From this thread at TheFalFiles: AR Pistol? Tempted by PSA Pricing
I saw this comment below in response to the quoted question and had to put it on the blog. This gentleman hits the nail on the head. AR’s have never been cheaper, and most likely, will never be more expensive then after Trump leaves office.
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I’ve recently become curious about AR pistols or short barrel rifles. I’ve never shot one nor do i particularly have a use for one. Anyone care to explain why I should scratch this itch? Or am I better to just ignore this particular temptation? |
When has “having a use for one” ever been a prerequisite? Why should you scratch this itch, you ask?
AR’s right now, from PSA anyway (and you can get them cheaper, a little, if you’re willing to do chicom stuff) are selling for pretty much what they were in the mid/late 1980’s. Maybe 1990, but whatever. From the time when minimum wage was $3.35 an hour and it would have cost you two and a half weeks worth of pay to get one. These ARE the good old days of ARdom. PSA’s offerings are the $89 Imbel kits of today. TAPCO $1 aluminum metric mags. Century $.05 cent a round delivered Indian x51 with a free CETME bayonet. Burns Brothers $129 M39’s. $59 Albanian SKS’s from AIM. $150 Ballestar Rigaud’s from whoever the hell sold them. Get what I’m saying here?
Buy one. Buy one today. Don’t wait, don’t cry later because you didn’t and now you can’t. If you have a good FFL that does multiple transfers for one fee, buy a few lowers at once when they’re $30 a pop and split the cost of the transfer. Other places usually have better deals on the receivers when you factor in shipping. Buy a $259 or $269 kit when PSA runs their deals, and they almost always have a sub $300 pistol kit on their daily deal. Put it together, no special tools required as long as you have some sort of $3 punch and the back side of a drill bit to help hold a detent or two in place. Order a $22 red dot from Amazon. Put a couple drops of oil on the bolt and along the charging handle slot and go turn some money into noise at the local range.
If you hate it, you can sell it and be out almost nothing for your effort. If you like it, and I bet you will, you can get a better dot/optic after you read some reviews/think about what you’re willing to spend on something you don’t really have a use for. My guess, actually my hope, is the only real use you’ll ever have for it is to put high speed holes in paper or pop cans or balloons or film canisters filled with flour or punkins/watermelons, or ping steel plates. But that’s use enough for me, even if one usually does ride around with me just in case.
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That post is fantastically written.
At MINIMUM you should be snapping up lower receivers to build future AR’s off. Anderson Lowers are extremely nice and going for $40 a pop pretty much everywhere. I built the Wife’s AR Pistol off one and it was superb. $200 bucks will get you five of them.
But don’t forget the magazines. PSA(Palmetto State Armory) has a lot of deals on Magpul PMAGS which are also fantastic and set the bar for gun magazines. A lot of times you can buy an optic or ammo and get ten magazines for next to nothing. The last Vortex Optic I bought was a Strikefire II, it came with ten magazines for less than $200 bucks. Since the Optic usually goes for $180, I got ten mags for $2 each. That’s a steal when they go for $12 normally. Oh, and that was with free shipping.
Praise Jesus and Pew Pew!