Thread: AR's - the usual suspects??

Well I ordered an Aero Precision kit from Digit (NZAR) , pretty modestly priced really when you do a full list of parts and price them separately . . . . and you know its going to arrive and be of known origin.

Originally Posted by Tentman

Well I ordered an Aero Precision kit from Digit (NZAR) , pretty modestly priced really when you do a full list of parts and price them separately . . . . and you know its going to arrive and be of known origin.

What barrel are you going for? I highly rate Faxon Firearms. The Aero Precision Atlas handguards are nice too.

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

The only barrel I could get was a CMMG 12.5" . . . beggars can't be choosers. I've done quite a bit of analysis with Quickload and I think the 12.5 will work pretty good for my intended purposes (a handy rifle to shoot light game with 125-153 supers on what will be my first suppressed hunting rifle). The alternative was a Ruger Mini 30 and I don't think one of those would get within a bulls roar of a AR accuracy even with the worst imaginable CMMG barrel.

My AR will not be a total throwin to the "Black Ninja" crowd, it'll have wooden furniture - I won't be cooking handguards with mag dumps . . . .

Tui, anybody got a tui quick

Oh you got a blackout. I had a 12.5" CMMG black out, accurate as, real decent barrel.

gota 12.5 cmmg on mine its a good barrel

Originally Posted by Tentman

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

The only barrel I could get was a CMMG 12.5" . . . beggars can't be choosers. I've done quite a bit of analysis with Quickload and I think the 12.5 will work pretty good for my intended purposes (a handy rifle to shoot light game with 125-153 supers on what will be my first suppressed hunting rifle). The alternative was a Ruger Mini 30 and I don't think one of those would get within a bulls roar of a AR accuracy even with the worst imaginable CMMG barrel.

My AR will not be a total throwin to the "Black Ninja" crowd, it'll have wooden furniture - I won't be cooking handguards with mag dumps . . . .

You can get walnut furniture from the state's. But only e cat.

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Originally Posted by Russian 22.

You can get walnut furniture from the state's. But only e cat.

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Not a fan...

I've been looking at purchasing a semi-auto .223 for a number of years but funds have held me back, however after saving hard I'm now actively looking at options. I've never liked the Ruger mini 14 so it seems the only other practical choice is the AR platform. I can see and understand the lego-block assembly mentality but I'm somewhat unsure where to start. So for the wise, I have a few questions if you don't mind:

My requirement is for small game hunting and pest control. A-cat only at this stage.

1. Is it cheaper to rock up and buy a complete AR15 that has been assembled from parts or cheaper to buy the parts and assemble it yourself? I guess we're talking about purchasing from the likes of NZAR or similar?

2. Is the resale value of a "bitsa" going to be better, worst or the same as a branded rifle?

3. If I purchased a good quality branded rifle, would it be typical to then find it necessary to start swapping out parts in any case? Or does it by definition mean that having purchased an expensive branded rifle that the quality is such you're unlikely to need to change things like barrels and triggers?

4. Thoughts on best uppers and lowers? Barrels? Most of the planned use is goats and I'd like accuracy out to 200m.

5. When the desired outcome is a free-floated barrel (which I assume would be necessary to hit something at 200m), do I need to start with that in mind or can that be easily swapped over from a standard rig? ie. without a workshop full of tooling.

I look forward to hearing people's thoughts. It's a learning curve for me and one I should have started 20 years ago. Such is life. I've used a few over the years, such as the H&K, Armalite, Voere and Sig Sauer, just never owned one.

Originally Posted by planenutz

I've been looking at purchasing a semi-auto .223 for a number of years but funds have held me back, however after saving hard I'm now actively looking at options. I've never liked the Ruger mini 14 so it seems the only other practical choice is the AR platform. I can see and understand the lego-block assembly mentality but I'm somewhat unsure where to start. So for the wise, I have a few questions if you don't mind:

My requirement is for small game hunting and pest control. A-cat only at this stage.

1. Is it cheaper to rock up and buy a complete AR15 that has been assembled from parts or cheaper to buy the parts and assemble it yourself? I guess we're talking about purchasing from the likes of NZAR or similar?

2. Is the resale value of a "bitsa" going to be better, worst or the same as a branded rifle?

3. If I purchased a good quality branded rifle, would it be typical to then find it necessary to start swapping out parts in any case? Or does it by definition mean that having purchased an expensive branded rifle that the quality is such you're unlikely to need to change things like barrels and triggers?

4. Thoughts on best uppers and lowers? Barrels? Most of the planned use is goats and I'd like accuracy out to 200m.

5. When the desired outcome is a free-floated barrel (which I assume would be necessary to hit something at 200m), do I need to start with that in mind or can that be easily swapped over from a standard rig? ie. without a workshop full of tooling.

I look forward to hearing people's thoughts. It's a learning curve for me and one I should have started 20 years ago. Such is life. I've used a few over the years, such as the H&K, Armalite, Voere and Sig Sauer, just never owned one.

Yeah unless you know people or get some good deals on parts a dpms from guns NZ in Rotorua is the cheapest one worth owning at 1100. You have to put it together though. That deal was around the time of the shot show so no idea if its still valid.

No clue on resale. Depends on what bits are used.

Depends. Sometimes you want to try a new trigger or something similar and then it goes from there. I think buying a good quality one and swapping bits depends on the rifle. And the price range. Some don't need it and others you might think do.

Uppers and lowers doesn't really matter. As long as they're mil spec. Aero is the normally used one. There quite good. For accuracy out to longer ranges with 223 you'd want to spend some more money on a good bolt, trigger and barrel. A PSA EPA is probably the better of the lower end of after market triggers without going for a geissele or whatever it's called. Faxon make good barrel's. They're around 400 odd dollars.

The free float barrel is more of a free float hand guard i think. Which I am pretty sure is just a different way of bolting to the upper.




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As a newbie to AR who has just completed homework but not implemented i.e. assembled or shot . . . . my 2 cents worth

The attraction of the AR is that you can "assemble" a rifle to your own requirements with two caveats, the limitations of the platform within the two "sizes" AR-10 (.308 boltface) and AR15 (.223 and a few in between boltfaces) and the limitations of the NZ supply chain i.e. if you want a really special barrel you'll have to wait (6 months or so maybe) IF a supplier will order it for you.

I carefully priced the online offerings of both assembled and build your own and there's a very small saving to build your own, however DIY is the path to exactly what you want at a modest cost. From my look at it - it seems the retail margin is pretty modest, my local gun shop has the new Ruger AR15 at $1650.

Because its a "parts flying in formation" thing its great to start out modest and add upgrades down the track e.g. trigger

As far as resale goes there are a lot of dreamers on TM who try and sell at nearly retail. However if you dig a bit deeper on expired listings, I'd say a $1400 new one will bring $1000-$1100 and a $1800 new will get $1400 - not too bad by rifle resale standards . All rifles seem a bit slow on TM at the moment. Custom assemblies seem to take a bit bigger hit (unless you know exactly what other people want) BUT the individual components seem to sell really well if you strip it, barrels bring $300 plus and they are $350-400 new.

To put it bluntly, IMO, the attraction of an AR, is a semiautomatic rifle that isn't a piece of crap. If you have a reasonable quality barrel and a good trigger, it will shoot. Scope mounting is painless. No need to worry about ring alignment. Easier to suppress and handles it better than most other semis.

@planenutz ive got a 'bitsa' from NZAR15 if you want to have a look at it and then compare to what you get at outdoor world, Just flick a PM if keen.

Thanks for those thoughts team, some valuable info there. Cheers.

Konev - I'd appreciate the opportunity to do that if you don't mind. I'll PM you.

I just bought a cheap complete ar that I could take out and shoot straight away and add what I wanted as I went and ended up with nearly enough parts to build my Mrs one