I’ve got a few of these “cheap” PSA guns now.

Payed less than $500 shipped and transferred for them in a couple different configurations.

They just impress me.

I’ve got over 500 suppressed rounds on my short barrel one. Havent cleaned it yet and not one malfunction. Triggers are a bit rough at first but smooth out quite a bit after a couple hundred rounds.

55 grain Vmax factory ammo. Not cheap ammo, but not high end either.

I have some as well
now my son who manages to break about everything with his volume of shooting did wear out one of the cheap psa barrels , and had a bolt come apart on him.


but I bet he had >2000 rounds through it at least maybe close to double that and that upper may have found it's way on a Legal MG lower at one point (he was working for an SOT briefly) and that leads to a LOT of wear.

so the other thing is that some but not all of the PSA barrels have found PSA from FN in Columbia SC , I have one such barrel , I paid a little extra for a chrome lined FN barrel when it was offered once.
that gun shoots very well with the chrome lined barrel.


the biggest difference between the lower dollar ARs like the PSA and some high dollar ARs is generally barrel quality , QA and fit and finish.

extra inspections take extra time , very little inspection takes little time

time is $

so sometimes you get one that isn't right and needs to go back.

Like green county I have an upper from them with fn barrel. It was more money than the others I think I paid 500 for the upper without a bolt. but it's been several years. It works not a lot of round through it maybe 300.
I had a bcm bolt carrier group I put in it used.a cheap Anderson lower but Larue Trigger and nice lower parts .

Not a thing wrong with the cheaper parts for most people including myself. It's extremely high use when they start to fail and the more expensive and tested parts last longer. At least from what I read from guys that teach the big training classes that run guys through lots of rounds during their courses . they said the cheap guns are the ones that fail typically. With my limited.shooting the last several years a Gunn is not going to fail from wear. And.even if something did I'm not in life and death combat and can just change out the worn parts. At the time I wanted the "best" important parts. today I feel like for my use I wasted some money.

PSA lowers with bushmaster uppers and a custom triggers.

I’m kind of a snob about my AR’s, I tend to favor my BCM’s and Spike’s. But I have some cheap ones, they make a good boat gun, and if they end up in the drink I won’t have to go back and dredge the bottom looking.

That’s the use case for my AR’s. Cheaper ones are boat guns and the “Gucci” ones are the ones I trust and treat quite a bit better.

But, one of the cheapies out shoots all of the rest, accuracy wise.

I have a bear creek in my skiff that will place a 5 shot group on a quarter at 100 yards all day. I have no idea why, it’s a POS upper that I paid like $200 for. I put a vortex sparc on pretty much all of them, I have one trijicon acog, it’s on a 14.5” spikes (faxxon barrel)

Another perk that goes with a cheap rifle, it doesn’t bother me as much when it has to be used as a boat paddle in a pinch…..

Agree 100%. Certain scenarios only exist in SE lol. That bear creek has been used as a clam shovel. Ugly as sin, but it’s killed every deer I’ve pointed it at with no drama

What parts are you using that make it a “Gucci”?

I personally like spikes tactical or bravo company for most pieces, faxxon barrels. Daniel defense makes good stuff too, just a little overrated in my book. Basically, does your rifle cost more than $2,000 to build? If so, you probably bought high quality parts, and got what you paid for. Does it cost under $1,000? Budget rifle. Or somewhere in between, which then I have more questions, because you can build a really good rifle for $1500 if most of that money went into the barrel, BCG, gas system, and trigger. Or you can build a $1500 turd with name brand receivers and crappy internals

Bolt carrier group is lower quality too. Not bad, but there are better out there. Psa are great for the shooter getting into sporting rifles and is an every now and then shooter. Everyone should buy one in my opinion.

My Gucci AR’s are Sons of Liberty, JP’s, and LMT’s.

I have Palmetto uppers on DIY Anderson lowers with Rock River lower kits as my boat guns.

The only thing Gucci in my AR’s are the triggers (TriggerTech diamond). One has a Rock barrel which I don’t view as really high end. My lowers are all Anderson.

I did buy a Bear Creek Arsenal 6 ARC upper this winter that shoots way above what I paid for it.

I have not needed to try it with an AR yet and don't know how well it will work with plastic and aluminum and weight but The fishing magnet I bought worked great finding a stainless marlin youth model on the bottom of Lake I was beaver trapping in. I was not sure how well or if it would work since stainless is not as magnetic. gut. only tool 2 or 3 throws and I pulled it up after a 2 week soak. I expect it would work the same on an AR . Science experiment any one?

I’m not talking about a lake, I’m talking about the Pacific Ocean. So the chances of it staying where I think I lost it would be almost 0, between currents and tides, and the fact that it may well be 3,000 feet deep where something went overboard.

a starter rifle on a budget is exactly it a great way to put it , and if you never get competitive , never go high round count , never have anyone shooting back at you or are staking major outcomes on it , it will do most people just fine.

Uppers and lowers don't seem to matter as much as the other parts. I build snowmachine AR 15s, have narrowed it down to Ballistic Advantage Hanson carbine length pencil barrels and a nickel boron barrel extension, Midwest Industries Ultralightweight barrel nut and forearm, an upper without forward assist, a lower with a built in trigger guard for gloves, a nickel boron bcg, quality nickel boron trigger group, and a good quality light weight butt stock. I'm looking for lightweight, but strong, with no holes for snow to get into (Hence no skeletonized upper or lower), extra oomph from the carbine length gas system for reliable cycling in sub zero temperatures, slick nickel boron parts that need as little lubrication as possible, so there is a smaller chance of them freezing up, and accurate enough to take a grouse or Ptarmigan head off if I do my part. My gun is hanging around my neck for hours at a time, getting covered with powder snow, and operating in extreme cold temperatures. A very niche build, not applicable to most people.

Yep completely different. I think I would tie them off with some sort of lanyard or cord even the cheap ones I still don't like loosing money 500 or 2 k. Notice I said I lose one in a lake so Clearly it was not tied off but I do learn sometimes after the fact. Funny the boys always seem amazed when I point out potential problems to watch out for and how to avoid them like I'm smart. Nope not smart at all just screwed up a Ton in my life. Sad I don't always learn the first time either.

It just isn’t practical to have one tied down in a boat, if it’s on my person it’s hindering whatever else I’m doing (running the boat, pulling pots, etc.) and if it’s tied down not on my body, it’s a pain to get if/when it’s needed. My boat has a full bulkhead, so it’s less of a concern in that application. My skiff is open and life happens, so I don’t bring anything I’m not willing to lose