Whether you’re looking at adding your first or your fifth AR-style rifle to your safe, you have two main options: build the rifle from a stripped upper and lower and parts, or buy a complete upper and lower and mate them together (or, just buy a functioning, complete rifle).
For the purpose of this article, we’ll take a closer look at just one portion of the build – the upper, which doesn’t require an FFL transfer, so you have a little more flexibility with it.
So, would you rather build from a stripped upper and piecemeal parts, or buy a complete upper that’s assembled and ready to go? Here’s a quick breakdown.
Why Buy a Complete Upper (or Just Buy an Assembled Rifle)?
If you buy a complete upper, it should come with the following:
- The stripped upper receiver itself, either made of forged or billet aluminum.
- A complete, assembled bolt carrier group.
- A barrel, and if threaded, a muzzle device.
- A gas system.
- A handguard.
- A charging handle.
Our side-charging upper configurations don’t come with forward assists or ejection port covers because the design of our uppers eliminates these parts; however, if you build with a complete rear-charging upper, it should come with these parts as well.
Assuming the upper in question is an assembled upper, all of the components listed will already be “put together” and ready to mate to a compatible lower to complete a functioning rifle.
There are numerous reasons to complete your project with an assembled upper:
- Peace of mind: When you buy a complete upper, you won’t need to worry about accidentally buying the wrong parts or not knowing how to put the whole system together. Complete assembled uppers are shipped basically ready to pair with a lower. All you need are some takedown pins and you can complete the project in a matter of minutes.
- Ease of use: There are plenty of people with driver’s licenses who don’t know how to change their own oil. In the same vein, many shooters don’t really know how their rifles operate on a granular level. It’s much easier for those who aren’t gun-savvy to complete a build with an assembled upper.
- Convenience and speed: For some, the prospect of completing a project with a complete upper is more attractive simply because it’s faster and easier.
- Potential for cost savings: Buying a complete upper can potentially save you money over purchasing all of the other upper parts separately.
With that said, some tinkerers prefer to buy a stripped upper, then buy the rest of their parts piecemeal in order to create their own custom AR-15 uppers before pairing them with a lower and thereby a finished rifle.
Why Build with a Stripped Upper?
If you don’t think the complete upper route is for you, here are a few of the best reasons to start from the ground up:
- More room for customization: Building with a stripped upper and parts gives you complete flexibility over the build, enabling you to customize your rifle in terms of barrel steel chemistry, length and finish, bolt carrier group finish, the type of gas block you use, and your choice of handguard. The stripped upper route is the best one for those that love to customize their toys.
- It’s great for people that love to work with their hands: Assembling an upper from all the components will only require basic tools, but the project will be very enjoyable nonetheless for those that appreciate skilled manual labor.
- More pride of ownership: There’s something special about building a rifle from parts you chose yourself and putting the whole thing together, starting with nothing more than a bare, stripped upper.
- You’ll learn more about how the rifle works: For better or worse, you won’t be able to assemble an upper from parts, much less a whole functioning rifle, without learning in great detail what each part does. This will also position you much more effectively to make repairs and upgrades when the time comes for that.
With all of this being said, there are some drawbacks to building with a stripped upper and parts. One is that there’s more risk involved if you don’t know what all the parts do, or accidentally buy parts that are not compatible. This isn’t rocket science but you still need to make sure you buy parts that work with each other.
Another two are the time and skill involved. It’s not particularly difficult to assemble an upper from parts, but you still need to have the right tools (armorer’s wrench, pin punches, driver bits, etc.) and know how to use them.
If you’re ready for that, the project might be right for you.
Starting with a Complete Upper from Gibbz Arms
For those of you reading this considering the complete upper route, explore our collection of complete uppers. We offer a few different options for aspiring home-building, including our 5.56 G4 side-charging uppers, along with our G9 uppers (coming soon) in 9mm, perfect for those interested in building a PCC (pistol-caliber carbine). Learn more on our website and contact us if you have questions about our side-charging uppers, parts or compatibility.