Should You Go Budget AR15?

Trigger, BCG, barrel, light, and optic are all that's needed. The rest is fine and unnecessary for most people

Buy used at discount prices so if you regret you resell it for near same😊

Buy multiple and get what you want. Train with what you have. Having different rifle setups enables you to figure out what you like and don’t like.

I realize this is my opinion in a sea of opinions. I think the gun celebrity community needs a reality check or at the very least to get their finger back on the pulse of their audiences. Are you talking to operators or gen-pop? If operators, then yes, invest in the tool your life and livelihood depends on because you’re more likely to see hard use. If gen-pop, then understand not everyone has DD or Knight’s Armament money to drop in one swing. That’s the beauty of the AR platform. You can get into it, train, learn, and discover what you want and need. Then upgrade as you learn or have the money to do so. Also, Garand Thumb did a video putting 5k rounds or something like that through a basic PSA rifle, so everyone dogging PSA needs to switch to decaf and chill out. There is also such a thing as the law of diminishing returns. I believe that’s a relative scale, too, but it’s definitely a thing.

U can build a rifle for 500 to 700 that will run if I know what ur doing

In my experience, get what is within your budget. If that means budget rifle/optics then cool, go for it. Don't go into debt just for a gun. Middle of the line or even "budget" guns and accessories will work just fine for the vast majority of people

My understanding is PSA falls under budget. However, I have well over 1K rounds through my PSA and have yet to have an issue beyond cleaning.

Streamlight HXL is 100$ and it has outlasted Surefire in a lot of torture test's.

You are so full of crap just another little kid talking crap

My gun was 1.2k but im upgrading my gun but im also not wealthy so i need to slowly upgrade my optic is cheap but its only a place holder till i get a good optic so far i have a sling a front grip and a cheap optic and im going to eventually have better add ons

I disagree. Go all buget if you want. Later you want that $500 dallor optic, buy it and slap it on. And that old optic of flash light, slap it on you 2nd ar because anyone who has 1 ar, has 5.

i recommend mid range budget guns if ur in the market for ur first gun but need one soon for self defense.
Something is always better than nothing(as long as it isnt a hipoint………)

This is a LONG story- and its a bit of a trauma dump so I definitely don't blame u for not reading it.

TW- SA

—————————————————————————————
I am 25-
I grew up with and around guns but I never personally had the like.. financial ability to get one so I never thought it was important-

So… I never had one…

……….until I was attacked by an ex in the middle of the night in 2020.

I didnt have contact w him for a long… LONG time
I went out for a walk in the park one night(isolation messed up my sleep and mental health early on- so its how i relax when i cant sleep)
Well… one night in october…. I had decided to go to the park and listen to music while I walked the trails…
I've never felt unsafe walking those trails.. and usually.. I have pretty good situational awareness..

I guess I got complacent…
As I was walking through the trails- this man literally popped out from behind a tree as I had stopped to change my song…
He wrapped his arm around my throat- putting me in a choke hold, and putting the knife to my kidney(right flank… not sure if kidney or liver..) and he pressed the knife into my side- hard enough for it to draw blood.. which made me yelp… in response he bashed me in my mouth before dragging me to and forcing me into his car at knife point-

I literally thought he was gonna murder me-
He basically trapped me in his car for.. what felt like hours… (in reality it mightve been an hour and a half..)
he kept hold of my hair, and would grope me, hit me, and then threaten me while he insulted me and ripped and tore at my freaking clothes, he basically cut my sweatpants off of me…

it got to a point where he slowly calmed down and started to like.. try to force me to do… things…
I…. complied… with some of the things… and he ended up moving over to like … cuddle me… or whatever… and i guess he fell asleep bc drunk af
(he was super drunk when he pulled up on me, like black out drunk- I could smell the jack on his breath from over a foot away… so he basically fell asleep on me after he wore himself out hitting me i think..)

I was petrified to move at first until I realized his knife was on the floorboard…

I slowly worked my way out from under him, got the door open, fell out of the car and immediately got up and took off running down the street.

I was running down the street.. in mid October in my underwear and a shredded shirt and no shoes..

trying so hard to wipe my eyes dry but the tears just kept coming and floodign my vision.
the first house I came to I banged on their door at almost 3am and was like "please.. please..PLEASE… can i use ur phone…." with tears streaming down my face

immediately went to call my older brother(not by blood- someone who reraised me when i got out of juvie)
and when he answered the phone and I heard his voice- I could not hold back the tears-
I immediately broke down and was blubbering asking
"bubba……… can you come pick me up..please….?"

and He was like "…Ash… whats the matter? Are you okay? What happened?"

And I just broke down and whispered "….please just come get me.. im out near the skate park…."

it was like… 3 : 30am at that point and he was all the way across town.

he showed up within 10 mins- it was at least a 30 min drive with minimal traffic- meaning he literally floored it and went like 100mph across town.

when he got there- I didnt have to say anything.
when I heard his car door close outside- I immediately ran full speed into his arms and broke down.

My shirt was ripped up and the collar was stretched out…
I had hand prints around my throat(I still have pictures of the bruises on my throat)
i had bruises on my face and handprints on my wrists
my lip and eyebrow were busted

(when my ex had punched me in the face, and he made my top teeth go through my bottom lip.
When we got to the car, he proceeded to grab a fistfull of my hair, and slammed my forehead into the passenger door in an effort to force me in the car- which split my eyebrow)

i dont think i could have told my brother what happened.
I was literally crying so hard that I wasn't making any noise except a soft wheezy squeal..

When we got to his house… my brother literally sat and held me while i cried myself to sleep.

He sat with me all night with his gun in his hand, facing towards the door.
I was laying on the couch and he had a pillow on his lap and i just laid there and stared at the floor and cried and dissociated until I passed out.

as soon as it hit 9am, he gently nudged me and said "Ash, wakeup… I need you to get ready"
And I said "…f…for what?"

and he simply said
"We are going to make damn sure this never happens to you again……"

And he took me to the pawn shop and bought me a taurus g2c for 190$ –
I've carried it with me EVERYWHERE since(until recently)
and I've only ever had it jam with extended mags.

Could someone ID the first optic for me?

Nothing you mentioned had anything to do with the rifle, wtf.

Buy a cheap/decent rifle with a milspec upper and lower and then upgrade the internals such as the BCG and charging handle, and barrel if u want

Sounds like you're talking more about accessories more than a budget gun.

So, what are the starting points for an AR budget and good

My cost me $450 black. Friday it dose one important thing it shoots every time

Budget guns are great to learn from. I learned sooo much from my PSA failing, that I would never have learned from my DD. No one is stopping you from buying both.

I only spent 1200 for mine, I know now I'm gonna have to upgrade it and also I'm going to buy a better rifle from the gate next time

Buy once, cry once- I learned this lesson both with optics and ballistic armor.