Favorite MajorPandemic.com AR15 Parts
RECEIVERS
Forged Receivers - For the price and exceptional quality I usually choose Aero Precision. They offer excellent precision extremely consistent ISO certified aerospace grade quality in each of their forged upper and lower receivers. Some of their more innovative products are the best ambidextrous lowers on the market, the vault strength COP upper, and their strong and light integrated upper and handguard system.
Billet Receivers - The two receiver options I have had zero problems with are the San Tan Tactical and New Frontier Armory. San Tan Tactical is an insanely custom top end set of receivers with every feature imaginable. The are works of art, however all three builds I have completed with these receivers have been beautifully problem free.
An amazing custom option which has everything is the Battle Arms Development Overt PDW lower. The PDW is the single most custom billet lower and includes all the BAD custom part and an integrated VERT collapsible stock. The $900 price tag does scare a few folks off.
BARRELS

Premium - Black Hole Weaponry (BHW) and Feddersen will both easily deliver sub-MOA groups and both feature unique rifling all for just over $300. The polygonal rifled BHW offer all the finish and cool fluting options you could ever want and always deliver amazing accuracy. Feddersen’s Single Edged Polygonal Rifling is supremely accuracy so much so that I would argue it offers nearly the same performance as Top End Match barrels, but at this point no one retails them. Feddersen .308 and .223 blanks can be purchased from Feddersen, but you need to find a gunsmith to finish them. I am told Feddersen will be selling them directly in 2017.
BOLT CARRIER GROUPS
I would much rather have a well made black phosphated $90 BCG than a fancy poorly made chrome or Nickel Boron one. The bolt is the key to accuracy and reliability and the carrier is far less critical assuming it has a decent finish, is straight, has a chrome lining, and is within a function range. I prefer AR15 carriers because they are usually a little lighter than M16 carriers and thus allow the gas pressure to be reduced a bit more via adjustable gas blocks.

Mil-Spec Bolt - Just buy quality and quality does not come in a $95 complete NiBo BCG. Brownells, Fail Zero, Aero Precision, Daniel Defense, Rubber City, Tool-Craft, WMD, YHM and similar good quality BCGs will work great. NiBo Aero Precision, Fail Zero and WMD BCGs are probably my most purchased of the group.
Premium Bolt - The best BCGs are from Sharps, Young Manufacturing, FN, Barnes Precision and JP RIfles and are precision ground and then coated but these are $200-$400 complete BCGs. These are just amazing quality carriers which are tighter and will deliver the best accuracy a premium barrel will offer - if possible have the bolt headspaced to the bolt. White Oak, JP and Barnes all offer this service to assure they the best accuracy possible. One of the best deals on a premium bolt is the $140 JP Rifles EnhancedBolt Assembly Completion Groups which can plug into any standard carrier and include the JP EnhancedBolt, match firing pin, cam pin and retaining pin. Sharps Reliabolt are also exceptionally well made bolts that plug and play with any carrier.
MUZZLE DEVICES
Brakes - There are fancy looking brakes and then ones which I feel actually work. My go to favorites are the PWS FSC, Phase 5 FatMan, and Precision Armament M11 Severe Duty Brake which are all still great looking. These are freaking loud as hell, but they deliver a flat and soft shooting rifle.
AR15 Pistols/SBRs - Taming the bark - The PWS CQB is from my perspective the best PDW/AR15 pistol brake around. The CQB brake seems to almost magically reduce shooter perceived concussion. Another new little tiny brake that reduces concussion is the STD Simple Threaded Device which is great for short AR15 pistol builds. The various blast shield solutions on the market work well, but not as well as either of these solutions or just a plain old A2 flash hider.
BUFFER TUBES, BUFFERS, & SPRINGS
AR15 Buffer Springs - First off it is my opinion that buffers and buffer springs should be regular old standard Mil-Spec weight unless you really have some serious issue going on. If there is a need for heavy buffers and springs then you have too much gas pressure and need an adjustable gas system to reduce the pressure. Strike and Geissele both have “enhanced” buffer springs, however I have not tried either. JP Rifles and a couple other companies do have captured buffer spring systems which allow for a lot of tuning on competition focused guns.
AR15 Rifles Tubes - In order to assure a proper fit between an adjustable stock, I attempt to avoid fitment issues and just purchase complete stock, buffer tube, buffer and spring kits from a single manufacturer. Mission First Tactical is usually my preference for adjustable stocks. The high end Magpul stocks are nice but really heavy. For fixed stock applications I am usually using an Ace stock which accept standard A2 buffer tubes.

TRIGGERS
MilSpec Replacements - ALG ACT, WMD, and Hiperfire EDT are by far the best drop in MilSpec duty trigger upgrades I have found. The do not offer match grade pull but they do break extremely crisp for a MilSpec replacement and are 200% better than stock triggers.

LOWER PARTS KITS
Standard - Barnes Precision, CMMG, and ALG all have high quality base kits. My preference is always Barnes Precision just because I have been in his shop and seen each of these parts being made. I do like the YHM quick pull and Strike pivot pins which are very reasonable. Strike and Seekins offer a number of fun very inexpensive add on billet parts. Strike Industries has a lot of really innovative, high quality, and fun billet add ons including Black, Blue, Red, and Grey color schemes.
Premium - KNS, Battle Arms Development, and V Seven offer top and parts. KNS have stainless options, BAD offers a ton of style and functionality and V Seven has titanium options to upgrade all the usual phosphated parts. V Seven and BAD are probably my two premium lower parts I migrate to often.
GRIPS
Custom - I chop and stipple a lot of $5 standard MilSpec grips and then wrap in paracord. For me, these are the best grips on the market and cost me about $6 in parts. For AR15 pistol builds I like to chop the custom or aftermarket grips down to a very short two finger hold to make for a more compact pistol.
Billet - I have seen, handled and shot some of the billet and G10 AR15 grips, however they are really heavy and not particularly comfortable. They look amazing but are pretty parts for safe queen rifles, but for a gun to shoot stick with plastic.
BUTTSTOCKS
Fixed - Ace and Battle Arms are the only fixed buttstocks that I have tried and really like. The Ace stocks are insanely affordable, offered in Ultralight, skeleton, and heavy duty Socom versions and are easily custom wrapped with paracord.
Collapsible - Magpul, Troy, MFT, Strike and Mako are all great brands, however if I cannot get a complete kit including the buffer tube, then I know I will end up cycling through half a dozen buffer tubes to find one that actually will fit tight. The best add on buttstock on the market is the Rogers Buttstock simply because it has an adjustment nut and cam-lock which makes the lockup rock solid regardless of the buffer tube size variances.
Folding Adapter - The Law Tactical is THE accessory for the AR15 pistol. If you do not add one on a shorty AR15 pistol build then you are missing out of an amazing backpack gun and 90% of the functionality of the AR15 pistol size.
GAS BLOCKS
Adjustable - Seekins are super inexpensive and work great. A premium option are Superlative Arms venting gas block or SLR industries adjustable gas blocks.
Retrofit Gas Piston - Syrac Ordnance was making them for a while, but I am not sure what is happening there. I do know that Superlative Arms, their patent co-owner, is making a freaking awesome Retrofit Gas Piston system which fits under nearly any standard profile handguard. I love both of the builds I have done with the Superlative Arms piston kits.
HANDGUARDS
Fancy - Brigand Arms and Clark are what I go for when I want over-the-top looks paired with extremely light weight. If you want Thor-like strength in a carbon fiber handguard then the only option is the combat proven Primary Weapons offerings which is designed for high strength to leverage the heat wicking capabilities of carbon fiber.
OPTICS

On the high tier, my perspective is that you get what you pay for from the big optics names. I will say the top end Vortex, Sig, Bushnell and Burris are very impressive. One of the single most impressive optics I have ever used is the $4400 Tangent Theta 5-25. If you have money the quality can be easily found.
Best inexpensive Red Dots are - well there are a couple. Primary Arms, Hi-Lux, Vortex, and Holosun are all great options. Primary Arms MicroDot at $169 is truly and exceptional 50K hour red dot. The Bushnell TRS-25 and Primary Arms standard $90 red dots are fantastic for the price. The Hi-Lux, Vortex and Holosun offer upgraded features and quality.
OPTIC MAGNIFICATION

OPTICS MOUNTS
Since we are talking about AR15s, I will omit the rather lengthy list of precision rings prefered for my bolt action precision rifles in favor of more typical AR15 mounts.
QD Mount - For a hard use re-zeroable optics mount there is no other equal other than American Defense Manufacturing (ADM). They even make these mounts for many other red dot optics as well. A nice QD mount option for the price is are Sampson QD mounts which are all under $200. For a bit less money, the Samson QD mounts offer excellent Aimpoint T1 Micro compatible mounts that will work on most red dot optics.
High Precision Mounts - American Precision Arms or the new line of Geissele Super Precision Mounts would really be my only choices if I was consumed with accuracy.
MAGAZINES
Polymer - There are a ton of mags on the market and a lot of newcomers in the polymer market and I am happy to say most are outstanding. That said based solely on those brands I had a problem with and those brand I didn’t, my choice has to be Magpul or MFT. If I have a problem, I slip in one of these mags to assure the mag is not the issue since I have proven their reliability in across all builds.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are so many products out there and most are really quite great, however over the years you get a bit jaded and start picking favorites based on what makes things easy, reliable, full featured, and delivers “the look”. Hope this helps you make some decisions for future problem-free AR15 builds and upgrades.
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1 comment:
Hello
I just have to say, you have helped so much with these tips and suggestions. Choosing parts for an AR-15 is a world of KRAZY but your blog is GREAT, VERY WELL WRITTEN AND YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.
Thanks, Henry
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