[Chasaway]

I KNOW how you folks are! Gun talk and advice maybe one of the coolest part of FreeRepublic.

What I'm trying to do is build a custom AR with configurations similar to the pics attached. Primarily the forends and front part of the furniture. Including a bipod.

[Durus]

Well...first of all what caliber do you want to use? .223 is relatively cheap but not exactly the best long range round and it seems that is what you are looking for. As you want to mate it to an existing lower that excludes .308, .338 Federal, and some other permutations. 6.5 Grendel/.264 LBC-AR would do a 20" barrel justice but you would have to start reloading if you don't already. Alexander arms or Satern barrels are your best best for bolts and barrels in 6.5 Grendel. Satern barrels are plain great regardless of caliber and they have some fantastic deals on occasion. If you are thinking more a national match set up with irons, a 18" - 20" stainless bull barrel would do nicely. There was mention of an ACOG which excludes the rifle from national match...and while I like them, and would own one given an infinite amount of money, I feel there are better values in optics. If you really want a long range rifle then a good rule of thumb is to spend twice the money on optics as you do on the rifle. (given an infinite amount of money...etc.)

It depends on how you are going to shoot it though. I confess to having planned uppers just because I really thought it would be cool to have "X" configuration only to realize that it would be a silly configuration for my shooting habits and ranges. The max range I have in my area is 600 yards so a thousand yard rifle wouldn't make much sense for me to build. (other than coolness, which given an infinite amount of money...etc.)

I can vouch for rainierarms.com, bravocompanyusa.com, and spikestactical.com as reputable AR parts and components places.

Don't buy a premade upper unless you have way more money than time. There are not a lot of variables in an upper and virtually all the companies that build them would use the same parts and tools that you would. There are exceptions to this of course. There are builders that make the parts to their spec, true up the parts that they had made and have them put together by dedicated craftsman that are experts in ARs. Prepare to spend gobs of money. (given an infinite amount of money...etc.) Les Bear and JP Rifles would give you a good place to start if that is where you are going.

[tet68]

I don’t know nuffin about birthen no black rifles.

[Chasaway]

So, I’m not sure why no one has an opinion about this!

(LOL!!)

I’m actually not as interested in the optics/scope (at this point), etc. as I am in the barrel/forend/bipod.

I figger if I get the barrel, forend, etc. set up right, I’ll have ANOTHER bunches of optic/sight choices.

Which is a whole ‘nother thread!!

Yay!

Thanks for all! Keep it coming!

Chasaway

[Durus]

BTW the second rifle down in your pictures is practically blasphemy while the last rifle is a work of art. That being said the ghetto rifle could be more accurate than the “purty” rifle.

[mylife]

[Ronald_Magnus]

If you want an upper that uses cheap ammo, there’s the M&P AR-15 chambered in 5.45x39. SG sells the upper for $584 (club price). http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=506921 The commie ammo goes for less than $150 for 1080 rounds. It’s corrosive, so you have to take more time and effort to clean your firearm. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=309193

[Christian Engineer Mass]

What’s on the front of the gun in the lower pic? A blast reducer?

[rabidralph]

You have to sign up for this site but they have great info.

[rabidralph]

Midway USA's AR page