what I want, I guess soon enough I will just need to work out the finer things.
Thanks.

-Brodady

[jwilson1985]

truthfuly imo you dont save alot building one inless u just want the exp... deffenitly once you buy the tools...main thing is you can do a little at a time so its not as hurtful on the wallet

[YutYut]

As LR said you'll be saving on labor etc.. And you'll also know your weapon a whole lot better.
Awesome sig texasgrunt

[pinzgauer]

I like the excel spreadsheet idea.

I'll dig out the excel I made for my builds and post it