Diminishing Returns on AR Upgrades

There is an amazing aftermarket for AR 15’s. One of the most exciting thing about the platform is that the aftermarket is so entirely vast that you can literally pick and choose every single part you put into it. With most other platforms, you would need to at least buy the action from the original manufacture, but since the AR is completely open source, anybody with the means to do so is able to make an part of the AR 15 and sell it for profit. With that being a fact of life, it should be no surprise that there are cheap components and high end components. As somebody who is not sponsored, or given products in exchange for a positive review….yet (fingers crossed), it is very important to me that I get the best part I can within the budget I have available. It is a pretty good rule of thumb that when it comes to quality and performance, you will get what you pay for with your AR components; possible more in the AR aftermarket than in any other industry. But there comes a point when you are paying extra money almost solely for the sake of spending more money as there comes a point where any benefit gained by a most cost intensive production cost will never be noticed by the senses a normal human being is capable of using.

The Lower

I stand absolutely firm that every penny you spend over $60 for a lower receiver is money that goes directly towards the logo stamped on the side, and nothing else. Forged lowers are a dime a dozen, and the only reason to pay more than $40 is so people don’t make fun of you for buying an Anderson lower. I know that it’s really cool to pick on people who buy Anderson lowers, but I don’t get the joke and only join the bullies so as to look cool myself and avoid any critiques for the Anderson lower on my 300 Blackout build because they all assume I must have done it ironically.

The Trigger

Triggers are one of the few upgrades that I can’t recommend enough. I learned the AR platform with mil spec triggers and I have never been a trigger snob, but if you have the coin, an aftermarket trigger makes such an incredibly huge difference. It’s no substitute for training and/or practice, but it helps maybe more than any single other upgrade you can buy. That being said, you can find aftermarket triggers from $60 to upwards of $500. My cut off for a sick ass trigger is $200. There are awesome triggers below that point, but I think that any benefit gained over $200 is completely imperceptible by the human finger. Seriously, I built my first AR for under $500, I’m not ever going to pay that much of my own money for a tiny device that makes my gun go bang. My favorite trigger is $200, comes with an adjustable shoe, and has 2 different springs to change the pull weight between 2.5 pounds and 4.5 pounds. It has a super short reset and absolutely no creep, I don’t think I can get anything good enough for me to believe it’s actually better at any price point.

Barrels

This next one could get me some hate in the comments, but at least listen to my argument for a  moment before you scroll down there and lampoon me. You don’t need a barrel that costs over $150, and over $200 easily reaches the point of diminishing returns. There are exceptions to this, including long range applications and unlimited class competitions where weight and/or extreme precision is vital. For the vast majority of us, whether we are shredding pizza boxes, plinking in the gravel pit, or even training for real world applications, I do not believe that there is much, if anything, to gain from an AR barrel by increasing your price point from here. Most 100-150 barrels out of an AR will give you 1 MOA accuracy at 100 yards, and will give you minute of man accuracy at 300 yards. What more do you really need? Are you capable of shooting better than that? Does the AR platform lend itself to shooting better than that? I argue that the  answer to all 3 of those questions is “no.” Feel free to spend more, but I doubt you will reap any benefits unless you are using your rifle for PRS or maybe 3 gun. If you disagree, I will have my friend Mark fight you for me.

Buffer Tube

If you spend more that $30 on a buffer tube, I don’t know what happened to you to cause you to spend money so recklessly. I have never seen a buffer tube fail. I’m sure it’s happened, but in my experience with everything from real M4’s in real combat zones, to budget AR’s, and even some high end AR’s, this just seems like a part that you are quite literally throwing your money away by spending more. Please don’t do it. I don’t know of anybody doing a bad job at making these. Buy the right one for your lower, and keep it cheap.

Optics

I’m not going to get into optics. Here is the problem with optics, somebody’s favorite optic is much like their preference in a romantic partner; people just like what they like and who are you to judge them. To further the joke; some people pay for high end models because they can afford it, some people earn high end models, and some people just deal with what’s available. C’mon, that’s a good joke, right? Anyways, I’ll flip the script and say that I recommend you spend at least $100 on an optic and you will have something serviceable for years to come. The notable outlier would be the Bushnell TRS25, which can often be had for under $100 and might be on more AR15’s than any other red dot in America at this point.