Looking to build first AR parts from Palmettto State, are they good, bad, average? Also what twist upper, will 5.56 shoot .223 Ammo if not specified, kinda new to this game. Any help is appreciated!

I haven't had any problems parts kit from palmetto I'd say they are average for the price. As long as the barrel is marked for 5.56 you can shoot 223 but not the other way around. Dont know much on the twist so cant help there

I'd look into a Bushmaster upper while they are cheap if your building a working gun for hunting, for throwing lead down range the PSA upper will work fine and you might get a good one. Check out gunbroker for the bushmaster uppers the last one I bought was reasonable.

PSA stuff functions fine but will NOT be very accurate. 2-3" groups will be the best you can hope for. The CHF barrels they sell i think are made by FN and i dont know if they are much more accurate. Now you can get everything but a barrel from PSA and buy the barrel from a better company and get a decent shooting rifle. Bushmaster, windham, dpms are all 1 moa or better with decent ammo or handloads. My bushmaster predator carbine is capable of less than .5" groups. as far as twists i have 1-7 1-8 and 1-9. They all shoot the ammo i load equally well. I only mess with 55-60-62gr bullets. If you want to shoot heavier than that go with 1-7 if you wanna shoot lighter go with 1-9.

As far as twist it won't matter between 5.56 or .223. Fast twist 1:7 will stabilize heavier bullets IE 70 grain, 1:9 will work better with lighter bullets IE 40-55 grain.
IMO 1:8 is a good compromise if your only going to have one.

Zim

Build your own upper as well. Don’t buy a preassembled. I’ve build over 50 ARs over the last 8 years with the AR-15,AR-9 (hand gun loads) and AR-10 platforms. Everything from .204 to 30/06, plus 9mm, 40, and 45. If you are looking for accuracy the only 3 things you need to worry about is the barrel, trigger, and stock. If your looking for a plinker, pretty much any part on the market is fine. If you really want a one of a kind, but an 80% lower. If you get a polymer one all you need is a hand drill to complete it. Since you “built” the lower receiver, you dont need a serial number. A legal ghost gun. Send me a message if you have any questions.

And it’s a myth that you can’t shoot 5.56 out of a barrel stamped .223. They both shoot fine out of either barrel.

I use mostly PSA parts in my builds minus the barrel and trigger assemblies. Works fine for me and I have but a few. You could buy a complete upper and then change the barrel at a later date if not happy with it. Most of the ones I have made in 223 / 556 caliber have a 223 Wylde chamber and 1/7 twist. There are some very thin jacketed varmint bullets that can't take that spin rate when you start pushing them way past 3000 ft/sec but for the most part that twist rate works fine.
I do have one with a 20" PSA barrel Heavy fluted thing with 223 wild chamber and it will put 62 grain Nosler Varmageddon bullets into a ragged hole using CFE 223 powder and BR4 primers that barrel is 1/7 as well. goes to show that ya can't just say its crap till ya try it out. That was a complete upper on one of their sales that I bought with the intention of throwing the barrel away and put a Krieger on it instead. Now I have to wait till this one is shot out before switching them.

I have not used any uppers from PSA but have used several other parts from them and wouldn't be scared to try an upper if you went that way. They run some really good deals.

The only bad part about building an AR is your resale value. But I rarely get rid of guns

Put a good trigger in it. Mil spec ones are quite depressing.

Buy a good barrel and a good trigger as these will be the most important components for accuracy.

I run these 3.5# Flat CMC triggers on 3 AR's and love them.
https://palmettostatearmory.com/cmc-trigger-single-stage-tactical-flat-bow-3-5lbs-91503.html

as far as triggers I like the rock river arms nation match triggers. You can get the regular or varmint versions for about 100 bucks. They are nice.

I haven't had any issues with 3 psa uppers

one has the FN barrel it shoots about 1.5 inches but it is not free floated

free float is important to getting the accuracy otherwise your sling is pulling on the barrel

all 1 in 7 twist

This is a PSA complete 224 Valkrie 20" upper shooting factory 60 grain Federals.

I saw DPMS complete Oracles for 399 last week at Dunhams. Hard not to buy a few for investments.

But its more fun to spend a rainy afternoon and put one together from scratch and the time spent online ( or in my case at the PSA shop ) choosing the bits one wants to use to assemble the thing. The frustration, because the leftover box of parts does not have that detent pin in it ,that is the last part missing for the new creation. Or the little spring that went " POING " and was never seen again no matter how often and long one sweeps out the place and stares at the fluff in the dustpan.
The ups and down of building AR rifles takes ones mind of the day and make ya wish one was at work
After a lot of changing parts out because ....uuhhhh that looks so much better then what I just bought. You have enough parts left over after your first build that in your mind there is hardly anything missing and if I just buy a few more parts, I can build a second one.
At that point you don't think about the fact that you ended up with that box full of stuff because you did not want it on your first rifle. Nahhhh thats good stuff and I will save so much money on the second one. Its a slippery slope and before you know it you have half a dozen of the things and still a box of bits left to start another.
Don't get me started on the different calibers .......... its endless.

I have several PSA uppers in stainless and they all shoot very well. I just built a Valkyrie and it shoots 88 grain Hornady ELDM's like Micky mouse ears at a hundred. A good trigger option is get the PSA lower parts kits with enhanced triggers when on sale or AR Stoner parts kits with enhanced triggers from Midway and take some stainless polishing compound and a dremel with a buffing wheel and in 30 seconds make the sear and the hammer where the sear engages look like a mirror. Then add a set of JP springs (yellow) the JP spring kit is 10.50 from Midway. Grease the sear with Lucas gun grease and you will have a 3 to 3 1/2 pound pull with none of the creep and extra travel. Really good trigger for 30 to 40 bucks depending on what you can get the lower parts kit for.

Do your own research regarding .223 and 5.56.



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