Getting Started With Your AR Build

Key Questions: How, What, and Legal

Deciding how you will use the weapon is a logical beginning to building an AR. Is it just for target shooting? What distance will you shoot?  Will it be a hunting rifle? What game will you hunt? Is it for home defense? Are you building a weapon for use in competitions?  If you’ll compete with it, what kind of competitions will you do?

That decision is input for the next step. The next step is to decide what type of AR weapon you plan to build. There are four basic choices. Those are rifle, carbine, short barrel rifle, and AR pistol. A carbine is a specific type of rifle. I distinguish rifle from carbine because those categories drive component choices.