AR upper ? about fare price

[bigthumper]

would this be a good fare price upper to buy?


Rock River Arms Barreled Uppers Rock River Arms Midlength A4 Chrome Lined 1/7 TWIST Lightweight Upper EXCLUSIVE to PK Firearms: We ordered a small lot of RRA 16" midlength, chrome lined, lightweight contour, 1/7 TWIST Uppers. Rock River Arms 16" Wilson lightweight, Govt. contour ( turned down under the handguards and in front of the sight tower ) chrome lined bore and 5.56 NATO chamber with 1/7 twist rate. Midlength handguards and steel front sight tower with bayonet lug. Flat top receiver.

Complete with bolt carrier assembly and forged charging handle.

Price: each $499.00

Thanks Shelby

 

[bigthumper]

or would this be better and would it work on a M&P 15 lower?

http://store.a51tactical.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_67_80&products_id=3994

 

[z06man]

Either should work fine on M&P lower and both deals decent or better. You did see that the second one is chambered for 6.8 SPC, right? Totally different animals.

 

[bigthumper]

yeah thats kinda why i looked at it... how much different is the 6.8? is it worth buying over the 5.56?

 

[z06man]

Ammo is going to be a lot less common and quite a bit more expensive for the 6.8.

If I were going for something in that range, I'd choose the 6.5 Grendel. It's ballistically superior to either 5.56 and 6.8. The only problem is factory ammo is fairly hard to come by and it is still expensive to shoot, though not much different from the 6.8. You'll want to reload for either unless they see limited use or you have deep pockets. SPC brass seems a bit more common and less expensive than Grendel, but I've been told you can form Grendel brass from 7.62x39 cases pretty easily.

 

[twocan]

Or just buy the 7.62x39 upper like did.

 

[ez bake]

7.62x39 AR setups are known for being plagued with reliability issues (partially due to mags).

If you are looking at a cheap upper, then there are plenty of deals out there to be had. If I were looking at that RRA, I'd be concerned with whether or not you want M4 feedramps, a true F-marked FSB (and if not F-marked, are the ears on both sides of the front sight post are higher than the post?), a full-auto bolt carrier group (mainly for the fully shrouded firing pin), and the proper extractor spring and o-ring.

Other than those things, I can't see any reason not to buy it - that's a pretty decent barrel, the upper is hard to screw-up and RRA isn't known for making out-of-spec uppers (that I'm aware of). The BCG is the most important part, but if you're a recreational shooter or hunter, I doubt you ever put enough rounds through it to damage the BCG, so you should be fine.

 

[henschman]

I think a custom upper from Del-ton would be a better deal. They start at $395, and you can pick whatever options you want as far as twist rate, chrome lined, m4 feed ramps, gas block, etc... http://www.del-ton.com/AR_15_Barrel_Assemblies_Custom_Barrel_Assemblies_s/180.htm

As soon as I get around to building an AR I'm probably going to do it with one of their midlength uppers with a 1/7 CL barrel, M4 ramps, a low-pro gas block, and then slap a Troy TRX 13" free float tube on it.

I really don't think there is a difference in quality between RRA and Del-ton. Based on how many pleased Del-ton customers I've seen, I would actually probably lean towards them.

 

[pdcrig]

Ammo is going to be a lot less common and quite a bit more expensive for the 6.8.

If I were going for something in that range, I'd choose the 6.5 Grendel. It's ballistically superior to either 5.56 and 6.8. The only problem is factory ammo is fairly hard to come by and it is still expensive to shoot, though not much different from the 6.8. You'll want to reload for either unless they see limited use or you have deep pockets. SPC brass seems a bit more common and less expensive than Grendel, but I've been told you can form Grendel brass from 7.62x39 cases pretty easily.

If you don't mind paying more for ammo, go with the 6.8. It's a great round and is becoming more popular. The only way the 6.5 has an advantage over the 6.8 is if you give it a longer barrel or want to use heavier bullets. If you took a 16in 6.8 with 100gr bullets and shot it against a 16in 6.5 with 100gr bullets the difference wouldn't be noticable. You can use 123 gr bullets in the 6.5 and up to 115 grainers in the 6.8. I'd go with the 6.8. I'm not sure the 6.5 is going to last unless Alexander Arms loosens up some of their licensing restrictions. What they've got isn't really that special. If you really want to reach out get a 7.62 Nato or a 300. Stay away from 7.62x39 and 5.45x39s. The AR mags aren't very reliable. Have fun bigthumper.

 

[THE JOKER]

Here are some Stags http://ar15sa.fatcow.com/store/page2.html