Your all-time favorite AR you own

[stagpanther]

It can be one you built or one you bought OEM manufactured. You can have your reasons which you can expound upon--or say "just because."

For me it is a pretty tough choice since I have so many--both AR 15 and 10, only 3 of which are manufacturer assembled. I have some that will shoot very small groups if I do my part (which is getting harder and harder as I fall to pieces with age). I have some that shoot very reliably, and some that are quite finicky and require tuning depending on the ammo I use (I handload 99.99% of my ammo).

Today I rustled one out of the safe that I hadn't fired in years and point a couple of magazines through it after getting on paper. I forgot why I loved this rifle so much--and it wins my designation of all-time all-around favorite AR in my collection.

It's my Frankenbuild in 6.8 spc. It's based on an AR Performance 20" match barrel and also sports Diamondhead handguard and brake (both companies, most unfortunately, are out of business AFAIK). The 6.8 spc is not a sexy cartridge by today's standards--but it gets the job done, is very reliable in operation like 5.56, and is very consistent. I mean consistent as in almost always very close to POA--not necessarily a tiny microgroup that you might get with a different cartridge after weeks of reload alchemy, consulting astrological charts, serenading with wine and song, giving the right flowers, box of chocolates etc.

This rifle shoots so well, is so well balanced and so soft in recoil I wouldn't sell it even if someone offered me over 2K for it.

 

[rickyrick]

Hmmm, it’s a tough choice, but at the moment it would have to be my PSA M4’rgery that I’ve changed the stock to A2 and added a gieselle trigger. I tote this AR around most of the time. I use the lower on other uppers.

Currently I’m working on a 6.8spc frankengun from my previous post… I took your advice on using an ARP barrel.
I liked it enough after finally having a 6.8 that cycled reliably, I have a stripped lower and parts incoming to give it it’s very own lower. It may become my favorite.


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[zukiphile]

I've a 16" midlength carbine with a Faxon pencil barrel in an Anderson lightweight sporter upper receiver with a 12" carbon fiber handguard. I used a Superlative Arms adjustable gas block, lightweight carrier and no weights in the buffer.

The lower has a Magpul A1 length fixed carbine stock and A2 grip. The Optic is a Bushnell Lil P 1x prismatic sight. Unloaded it's five pounds 10 ounces. At 50 yards I shoot groups with it like Stagpanther's 100 yard groups.

It gets my affection for not being an overweight and specialized piece of junk. It's just a good, light handy carbine.

 

[Screwball]

I’m 50/50…

The Colt 6920 is just my copy of what we use at work. Only AR that I own that was built complete at the factory. It is just a 16” carbine, but it is capable and will always work.

But I do like my 20” NM upper that I put on a Spikes lower with binary trigger. 1-6x FFP scope does a good job for what I need at the distances I realistically could use it at in my area (northern ME).

And I have multiple SBR ARs. They have their roles, but overall… I prefer those two.

I’ll lean towards the Colt. [emoji41]

 

[rickyrick]

Screwball, I like your 20” AR.

I’ve thought about putting together an M16ish clone, or something along those lines anyway, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. I have several uppers that I swap onto lowers, but that’s starting to become a drag. Like I said above, I’m working on getting a lower for one of my orphaned uppers and have already completed another. Once I get those sorted, I may start on something like your second rifle pictured.

 

[rickyrick]

Zukiphile, I recently installed a superlative arms gas block like you had mentioned on a 10.5 inch 6.8 upper. Currently, it’s in the full-gas position (18 clicks I think) and the gun seems to run fine.
I like the fact that it is the bleed-off type and I may play around with it some in the near future.

 

[smee78]

I believe my current favorite is my X39 Franken rifle. I assembled most of it out of extra parts I had laying around in my AR parts box. It gives me the best of both worlds, shooting a 30-cal bullet and being able to add optics.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Bits and pieces of everything. Aero, Troy, YHM, YM, CMMG, Magpul, DPMS, Del-ton, MI, Alpha Armory, and who knows how many more I'm forgetting.

The lower is SBR'd and my best running lower, with the most expensive 2-stage trigger that I own.
The upper is a 20" BHW in 6x45mm (that I had to finish-chamber myself, because BHW is a bunch of idiots).

Doesn't weigh much. Runs great. Very accurate and predictable. Super easy to clean with that Caudle rifling. Shoots larger diameter bullets, from one weight class 'higher' than .223/5.56, at the same or faster velocities. Like the jump from .22 LR to .22 WMR, all with just a little bore size increase and single-step case forming of free brass.

It deserves a better scope. I should put a better scope on it...

The .17-223 (also a BHW/CRA barrel) is currently a close second, even though the case forming process is almost nightmarish. (It is NOT just "size and load", as everyone claims - at least not for this chamber and my die sets.)
Side-charging, comically heavy, and funny looking.
4,000 fps AR cartridge with minimal recoil is quite fun. Suppressed, it is even better. Low noise. Zero recoil. And super laser beam splodey bullets.

(Best photo I have available at the moment.)

There is a heavy, straight .936" barreled, parts box upper getting a lot of my time right now, that I have liked in all of its forms; but the 6mm and .17 will always get more love.

 

[rickyrick]

I find it interesting that of most of the replies already, the mix-mashed guns are people’s favorites.
I expected at least a few high end boutique-guns.
I don’t have one single AR that is in its original configuration or has one single vendor’s parts.
I guess that what makes ARs desirable to us.

 

[zukiphile]

I guess that what makes ARs desirable to us.

Or at least the ones we find desirable. With so many different parts available, it's plausible that one's favorite rifle is something not offered in the off the shelf market, and it doesn't have to be a good fit for anyone else.

 

[9x19]

I don't have any top-to-bottom factory built ARs either. I do have a favorite, it is my SBR in .300 AAC. It's a PSA lower with a Rock River trigger, and home-built upper with a 10.5" barrel. I do run it with a Silenerco Omega on-board, but rarely shoot sub-sonic.

 

[armoredman]

It's what I have, Frankengun upper, most of was gifted to me during an internet event at another forum, and the Frankengun lower replaced by a Palmetto State Armory Stealth Lower. Wears a SIG Romeo5 and MagPul BUIS, now also has a Surefire G2 Nitrolon mounted by the front sight. It works very well. Someday when we get past the cancer bills, I'll get another one. Until then, this is what I have, and I'm happy.

 

[P Flados]

I am really more of a handgun guy than a rifle guy, but have dabbled in AR 15 stuff.

My first AR build included a custom 16.25" 357 Max AR barrel. I worked up a couple of 2 MOA cast bullet loads (180 gr and 200 gr). The upper was a PSA 223 Wylde "complete upper" before the barrel swap.

The lower is what ever I stick under it at the moment. For this gun, the usual choices are built from PSA or Anderson lowers and most have a nice drop in trigger. Otherwise parts are petty much generic stuff. If I am in a "contrary" mood, the lower could be one that my son 3D printed for me.

Currently the upper has a Red Dot sight on it, but I am considering swapping a 3x9 (or so) scope back on it to make it "more fun" for range shooting.

I can shoot 223 more accurately, but only with commercial bullets. However, I am a hard core cast bullet shooter and more fond of calibers 7 mm and larger. I tried hard for a 300 BO, but could not get good accuracy with a number of barrels.

 

[FrankenMauser]

I have never owned a factory AR, unless you want to count some crappy "complete" PSA uppers (neither of which worked well, or shot well) or a KE arms KP-15 polymer lower. But as soon as I got the KP-15 and found the incredibly terrible trigger, it got blown apart and rebuilt, as well. (Such is the AR world.)

My first AR was my 7.5" pistol. I built it from parts when building an AR was difficult and expensive. I had to go part by part. Everyone told me it would never run right. Everyone told me that mixing parts was bad. Everyone told me that pistols are a nightmare. Everyone told me that shorter than 10.5" was a date with trouble. I assembled a frankenstein pistol on a budget (it was still like $875 in somewhat real dollars) and it just worked. Since then, I've been throwing parts together and working through any hiccups.

There are real problems to deal with. I have uppers that simply do not fit on certain lowers. I have lowers that simply do not function with certain uppers.
But, overall, I am happy with them. Which says a lot, because I am not an AR guy. I kind of hate the design (but not as much as AKs). But I built the pistol because the lower was a special run for my military unit, and it snowballed from there.

But the bottom line, of this tangent, anyway, is that I have never found factory ARs to be attractive. I always want something else. Something interesting. Something different (I only have two "normal" ARs, and one is a pistol ).
I can do that with the Legos that exist in the AR world. But I cannot do that with factory offerings. No one ever offers what I want.

The closest I have come to a factory AR was an SP1. I had a chance to claim the Colt SP1 that I shot gajillions of rounds through, growing up. But I let it go, knowing that one of my brothers wanted it more and would get more happiness from it. He loves it and will continue to run that thing like it was stolen. I am happy to see it keep running in his hands. Long live one of the first Colt SP1s ever featured in a magazine for "fun", defense, and desert-crawling. (An article written by our deceased member, DPris, in 1978, reworked multiple times, and finally published in 1986. Bless you, DPris.)

 

[stagpanther]

I sometimes think AR's are like the muscle cars of 60's--simple to work on--yet so powerful and good looking.

 

[rickyrick]

No one ever offers what I want.

I haven’t seen any offerings in the same configurations that I have really.
Each one of mine was built with a specific plan or purpose in mind, be it hog hunting, predator control etc. Some of those scenarios may have not come to fruition, but that’s how each was born. I’m on my second year of living in the dense forest that I purchased in deep East Texas and I have reconfigured some ARs for short ranges.
Like many of you, I have couple of boxes of parts. I have more parts inbound as we speak. I’m picking up a stripped lower this weekend.
I had went through a lull in messing with ARs for a couple of years, but now I’m back at it.

Funny thing is, I was an AR basher for a number of years. I even was kinda Fudd like in my attitude towards them. I’m sure some of my early posts here are bashing AR ownership. (I was an annoying troll, but have now rehabilitated myself) I could not continue to overlook the utility and convenience of them.
I’ve been fully on team franken-AR for a while now.

 

[bbqncigars]

My WWSD inspired version with a Samson SWXS-LW-13 handguard and a Holosun HS403B sight that weighs 5# 4oz empty. Accurate and fast on target, and about $300 less than the official rifle from Brownells.

 

[603Country]

I was an AR basher for a while. Had one in the Marines and didn’t like it much, and later they took it back. And I didn’t like the cartridge either. But, one day my dad bought a 223 and I loaded for him and slowly came to like it. And one day I got an AR. Black Rain Ordnance made it. Trigger was not good and barrel was not accurate, so those things were upgraded, and the rifle is now a favorite. And one day the grandson wanted to hog hunt with the AR, so I sent him to the best stand. He shot up a big hog, hitting him 3 out of 4 rounds, and suggested to me that maybe we needed a round with more grunt. So I had a 6.5 Grendel put together. It’s much better on the hogs than the 223/5.56 is.

 

[ed308]

Hard to decide since I have many choices. But for hunting, has to be my Six8 (6.8 SPC) with a 16” DI ARP barrel installed on a LWRC Six8 lower. For paper punching and 3 Gun, I love my .223 Wylde side charging AR also with an ARP barrel. Both shoot .5 MOA.

 

[rickyrick]

I have to include my favorite optic in this thread.

It is the Vortex AMG UH-1 Gen II Holographic Sight.

This thing is nice, and if you need glasses to see distance, this is perfect.

Reticle is crisp and clear with glasses on, unlike some red dots.

It is difficult to capture the magnificent reticle with a smartphone, but I hope you get the idea.

It’s currently on a 300bo “brush gun” I recently created from a former pistol.
Once I’m confident in its reliability, it may become my new favorite… it’s second place right now.

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