Looks like I did just that. It was showing as in stock at my local store this afternoon. I planned on going over lunch tomorrow, but it's out of stock now. Same with the sportsmanoutdoors site. Damn procrastination! :cuss:

ATACR and BEAST glass is considered in the same class as Schmidt Bender. Excellent.

The best scopes I own are Steiner Military, which are nice, but eventually I want to get a 5-25 ATACR F1.

Budget wise my Leupold VX-R 3-9 Patrol is fantastic. This scope hits above its price.

I completely forgot about Schmidt..they are fantastic as well..I'm glad you said something I might try to track one of them down for my next gun build

I have a few Leupolds..I like them a lot and would recommend them to anyway who has a modest budget

I could use some info from some of you guys. I've been thinking about getting myself a very basic AR. Something I can upgrade over time. I've had different guns over the years , shotguns, rifles, a few pistols, I've never really "got in to" guns. I want something I can use for deer hunting, target practice, and home defense.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to buy parts as I go and build it myself considering my initial budget is only about $250 - $300. Where should I start ?

IMO, you won't find a new AR for 300.00. I got a DPMS Oracle for 550.00 at Cabelas a few months back. Good starter AR from what I'm told and I'm happy with it. But I've never seen one in .223 or .556 for 300. I've seen the .22 LR for that cheap though.

Also, hunting deer with it is not optimal, as I've found out. It's too light of a round. There are companies that make white tail ammo in .223, but most people I know say it's really not a good deer round. Which sucks, because I also bought it to hunt deer with as well, but I'll probably just stay with my trusty old .30.30...

Thats what I was afraid of. I don't hunt much anymore, usually to help stock a disabled friends freezer. Almost all the shots are 50 yrds or less though..
The 250 / 300 budget is just initially. Thats why I was considering buying the parts over time and building one.

With a budget of $300, you could buy a complete lower.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats what I figured. After checking a couple websites posted in this thread it looks like if I want a quality rifle I'm going to have to buy the parts monthly and build it myself or just spring for the cost of a new one if there's much difference in cost.
Is there much difference in the cost of building one as opposed to just buying a comparable one ?

I just built a basic AR using items on sale and usually free shipping for ~450-500. That included cheap optics.

https://www.palmettostatearmory.com/ is your friend.

Also, I built it as a 300 Blackout. http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/ Essentially, you use a .30 cal bullet in a modified 5.56 case. All the same gun parts as a 5.56 AR except for the barrel.

Now you can go deer hunting. :)

Cool, I was just checking out the palmetto website. It looks like that is the way to go for what I want. I'm going to ck out the 300 board. Looks like it should have about all the info I would need.

If you are thinking about deer hunting get with your AR look into building one with a 6.5 Grendel..I am building one now that I'm using for a 1000 yard rifle..it comes in higher grain bullets that are perfect for deer hunting

You will need a different barrel and magazines for the 6.5

OR you can build whatever lower and upper you want then build a new upper later on..if you do that make sure you get a lower that is rated for multiple caliber

Made my first 80% lower order.

Is 4 enough to cure the curiosity? :rockon:

Nah!

Gun building is a disease for which there is no cure. :)

Getting ready to build another with my 80 year old Dad.

Well after reading all the posts from all of you AR aficionados and with the current AR media circus, I popped my AR cherry today. I bought the last Ruger AR 556 Academy Sports had in stock here in Topeka. It was being held for another guy but he didn't pass his background check so it's all mine. I know it's a basic AR and it's what I was looking for to cut my AR teeth on. Can't wait to shoot it now :D