Have you ever wanted an AR rifle? Didn’t know what you wanted or where to begin? Initially, I didn’t even want one after firing one of the guys’. This is the tale of how I got to this beast and the premise I operated upon creating her. This is my rifle, there are many like it, but this one is mine.
This was the premise I was under when I began considering an AR build. To be perfectly honest, after firing Monkey’s AR, I was almost positive I didn’t even want one. Arm length was uncomfortable, HATED the vertical grip, constant cordite in the face and as nice as EOTech is, I didn’t like the reticle at all…too much going on. Everything screaming at me, “This is not a gun for YOU”. So I left it alone.
I was at a local gun shop when I tried another model…like goldilocks (too big, too small…just right) I started picking one after another after another off the rack… comparing, sizing up, building a rifle in my head a la carte. I liked this stock, but not that, this grip but not that. This rail would be great if it was 3 inches longer etc, etc… Then we started in with the internets.
Blogs, reviews, youtube, blogs, catalogs, SHOT show interviews, company profiles, more catalogs, installation guides on youtube… It was a serious couple weeks of mind numbing until I finally said, screw this, let’s just do it. So off I go (to a different gun shop) to put in my order for s Stag Arms Model 3 O.R.C.
Break out the toolkit (a.k.a. Wallet) as we spend another two weeks ordering, searching, ordering some more. Bravo Company, Midway, Brownells…even Amazon and eBay…just plain ridiculous ordering. Try this out, replace that… this works for me, this does not. It was becoming MY rifle. There are many like it, but THIS one is mine. After I whored myself out to Magpul, BCM, Aimpoint and VLTOR as well as a few random names…we ended up with this.
Now this isn’t an article about anything other than, this is MY rifle. I customized it the way I did for very specific reasons and will outline those reasons part by part in the future if you are interested, so you the reader can understand how I came to these decisions, and maybe it will help you make yours.
If you are looking into or would like to purchase or build an AR of your own, understand that This is YOUR rifle, there are many like it, but THIS one, is yours.