Money pit rifles

[tahunua001]

actually now that ATK has their hands on it, they are cranking out a great deal of american eagle brand 5.7x28. the local sportsmans warehouse has more of it than anything else, it's starting to make an AR5.7 upper sound like a sweet deal right about now.

 

[Tucker 1371]

My M1A is getting that way, I've got 7 mags for it averaging $40 a pop, an EOtech 512, a $900 carbon fiber McCann stock on the way, and a magpul MOE-K grip, ACS-L stock, AFG, and UTG buffer tube for when the McCann stock gets here.

Roughly totaled-

Rifle- $1500
CF Stock- $900
Magazines- $280
Magpul furniture- $230
EOtech- $450

Total- $3360

I'm planning on adding a coast guard compensator ($130), national match piston and spring guide ($130). Also playing with the idea of getting an ARMS 18

*edit- forgot the EOtech

 

[Bamashooter]

My Del-ton Echo 316/MOE has a Eotech sight and a grip pod. Both are great accessories for the AR platform. Nothing else is needed at least not by me.

 

[tulsamal]

I don't like hanging a whole bunch of "extra stuff" on an AR either. But that doesn't stop every one of mine from being that money pit. It's not a matter of adding stuff. It's a matter or replacing stuff.

For instance, my Ruger SR556. It isn't the stripped down version, this is the top level one. I like the rifle a lot but that doesn't stop me from "upgrading" it to my personal standard. Which means a Geissele SSA trigger. (I actually put an SSA-E in this rifle.) Star selector, MIAD pistol grip. Magpul enhanced trigger guard. CS buffer spring. Battle Comp to replace the ugly Ruger thing. And that generic stock wasn't doing it for me, went with Magpul ACS. KNS pins. AFG. (OK, that's an add on!) So is the VTAC Lamb universal sling attachment and Vickers sling but you have to have that!

God knows I'm probably missing several other things. But the point is that I spent a lot of money on that rifle without actually "adding a bunch of crap to it." I just spent the money customizing it with the parts that I prefer. And it was worth it.... it was a nice rifle when I bought it... now it is very, very nice.

Gregg

 

[Patriot86]

My LAR15 is now a money pit rifle.
As of this weekend

It sports a Laser, a TLR-1, a Lucid HD7 and some cheap Tapco VFG.

All I need is an IR laser and it would be complete

 

[mitranoc]

My VTAC came with almost everything that I wanted. I did add an EoTech XPS-2, MBUS sights, Magpul vertical grip, Magpul ACS-L stock, Spikes ST-T2 buffer, and a bunch of PMAG's. I was considering putting a 3x magnifier on it, but decided that I didn't need it. Plus I didn't want the additional 1lb. (almost) on top of it

My money pit has been in ammo. I've been stocking up way before all of this nonsense started.... in multiple calibers. No regerts though.

 

[sailskidrive]

It seems to me anything that gets modified from stock configuration, becomes a $$$ pit.

 

[B. Lahey]

The Polytech M14 I had rebuilt by SEI was certainly a long and expensive project. The USGI parts and quality smithwork were at least twice as expensive as the original rifle. Just figuring out which parts I wanted, and who should do the work, took a lot of research and hand-wringing. Then came the $, and a long wait.

Totally worth it.

 

[Fargazer]

My second AR could be considered a money pit, but more with quality parts than geegaws:

• 24" RRA varmint upper
• Magpul PRS stock
• Geissele 2 stage enhanced SD trigger
• Ergo grip
• Bushnell Tac Elite FFP 6-24x scope with LaRue QD mount
• Harris bipod from LaRue, with the Harris attachment hardware replaced with Larue's

Took me around 18 months to put it together, but it was worth it to me

 

[Boomer58cal]

I don't know if I'd call anything I have a money pit. Most of mine were bought at very low cost.I've never really liked having dodads hanging all over but a light is a must. Where I live it gets dark and by dark I mean black! You must be able to ID your target. If you don't want to be seen don't turn it on! The fact is 4 oz of light is a small price to pay if you need one. Always ID you're target. Anyone that doesn't know that shouldn't own a gun.

Boomer

 

[EdInk]

A "money pit" something you throw hard earned cash into either to just keep it running or trying to get the lousy thing to be serviceable.

Based on that definition the only "money pit" rifle I have ever owned was an early production Sig 556 Classic. It cost too much to start, had QC issues, needed the grip replaced in-order to reach the safety, required proprietary parts (which still broke), accessories were rare and overpriced and in short order was a total lemon that I should have passed on in the first place.

Since I bought mine (now gone thankfully), they have dropped the price $500 and started using the real Swiss style stock that you had to buy for a fortune. I believe most of the QC issues have been fixed too. However, too little and way too late for me and a lot of other Sig 556 owners.

 

[Eppie]

Both of my rifles are money pits. I have a POF 308 and a Savage 10. The only thing mounted on them is a Swarovski Z6 5-30x50 and a bipod.

But it's the ammo and reloading tools and supplies that really adds up. Every time I pull the trigger more money goes flying down range.

 

[RodTheWrench]

Just like customizing cars, you never get back what you have in accessories (doodads). Mostly because your taste rarely reflects the taste of everyone else.

Do what you want though, it's YOUR gun. !)

 

[hermanpj]

money pits...

I am losing my memory as i get older so thankfully i can't remember literally everything I've dropped on these, but here's a representative list of money dumping i've put into them:



AR 15:
- Black Rain Upper and Lower, 16 inch barrel, Black Rain Flash Suppressor
- Timney Trigger
- 10 PMAG 30s
- Adams Arms Piston system
- Midwest Industries quadrail
- YHM front and rear pop up sights
- Hogue grip
- Magpul stock (can't recall which one)
- fancy sling w mash clip on the rear and a press-button quick diconnect on the front
-EoTech XPS2-2
-a cheapass 3x magifier on a flip to side mount (works great)
-Magpul BAD lever
-VTOR charging handle
-anti-walkout pins
-various bipods, vertical grips, flashlights, rail covers, and so on
I've spent over $3300 on this AR over time.



Springfield Armory M1A Loaded (has national match trigger, NM medium barrel, NM flash suppressor, and upgraded sights) on walnut stock
-walnut forend
-SA National Match gas block
-Sadlak NM gas piston
-Sadlak tools
-After market recoil buffer
-Leupold 4-12 Scope
-Springfield Armory Gen III scope mount
-3 magazines (i think they are 5, 10, and 20)
-custom made walnut and leather cheekpiece
-leather sling - WWII / Garand style
-harris bipod
I've got $3K in this gun, not counting the time it took me to match stain on the forend and to make the cheekpiece from solid walnut. On top of that I plan to spen about $1500 on a custom, high end stock eventually.


Ruger 10/22
-$250 version w blued steel barrel and synthetic stoc
-$80 Hogue overmolded stock
-$230 Tactical Solutions barrel
-$150 ish on a Nikon P22 sight and rings
-the Claw sling
-shares bipod with the AR
-stock 10 rd and 1 25 rd butler creek mag
-personal gunsmithing:
-- bolt hold open modification (for automatic release of bolt when pull back and release bold handle)
-- polish, ramp, and jewel the bolt
-- polish inside of receiver
-- whiteline the receiver engraving
-- grind and polish hammer, sear, and disconnector
-- replace trigger return spring
-- add trigger over-travel limiter screw
-- trigger now at 2 lbs! (PM me if you want any info on this work)
estimating at $100/hr and 4 hrs of work, about $400 of gunshmithing if I paid a pro, I now have about $800 in cash and $400 in sweat equity in this gun. Bought this gun ostensibly to teach my son to shoot a simple .22 LR. Then I went nuts w it. So much fun to shoot, and so cheap to shoot. I sort of fell in love w the little gun and started picking up parts here and there... and pretty soon... ***! It happened again! I have about $300 more of parts I'd like to get for this thing...

Seriously though, all of them, in my opinion, have been worth it, so not really money pits. All of them shoot better than I do and I'm never selling.

 

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I have 3 AR15's so I can justify the different set ups.
(1) Light weight made of mostly plastic, the lower also, with just iron sights.
(2) Intermediate weight with added quad rail and Eotech sight.
(3) The heavy longer range set up with 18 power scope, quad rail, back up iron sights and Bi-pod.
Money pits ....yes....but more fun than spending the money on other stuff.
I'd add some Gen. 3 night vision but that would cause a divorce in the family.

 

[Ibmikey]

This is a neat thread and my cheeks are burning realizing that my recent AR build resulted "just because they don't like them". When I put enough stuff on it and my old bones could hardly carry same I did what any well thinking gun affectionado would do...no I did not take the stuff off I built another,and another, and..........another. At least it is a fun hobby and Maddie (my dog) does not object, I have always tried to keep a couple thousand rounds of ammo for every caliber I own on the shelf so I shoot and I smile.
What was the question?

 

[SR420]

EdInk A "money pit" something you throw hard earned cash into either to just keep it running or trying to get the lousy thing to be serviceable.

Correct.

The only "money-pit" rifle I ever owned was a brand new Springfield M1A Scout that required time, money and effort to get it to run and be serviceable. I ended up parting it out after 4 warranty repairs.

 

[ChasingWhitetail91]

Art hit it on the head, those bells and whistles don't help me in the woods or swamps.

 

[SR420]

Buying several different accessories for your rifle is one thing.

Having all of them mounted on your rifle 24/7 is something entirely different.

 

[Ibmikey]

SR 420 how did you get the combination to my safe and photograph my AR?