Example:

PSA has complete lowers, $130. Matching Carbine uppers, $220.

Or, buy a complete Carbine kit for $280, and supply your own lower.

There’s also a complete kit with a Vortex Strikefire II for $400.

Honestly I don’t remember prices being this low, ever.

It's the fallout from the Trump election win. Everyone was hording and expecting the opposite, and now they have to at least break even on their overstock.

^^ I wish that were true, but barring the odd 5.56 all the cheap Armalites and LMTs I was hoping to see never materialized. The guy who owns PSA has stated before that he's on a mission to sell as many ARs as possible, and he apparently avoids having to charge to compensate for higher excise taxes by not selling complete rifles - that is, by selling parts kits or by selling uppers and lowers seperately.

Why do that? You can buy a complete gun made from Bushmaster, S+W, or ruger for just over $500. Yes, they have really come down in price and there is more competition now.

Why do what? Put one together?

Maybe that’s what some people want to do.

I noticed Colt stuff is still high. If one were to buy a Colt Carbine upper, BCG, and charging handle from Brownell’s, it’ll run you over $700.

My 6920LE with Magpul was $900-ish 4 years ago.

My 6920 LE back in 2010 cost me $1100.00! Back then you considered yourself "lucky" just to snag one. But "will we be fooled again" with the upcoming 2020 election. Yes, many of us thought Clinton and the machine would win and stocked up in anticipation...surprise!!

I would love the buy a $500ish FN AR but have not seen one, doh!

It's not Trump. If you ask you local gunshop, they move more stuff when a Democrat is in office.

Thank years of competition, and Obama actually. Obama sold more guns than anyone.

This trend began before both presidents though.

What has happened to ARs and their components, is the same reason you can buy a hell of a powerful desktop PC for not a lot of dough.

Lots of competition, manufacturing technology, and enough demand to support that competition.

No, ARs have never been this cheap, they can't get too much cheaper though.

Reminds me that I should pick up a couple lowers for some build plans.

Seeing how cheap they are now, when I've got something like $1,300 invested into mine.

May be the right time to start building that 300BO pistol I've been contemplating.

Times are good, stack guns, parts, mags, and ammo DEEP.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Reminds me that I should pick up a couple lowers for some build plans.

Seeing how cheap they are now, when I've got something like $1,300 invested into mine.

May be the right time to start building that 300BO pistol I've been contemplating.

I ordered an 8.5” 300 blackout upper last night....

Quality still isn't cheap (though it may be a bit less expensive) ... what's gotten "really cheap" was cheap to begin with.

As gearhounds said, now is the time to stack deep, especially mags and ammo.

No matter what, when the tide turns the ones that will whine the loudest will be the people that shoot twice a year and the new shooters.

Until this last couple years I hadn't ever seen $35 lowers ... even back in the 70's they were $55-$65

We will look back on this as the golden era of AR's... both in terms of price but also in terms of quality and innovation.

I can remember when you could buy a Colt AR-15 A1 for $299.

When was that?

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
When was that?

My first one was around that price in early seventy,I had to drive up to ring gold ga to get it.Locals shops around atlanta did not deal with it.
Hell no one wanted one ,the craze was the mini 14.

If we want to realistically look at the cost of items over time, the change in the dollar's buying power must be factored in. Thus the CPI comes into play.

Let's say we buy a $500 AR-15 today. Going back 10 years, the CPI is 1.18. Effectively, that's $423 in 2009 dollars.

The CPI comparison going back 40 years is 3.48. So that $500 cost today is like $143 in 1979 dollars.

Adjusted for the CPI, it would be challenging to find a time that AR-15s cost less than they do today.

I keep having this nagging feeling that I should buy at least 10 $500 S&W or similar AR's. In the AK world people still complain about missing out on the days of $250 ChiComs and WASR's.

I feel like in the future I'll look back and wish I had 10 decent AR's I could sell for a nice boost to the gun fund.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
I keep having this nagging feeling that I should buy at least 10 $500 S&W or similar AR's. In the AK world people still complain about missing out on the days of $250 ChiComs and WASR's.

I feel like in the future I'll look back and wish I had 10 decent AR's I could sell for a nice boost to the gun fund.

Just remember to get at least 10 mags per rifle at minimum. Way more would be better. Add a handful of stripped lowers and full parts kits. There has never been a better time.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
I keep having this nagging feeling that I should buy at least 10 $500 S&W or similar AR's. In the AK world people still complain about missing out on the days of $250 ChiComs and WASR's.

I feel like in the future I'll look back and wish I had 10 decent AR's I could sell for a nice boost to the gun fund.

It is a different situation than it was with the AK kits. Those were surplus, a big reason for their relative low cost.



Now is the time to stock up if you want a supply of good and inexpensive ARs.


We are not very far removed, in regard to time, and political climate, from the time when you simply could not buy a bolt carrier group because there were none to be had.