Does it make sense to purchase a 2nd AR15 or just buy a complete upper?

marathonrunner · Jan 21, 2017

I am used to buying complete AR15's when stocking up on them but someone said the lower will most likely never wear out, better off buying more uppers what do you all think? What I hate about buying complete AR15's is having to switch out the trigger to a Gissely, switch out the ***** OEM cheap stock for a quality Magpul, etc..

Muss Muggins · Jan 21, 2017

marathonrunner said:
I am used to buying complete AR15's when stocking up on them but someone said the lower will most likely never wear out, better off buying more uppers what do you all think? What I hate about buying complete AR15's is having to switch out the trigger to a Gissely, switch out the ***** OEM cheap stock for a quality Magpul, etc..

Before I can help here, I need to know how often do you "stock up" and how many rifles does that mean?

marathonrunner · Jan 21, 2017

Muss Muggins said:
Before I can help here, I need to know how often do you "stock up" and how many rifles does that mean?

Well buying 10 complete rifles would be very expensive and since the lower never wears out, if you buy 1 lower and 10 uppers isn't that just as good?

Muss Muggins · Jan 21, 2017

marathonrunner said:
Well buying 10 complete rifles would be very expensive and since the lower never wears out, if you buy 1 lower and 10 uppers isn't that just as good?

Well, if you don't need four or five rifles at the same time, maybe. I doubt I'll wear out one upper in my lifetime, and I shoot a lot . . .

Irn-Bru · Jan 21, 2017

I would buy the complete rifle. Right now AR's are very cheap. You can buy the M&P 15 Sport for a hair over $500 shipped. The Ruger AR runs about the same.

marathonrunner · Jan 22, 2017

Irn-Bru said:
I would buy the complete rifle. Right now AR's are very cheap. You can buy the M&P 15 Sport for a hair over $500 shipped. The Ruger AR runs about the same.

I am not a fan of Smith and Wesson's MP Sporter because it uses 4140 steel for their barrel. I realize it is still plenty good for most, but it definitely feels cheaper and not as solid as 4150. I forgot to mention I am not looking for cheap and functional, rather looking for top quality or near top.

The Windham's are very solid and they are awesome. But again the front and rear stock I always replace as well as the so so milspec trigger. Hence, as cheap as AR's may be, if I outfit every one with Magpul's top quality M4 stock, put a UTG quad rail on, etc.. it would be too expensive.

bigggbbruce · Jan 22, 2017

Burning out a barrel can be done. Replacement barrels are easy to install(for me any how). 1 barrel and install parts will go a long way.

senecaap · Jan 22, 2017

If there is enough of a price difference. There are so many ARs on the market, the difference seems slight so why not just get the full rifle? If you don't want to spec out all the rifles, do one or two lowers and move the uppers. You can always cannibalize or trade the others.

Big E3 · Jan 22, 2017

I’m a fan of having back up. I would have two complete rifles, set up the way you like. I would then start my quest for different caliber uppers. Then maybe down the road if I was shooting a lot, I might grab a stripped lower and a lower parts kit just in case. This way you won’t get a lot of money tied up in redundancy.

Vulcan Bob · Jan 22, 2017

I'll vote for another AR, prices are down and will get lower. I sorta look at this as I do a "New York reload" if you need one and one goes down just grab the other one and deal with the other at your convenience.

JohnRippert · Jan 22, 2017

I will answer this the same way I answered a similar question on another forum. If you have one lower and 4 uppers, you have one rifle. If you have 4 lowers and four uppers, you have 4 rifles. If something happens to your one lower, you have no rifles. I would rather have more than less.

5point5sixGUY · Jan 22, 2017

There is nothing wrong with buying complete rifles, complete uppers or lowers or starting from scratch and completely building your own. If you can only have one rifle it needs to be able to do up close and long distance work with something like a 1x-6x scope. It's never a bad idea to have spare parts laying around in case something breaks, and it's never a bad idea to have a few extra lowers laying around because unless things change they are what's considered "the gun" in case they ban the purchase of new rifles. One more thing which should be obvious, is to have plenty of mags and ammo, cause they could outlaw that stuff where you live or nationally at any time as well.

LVSteve · Jan 22, 2017

What are you using these rifles for? Do you HAVE to have Magpul furniture and an aftermarket trigger. I'm not quite getting the requirement for 10 ARs unless they are in different calibers and configurations. For example, my dream AR section of my safe :-

24" 5.56
20" 5.56
16" 5.56
20" 6.5 Grendel
20" 6.8 SPC
16" 6.8 SPC
20" 7.62x39
16" 7.62x39
16" 9mm

In this case I would be best served by 9mm and 7.62x39 specific lowers and could run the other calibers on one standard lower. So I end up with 9 choices using three lowers. JMNSHO.

Farmer17 · Jan 22, 2017

I just bought complete lower from Palmetto State Armory for $129 plus free shipping. You can get the upgrade lower with Magpul stock and handgrip for 20 bucks more and the enhanced polished trigger parts are another additional $20. I bought a complete 16" upper with Keymod slim rail and nitride BCG from Wise Arms for $310 shipped so you can get a pretty nice gun for under $500.

marathonrunner · Jan 22, 2017

Thanks everybody who chimed in. I think it makes sense to have more lowers and more uppers or at least equal to each other in terms of well i guess buying complete rifles makes more sense. If you buy 4 uppers and 2 lowers but two lowers something happens you got no guns.

The only downside of buying a matching lower for each upper is there are many parts on the lower I do not like. Such as the stock butt are often cheap and cheesy. The triggers on all are less than desirable. Therefore, makes more sense to buy stripped lowers and build them to your taste and then buy the upper

VNK971 · Jan 22, 2017

The first AR I bought was a Bushmaster. Next I bought a 16" 300 BO upper.Then I bought three stripped lowers, a 20" 5.56 upper, and a 10.5" 300 BO upper. I put an A2 stock with a 2 stage trigger, and jp silent buffer spring on the one for the 20". A kit for the one under the 16" BO, and a pistol kit for the 10.5". I'm waiting on a can that's in jail, and I'm going to do a form 1 for an SBR. So four uppers, four lowers.

Hair Trigger · Jan 23, 2017

I like what marathon runner said about having backup by having two lowers and then start adding however many uppers you desire. The added benefit is what your purpose is for one rifle may demand a different trigger setup than for another, so two lowers can have two distinct trigger setups that can cover a lot of ground.

So far, I only have one lower for two uppers, but its suiting my purposes just fine for the two uppers I have. The advantage to fewer uppers is less paperwork when you want another rifle. Another advantage is that you can get more rifles into less cases.
Here's a 300BLK and a 6.5 Grendel in a single carbine-length hard case:

Drm50 · Jan 23, 2017

Speaking only from a money standpoint, it is always better to have a complete gun. This is true with shotguns with extra
barrels and TCs with multiple barrels. When it comes time to
sell or trade you will be futher ahead. The only time this seems
to not be true is with high end guns that are worth more as a
set.

marathonrunner · Jan 24, 2017

Hair Trigger said:
I like what marathon runner said about having backup by having two lowers and then start adding however many uppers you desire. The added benefit is what your purpose is for one rifle may demand a different trigger setup than for another, so two lowers can have two distinct trigger setups that can cover a lot of ground.

So far, I only have one lower for two uppers, but its suiting my purposes just fine for the two uppers I have. The advantage to fewer uppers is less paperwork when you want another rifle. Another advantage is that you can get more rifles into less cases.
Here's a 300BLK and a 6.5 Grendel in a single carbine-length hard case:

The more I think about it, since most lowers have a bunch of garbage i don't want such as the mil spec triggers on all AR's regardless of price paid, they are just meh. The butt stock is also another meh. also don't care for the cheap mag release, cheesy bolt release etc.. I am convinced the only way to go is buy stripped lowers and build them to your liking, then just buy complete uppers. You can actually get a really nice quality with a free floated barrel upper if you already have the lower. For $900 you can get a Midwest free floated 15" rail, a heavy 4150 chromed lined barrel, a properly steaked gas key, 158 carpenters bolt etc.. For a complete rifle 900 dollars won't get you a free floated unless it is junk

one eye joe · Jan 24, 2017

I WOULD GET TWO GOOD LOWERS, TRICKED OUT TO YOUR SPECS, AND GET A VARIETY OF UPPERS TO SUIT YOUR PURPOSE--ALSO GOOD QUALITY, TRICKED OUT TO YOUR SPECS......

WITH PROPER MAINTENANCE, THE ODDS OF BOTH YOUR LOWERS BEING DOWN AT THE VERY SAME TIME, IS PROBABLY NIL......

Does it make sense to purchase a 2nd AR15 or just buy a complete upper?

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