Geeze that's a beautiful property.

I would think in the Houston area you could find any number of Pelicans that would let you test drive a few different things.

AR-15, all things being equal, is more accurate than a Mini 14 in my hands, but I prefer it over the AR. You can get the Mini 14 in stainless steel, which might not be too bad for the Gulf coast.

That looks similar and is about the same vintage as my Rock River Paul.

S&W M&P15 Sport is an excellent starting point, after shooting mine my former Marine brother in law got one too.

That is what I have - originally purchased for my son. When he upgraded I got the S&W.

Fine piece of gear.

If this is for target and home, I prefer an AR platform. Best combination for combat, target is my Colt LE6920 with a Trijicon TA31RCO.

Still like my HK-Benilli M1 for home defense.

Where can you get either of those for $500?

$349, some assembly required

https://www.cdnnsports.com/dpms-a15-5-56-16in-rifle-build-kit.html

What I want

https://www.cdnnsports.com/rugerr-ar556r-556-pistol-with-brace.html

$399 plus the cost of the lower of your choosing.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/medi...448972-mfg.jpg

I'm not going to do the assembly. If it was as simple as just sticking everything together, that'd be fine, but if there's any fitting or anything to be done, I'm not interested in doing that since I don't have a garage or the experience. I would probably save that sort of thing for something other than the first gun.

I'm also looking at buying something complete (seems a lot of them come with no sights and just a huge rail to add your own optics.

I'm also looking for a brand that I feel I can trust. I'm not super familiar with them all. I suspect there are some that are better than others. For instance, I'd be comfortable buying S&W, Ruger, Sig, and a few others. The options that seem to offer me the most confidence and the most reasonable price are S&W and Ruger. Tons of places list those on their websites, but they are often out of stock. If they are in stock they seem to be around 700-800. If I could find either for $500-600, I'd probably as that seems like an excellent price (which is probably why I can't find them).

I’d also like an AR pistol, I’m a sucker for the Springfield Saint models.

If you're will to to high 600's, there is a Ruger on CDNN

There is no fitting. The "fitting" is on the AR upper and barrel and is already done. Assembling the lower and kit is pretty easy. If you can assemble a carb, you can assemble an AR lower.

I saw that and got excited, then I saw the line at the bottom.
Yeah, I'm confident in my ability to assemble a gun. I have rebuilt carbs and motors. So there's no fitting or fiddly stuff that has to be done? And the parts are all quality like you'd get buying something like a SW MP15 or Ruger AR-556?

If Rick has a line on a $500 Ruger, I'd say go for it!

As far as is the quality the same? I would say generally yes. The lower end stuff is all about the same.

Academy sells the Ruger locally for $649 (ship to store), so you won't pay an FFL charge.

Bass Pro sells the S&W MP15 for the same price. Again, local pickup, no FFL charge.

The S&W is on sale for $649 and all three local Bass Pro.

The only challenging part (and it not that challenging) are those detent pins in the lower right area of the picture. Plenty of folks have launched them into the 10mm socket alternative universe. ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591127681.jpg

academy
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591127868.jpg

Well that sucks!

Plenty of barrel options with the AR platform. CHF, cut-rifled, button-rifled, chromoly, stainless, chrome-lined, nitrided, etc. Then there are choices for barrel length, gas system length, chamber-type, twist-rate, etc.
As RL mentioned, the AR is like Lincoln Logs (or Legos) for men. There are seemingly infinite combinations and configurations possible.

ARs are broken down into two main sub-components: The upper receiver and the lower receiver (which come apart in 5 seconds via two take-down pins). So, you can buy a complete AR in any flavor, then buy different uppers down the road in other calibers, barrel lengths, etc. You can switch from .223/5.56 to .22LR, to .300BLK, to 6.8SPC, etc. by simply purchasing the additional upper receivers to use with your original lower receiver.
Then of course there is a myriad of accessories/options available. Grips, rails, stocks, triggers, sights, optics, muzzle devices, etc.

If you want something of quality (materials, tolerances, finish, QC, etc.) then I would probably stick with Colt, LMT, Knights, Noveske, BCM, etc. ;)

Punch, hammer and a good lockring tool. 1 beer and watch the youtube video. If you can rebuild a carb or drop an engine, cook a meal you are smart enough to build one. If you don't want record of owning one and can use a router look at building an 80% paperweight into an AR.

I saw a previous thread on the 80% thing. That sounds cool, but I'm in an apt, and I'm certain the missus would be grumpy about me using a router in the apt. Maybe when we get back into a home and I have a garage/workplace.

Right, legos, that's the problem. There are the lego kits to build a Porsche 911 that you can get for $20 and lego kits that you can get for $300.

+1

AR's are extremely modifiable from mild to wild. I made (misnomer as you just put it together) a 20" chf 5.56 upper. Very quality barrel and 1 moa accuracy. only parts that need to be special are the barrel/BCG (which are often rebrands), and trigger if you desire something special.

That said I like the akm platform. Personal preference after shooting an A2.

and again... I know what I would do ;)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591194165.jpg

I know those are very functional, but my God, do they ever look awful to me. Give me some nice English walnut, a nicely polished blued finish, some hand cut checkering, and maybe a shadow line cheek piece. Now we're talking...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591203609.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1591203896.jpg

there is a butt for every seat.

if you dont like the AR platform..i get it. but a bolt action rifle or even one of your sweet ass Ruger #1 is a vastly different conversation.

I actually like the AR platform. I just wish there were a "pretty" version of it available. Nice wood, polished blued steel. I think that would be really cool. Would there even be a market for such a thing? Life is too short to shoot ugly rifles... ;)

Agreed, very nice looking spoons. I don't find the black spoons aesthetically pleasing at all. That's the reason that I like the idea of the mini-14 since it's like a love child of the two.

I don't really think this is exactly what you're looking for, but clearly you're not the only person with the idea.

http://woohp.org/pictures/misc/guns/ar15_wood.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/33/6f/e...129571cf95.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/f9...bb8144222a.jpg

EDIT: Steve beat me to it.

Now we're talking, Steve. Add some nicely polished and blued metalwork, and we could actually have a really pretty AR. The second one, with the matte finish, is one step away from that.

Teeny-tiny magazines....

yeah those made my eyes hurt....:rolleyes:

Yuo can polish alumium and then maybe a Blue anodizing? Or maybe a polish and then a dark blue cerakote?

Wood vs plastic is a different stroke for different folk. I love walnut stocks, especially a fullstock bavarian carbine. Beauty. However lugging it around damp/wet, moist, humid forests would destroy the stock in no time. I opt for the plastic polymer stuff for roughing the woods. I'll bring out the nice sako when i'm truck hunting.

https://www.cerakote.com/project-gallery?tab=color&htids=Midnight%20Blue%20H-238

Imagine this

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e1/33/6f/e...129571cf95.jpg

With this coloring

https://images.nicindustries.com/cer...01118&size=650

If aluminum I would go with the anodizing, or some other sort of electro/nitride/phosphate platingcoating. I keep some ammonium nitrate on hand just to coat parts when I get bored.
The cerakote in my experience wears quilty as it's just paint. Nick it, or holster wear.

Yes, something like that. I think a good polishing and then a deep blue anodizing.

I have hunted both our Washington coastal rain forests and the coastal rain forests of Southeast Alaska. I've been stuck living in a wall tent for a couple of weeks of non-stop rain on more than one occasion. Never really drying out, in a salt air environment to boot. I have exactly one composite stocked hunting rifle, a Model 70 Classic (controlled round feed, ala pre-'64) purchased in the early '90s', in .375 H&H. I brought it along on a few of those hunts, but otherwise everything else I used had a wood stock. An old M98 Mauser, a Ruger #1 (both in .375 H&H as well), a Marlin 1895 in .45-70, and some other stuff I'm sure. Not a single one of those wood stocks suffered. Whatever modern wood finishes are used on those stocks, they certainly seem to do the trick. That, and every wood stocked rifle I own has been taken apart so I can seal up the insides, in the inletting, which the factories never do.

That said, my M1A, with its traditional oil finished stock, starts to turn white and look like a piece of driftwood after a single day of use in the rain. It's those traditional oil finishes that give wood such a bad rap. I know it's approaching sacrilege, but I'm about ready to rub some Tru Oil into that damn thing. It's what I use on all of my muzzle loader builds, authenticity be damned. I hunt with them, often in the rain. Knocking the gloss off with some steel wool makes them look "authentic" enough for me. The M1A's day is coming...