Home AR-15 The Cheapest AR-15 vs. The Most Expensive (Daniel Defense vs. PSA)

The Cheapest AR-15 vs. The Most Expensive (Daniel Defense vs. PSA)

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In this episode of TFBTV, @James Reeves gets his hands on the brand new Daniel Defense M4A1 RIII, which is the famed Daniel Defense DDM4, but equipped with the new RIS III handguard used by Special Operations. But at $2,300 MSRP, why would anyone pick up the DD M4A1 RIII, especially when you can get cheaper AR-15s for $400 and less these days? James puts this to the test by buying and building a budget Palmetto State Armory (PSA) AR-15 on and Anderson Manufacturing lower, two of the cheapest manufacturers in the AR-15 business. To make the contest a little more fair, James spends an extra $100 or so on a stainless steel barrel for the budget build, and compares accuracy between the two, as well as discussing the pros and cons of each. Check today’s video to see which one comes out on top.

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50 COMMENTS

  1. Guys, please stop falling for these scammers in the comments telling you that you won a free gun. We ban them every day (multiple times a day, even) and they keep coming back because people keep sending them money.
    1) You shouldn't be that gullible, you're TFBTV viewers for God's sake, not hickok45 watchers
    2) The only way to win a free gun from us is to be signed up to utreon.com/c/tfbtv or subscribestar.com/tfbtv. Winners are announced monthly VIA EMAIL ONLY (and via mailroom on this, my personal channel)
    But, do me a favor. If someone tells you to text or DM them because you won a free gun, please waste their time. Make them go through the whole pitch, make them send pictures of the gun, ask them to verify they are legit, and act like you are falling for it. If enough people do this, these guys will go away.
    ETA: They are posting today as as @TFBTV_GAW and @TFB_TV1 on Telegram. If any of you have Telegram, waste this mf's time today. It will only take you a few minutes but it will be hours of his time in the aggregate.

  2. I have several DD AR's…I think 2 in 556 and one in 300 BO. I bought all of them used. They seem to be really well built guns and work well. I have a bunch of PSA AR's…pistols, M4's & rifles in a bunch of different calibers. For the money you can't beat them. Get one with a FN barrel when they run specials. Their AK rifles are great too (PSA) and I own or have owned AK's from pretty much every where they were made. The PSA's are as good as they get.

  3. I just ordered a premium 14.5 pinned and welded upper from Palmetto right after selling my Daniel 14.5 upper I love my 16 inch build using a FN chf chrome lined barrel so I'm sure I will love this one as well great video but I gotta say I have loved both of my Daniel Defense guns a 14.5 and a 10.3

  4. Those $350 16" midlength with an FN CHF Chrome Lined barrel & 15" mlok railed uppers + the $100 Microbest BCG on PSA + a $130 PSA MOE complete lower (Magpul stock & pistol grip) + a radian ambi charging handle ($80?) + a set of BUIS ($60?) + quality sling of your choice ($50) = A solid AR for around $800 including the transfer fee. Of course you can save quite a bit by buying a less expensive charging handle. Add another $100 for a streamlight 1000 lumen light that comes with the mount and pressure pad. So $900 for a SOLID AR setup with QUALITY name brand parts, light, and sling.

  5. Daniel Defense is one of the best money can buy without a doubt, but I respect companies like PSA and Anderson for making affordable ar15's so that more people can own one, it is helping the fight against the gun grabbing globalist pukes that are determined to disarm the citizenry of our country, the more ar15's being bought is making them a more "common use" firearm and therefore making it harder for the anti American scumbags to ban.
    Stay safe and continue to fight the good fight

  6. I spent way too much on my first AR but it's extremely accurate now. Wilson Combat makes a match grade barrel, then mixed that with the acutouch 2.5 lb trigger. Unfortunately had to spend more on other things and started with a Springfield armory AR that didn't have a floated barrel.

    Just built my second AR with mostly areo parts. It was only around $500 for the parts I didn't have. Sadly my roommate likes it more than the expensive one. Live and learn.

  7. Save up. Top Tier. No regrets. More room in the safe for other top tier firearms. You will most likely get rid of the budget guns anyway and lose a little money.

  8. I have built many PSA ARs and I still keep one as my go-to SHTF rifle. I got the FN barrel and completely tore it down to parts and re-assembled it to make sure everything was properly put together. Then I added a better trigger. Bottom line is it's a $1200 rifle that has never failed me. And it outshoots the hell out of the Daniel Defense if James' results are typical.
    The bottom line is that for me, I just don't see the value in a lot of the Gucci guns out there.

  9. Top of the line guns are very nice but I'll take the gun that I built with the best parts I could get any day knowing exactly what is in the gun gives me a lot of security…. With that being said don't skimp on parts!!!

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