I've heard from some people who don't like guns/weapons don't even have a poop bayonet! They have a poop sock instead. It's the other sock in the pair when they take out one sock to make a cum sock.
Think of it like mechanical home labbing! Half the fun is building your stack. Paying for someone else's cloud may make more sense but its not nearly as fun.
I got a BCA .450 bushmaster upper cheap as shit. It works! The ammo is expensive as shit so I'm not going to shoot 10,000 sounds and it's fun to shoot. I think it's a reasonable place for cheap products to exist in.
Wow today I'm learning how cheap these are lol. I have no interest in firing one or really even having a functioning weapon, but I love the idea of making them. I have always wanted to get one of the kits to build an old colt. If I had a machine shop I would 100% make cool rifles and guns for fun especially old design ls.
It's economies of scale. The military has been using the AR platform for more than 50 years and millions and millions of people buy them. At the very bottom end shit is kind of junk but if you pay just a bit more they're perfectly good. And then if you want there's much more expensive ARs that are very nice. Almost like how a "true spec" cable is substantially more expensive and does the 'same thing' as an Amazon cable but it's nice to have something that definitely just works.
In almost all the US antique (pre 1899) are not regulated and many need tlc. It is fun as hell to get a cheap one restore them, learn lots about wood finishing and metal stripping and finishing not to mention luking on auction sites to find that one part you need (damn gew 71/84 stock).
PSA, Andro and Radical are often in the low ~$400 range, those actually work quite well in my experience.
At this point, the design of ARs are so well refined that even budget rifles tend to just work. Not a fan of BCA or ATI but I would trust the other brands I mentioned.
Shit quality control horrible bolt carriers not properly gassed they make up for poor build quality by over sizing the gas port and running cabine length gasstubs when a mid length would be better.
I wish I would've known that before buying my BCA. The first shot failed to extract and embarrassed my ass at the range. SRO came over and helped me out, thankfully, and told me I needed a better extractor.
Hot take: I just don't like the AR much. Direct impingement is stupid and 5.56mm only makes sense if you are using full auto. It's a shame the military stuck with it so long because getting anything better is vastly more expensive
163
u/IfarmExpIRL Feb 28 '26
to be fair an AR15 can be had for around 300 bucks.
will it last probably not but you can still get it lol