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!