Both companies are good. PSA has been around longer. I have bought from PSA before so I can vouch for them.
I've built ~70 AR15s, shot plenty more than that. I'm going to say some things that will piss off AR shooters so for those faggots here it is:
There isn't a true "high quality" AR manufacturer. They are all the same at this point, it's only the addons/pimp-my-ride that makes it different.
Here's why: if you bolted/clamped the AR barrel from any AR manufacturer to platform and fired a group of bullets from the bolted position, in a vacuum, at 200 yards it would make a touching circle. None of that other shit on the AR matters. You yourself wouldn't be able to shoot better than that bolted barrel. Almost all AR manufacturers use the same fucking barrels.
All the rest of the parts enhance how fucking cool or "deadly" it looks and how reliable it is.
If you want reliable: upgrade BCG and put in piston system.
If you want accurate: heavy barrel and lighter trigger.
Beyond that: 1/8 twist CAR(bine) barrel will cover most of your needs, M4 feed ramps, 556 wylde and 223 chamber. Then the world is your oyster.
AR15(dot)com for all other info.
Solid information above. Wylde chamber, 1:8 twist, trigger upgrade, and sights that work for your application. I like to float my barrel but unless you are interested in varmint hunting or benchrest competition floating is probably not worth it. I've never used a gas piston but people I shoot with have never complained about theirs and I've never had problems with my standard system. I suspect it would be hard to find a combination of AR parts that would result in a crap gun. Manufacturers have know what it takes to make good AR parts cheaply.
Everything I have been looking at has been floating. I'd be lying if I said that I didnt think it looked better and that I didnt care about looks. Looks are a minimal consideration but definitely still a consideration. Thank you very much for your input tho. Any thoughts on caliber to go with? I originally was going to go with. 223 to save money on ammo but lately I've been thinkn I'll just get a 5.56, and figure out what I wanna shoot later.
The .223 Remington and 5.56x45 NATO are basically the same. The Wylde chamber allows you to get the best benefit of both. The NATO is cheap and plentiful. The .223 is more likely to be loaded for bench or varmint shooters. Go with the Wylde and feed it either.
Thank you VERY much. Is 1/7 twist to be avoided then? Most of the sets I have been looking at are 1/7. Tbh I am not 100% sure what that means, but I think I know. Edit: also I have long suspected what you said about the similarity in brands. I look at it much like car parts (esp bolt ons). There are a million car brands out there making car parts and many of them make literally the exact same thing, made in the same way, and made from the same material, they just have a different name slapped on the side, and that somehow makes one more valuable than the other. There is only so much you can do with metal. So I have suspected that, but I would never say it, because I dont know enough specifically about guns to know what type of stuff I might not even know about them that could make a difference. So again thank you my good friend just dropped 1600 on a colt LE6920, I'm looking to make this for under 7-800 lol.
Twist ratio is the "rifling" on the barrel. The rate at which the grooves are cut. Puts the spin on the bullet.
1:7 used to be pretty much standard because it was military default. Heavier bullets. 1:8 covers I would say the largest range of bullet weight. Best middle ground. 1:9 for lighter bullets.
I have found that 1:8 does everything pretty well if you're not competition shooting. It will stabilize 55 Grain Vmax varmit pretty darn good out to 100-200 yards, and those are pretty light bullets.
As for ARs and Cars: you pay for the brand. You can do any number of mods to a decent frame on a car and that will make the car "better/faster".
Colts (larger receiver pins) are assembly slightly better than Bushmasters, but who gives a shit. If you like colt and it shoots great, then shoot it!! If you want to save money and say you built it, then shoot it!! An barrel can only shoot as good as the person shooting.
Ah riffling, ok. Good to know. And thanks again. I get it now. Im still a newbie, esp on ammo. So I'll take your advice when I comes to buying my first case. You the man bro. Grateful for the passing of legitimately valuable info.
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