NRA Instructions for Building Assault Rifle on Budget

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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NRA Instructions for Building Assault Rifle on Budget

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As part of its effort to stay relevant during the election, and raise money, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has written a way to build an AR-15 assault type rifle on a budget.

Some of the pointers from “Building a Budget AR-15 at Home”:

There are three types of expenses to consider when planning an AR rifle build at home. The first and most obvious one is the cost of the parts going into the rifle. But the components are only a part of the equation. Next is price of the tools you’ll need. Spending too much on tools will blow your cost savings while not spending enough can lead to lost time, frustration and possibly damaged components. Finally, there’s the amount of time invested in the project. This includes researching and ordering parts, studying how to build an AR, preparing a work space and performing the build itself.

Also:

One of the most affordable AR rifle kits I could find online from a reputable company at the time of this writing was a Palmetto State Armory (PSA) PTAC M4-style carbine kit on sale for $399.99. I previously had positive results with one of this company’s AR pistol kits, so I was glad to work with them again on this project. The PTAC line is a PSA in-house brand geared to the budget-minded builder. The kits contain quality mil-spec parts but they are basic components that cost less. The kit includes everything needed for a complete rifle except a lower receiver, a rear sight and magazines.

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The result:

Now that I’ve built and tested one of the least expensive AR-15 rifle kits on the market, the Palmetto State Armory PTAC M4, I have to say that I’m satisfied with the results. Granted, this is not quite a sub-MOA, tack-driving competition rifle (those cost much more) and the shoulder stock rattles a bit. But with groups hovering right around the 1.50” mark at 100 yds., it’s certainly accurate enough for recreational shooting, close-range hunting, home defense, bug-out bags and riding along as a trunk gun. The things I worried about with an inexpensive rifle, like ammunition failures, breakages, defects or cosmetic issues simply did not manifest in the PTAC build. In fact, this rifle could be tucked into a dealer’s rack next to other factory assembled $800 to $900 basic M4s even though it cost almost half the price to build.

This seems dangerous. Why do it at home to save a few hundred dollars?

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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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