Recommended Products - AR Builds

Building an AR is an awesome and intense undertaking. I have built several, building some for myself and some with friends and family. I like to refer to them as "Legos for adults".

Questions to answer before the build:

• What is the purpose of the rifle?

  • Home Defense?

  • Intermediate Range?

  • Long Range?

  • We ask the above questions to begin informing ourselves what features and specifications the rifle will need to have.

• What features/accessories are a must?

  • Mounted flashlight?

  • Vertical Grips/Hand Stops?

  • Optics?

  • Front Sight Post/No Front Sight Post?

  • ARs are extremely customizable, but there are some features that people just have to have when building. I love the old-school look of the front sight post of an AR, but sometimes that feature may get in the way of a distance gun or the sight picture of a home defense setup. I have built a few ARs both with and without the FSP.

• What does the weapon need to weigh?

  • Sometimes overlooked, but weapon weight is important to consider in the build planning process. My home defense gun is one solid puppy, especially due to the Cold Hammer Forged barrel. I like the weight and the fact that it barely moves when shooting, but my wife can barely hold the thing up.

Parts List

• AR Lower Assembly Parts

  • AR Lower (I am a really big fan of Aero Precision. They are not wallet busters, but the build quality and features are excellent)

  • AR Lower Parts Kit (includes trigger unless you want something more specific)

  • AR Buffer Tube

  • AR Buffer Spring and Buffer

  • Stock of your choice that fits the buffer tube. Buffer tubes are typically Milspec, so you will want to make sure your stock is also sized for Milspec

• AR Upper (I typically like to order completed uppers, but you can build a la cart as well. You just have to be careful of proprietary features. There are a lot of propreitary features with various brands' uppers.)

  • AR Upper

  • Barrel

  • Handguard

  • Gas block and gas tube

  • Muzzle Device

  • Barrel Nut/Delta Ring

  • Sights

Red Dot for Rifle

• Holosun 510C

  • This sight is a really solid build, and comes in different colors. I selected the tan for my main rifle, and I really love the features. Here's some of my favorite features:

    • Solar Power - This sight has a Solar Power panel on top to help provide power when outdoors.

    • Easy Battery Change

    • 2 MOA Dot, and 65 MOA Reticle - This sight has the dot and reticle, which is a helpful feature if you have to engage targets at different distances compared to your zero.

    • Motion Activation - This sight comes on once it detects motion activation, but otherwise stays off. My rifle spends a lot of time in the safe compared to my carry gun, so this feature is awesome to have. If I have to grab the rifle quickly, that sight is always on the moment it moves. However, it turns itself off too! The current battery has been in the sight for a couple years now!

Here are some more products that I recommend!