Pre-Asembled vs. Custom building(Cost Advantage)

[klah taxidermy]

New to the forum and this has probably already been discussed so be kind.
Is is more cost affective to just buy a 450BM upper already assembled or buy the components and assemble myself?
New to owning an AR also, but have been around guns for 30+ years.
Have watched a few videos on building an upper and seems to be pretty straight forward so not shy about doing it myself just want to make sure I am not just wasting any time or money.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

Welcome to our electronic camp fire!

[kottke_35]

Your problem in building right now is finding the parts.

B.

[klah taxidermy]

Your problem in building right now is finding the parts.

B.

You are right about that.
Seems like everyone is out of stock.
Guess the economy is a lot better now.lol

[Hic28]

I was in your shoes just a couple weeks ago. I decided to build my own (using a Trident armory barrel), mainly because I like building my ARs and because it allows me to select exactly what I want in my rifle. Im waiting for all the parts to come in then I'll assemble it and give you more info.

[Texas Sheepdawg]

As for cost, where I run into cost issues is having to order from several different sources making shipping costs some what of an issue. If you could order a majority of your components through one supplier and have the parts shipped in one shipment will keep shipping costs at a minimum. But reality dictates that this is usually not possible. Call in your orders and try to keep as many orders as possible limited to USPS priority or first class.

[Hoot]

As for cost, where I run into cost issues is having to order from several different sources making shipping costs some what of an issue. If you could order a majority of your components through one supplier and have the parts shipped in one shipment will keep shipping costs at a minimum. But reality dictates that this is usually not possible. Call in your orders and try to keep as many orders as possible limited to USPS priority or first class.

+1. Some times I'll pay a percent or two more for components I could get cheaper from multiple dealers, to get as many as possible from one and save it back on shipping.

Boy, if the states ever get so budget starved that they start seriously enforcing their sales tax for online, out-of-state purchases, that'll take a big bite out of the advantage of online purchases. As soon as that happens, I'm going to beg, borrow, or steal the front money to partner in opening up a brick-and-mortar AR parts store. We don't have any here with anything approaching a working inventory. Great retirement job.

Hoot

[kottke_35]

281656275

Copy and pate that number over on gun broker. Complete barrel and bolt assembly ready to go. hope this helps.

B.

[wildcatter]

Here's another opinion.. all of the above is very good thinking and if you just want to build one, then buying store-bought, just won't due. But for total cost -vs- aggravation, and if these are the only considerations, I have never been able to haunt the Gun Shows or but piece-meal, and beat the factory pricing, by a long shot. Buying a complete weapon, is like buying all of the parts from one source and at a discount, by comparison.

From what I hear, you'd better make a choice fast, as the Obama-Scare is "ON" and if history is any indication of future events, there are parts/weapons/ammo shortages coming/here now..

..t