It doesn’t matter if you’re building or buying an upper receiver; one question constantly springs to mind. Is this higher-quality upper receiver worth the money? Check out this site’s upper receivers to see a variety of budget and expensive options to choose from. The answer is not a simple one. It’s almost in the same vein of questions: Which performs better, a Maserati or a Ford?
Just like picking your transportation, building, or buying a high-quality upper receiver often depends on how you intend to use it and how much you’re willing to spend.
One thing to know about the parts you’ll need to build or when purchasing a complete upper receiver. The closer to match-grade or superb quality an upper receiver gets, the higher the cost is. It typically parses down to your perception of the associated value your upper receiver provides.
Good Versus Great
Suppose you’re in the military or law enforcement, and the rifle you carry will make a difference in saving your life or the lives of others. In a dynamic situation such as this, you’ll probably not want to skimp on ensuring you have the best possible receiver that responds as you expect in your rifle.
Good may be effective, but great is what you need to remain unharmed. In this case, you’re not buying or building with the highest quality pieces to feed your vanity; you’re assembling or purchasing a tool that may save your life in the future.
On the flip side of that coin is when you go hunting or choose to spend a few hours plinking targets at the range. It’s not a competition 3-gun match with prize money and bragging rights at stake. Spending thousands of dollars to build or purchase an extremely high-quality upper receiver probably isn’t the way to go.
For much less, you can find barrels, stripped upper receivers, complete lower receivers, and buttstocks and scopes that are in the sweet spot of your budget and perform flawlessly at the range or out in the wild.
Ask the Questions Then Do the Research
When choosing the correct upper receiver, whether building it yourself or not, you need to ask yourself a few fundamental questions. Start by asking yourself how you intend to use your rifle.
Then ask yourself what scenarios you will come across during the operation of your rifle.
Now you know the how and the why, and it’s time to do the research. As complete high-quality upper receivers go, you may want to consider a few of these while you’re at it.
Complete M4 SOCOM Upper from Centurion
If you’ve got your heart set on and or have an established need for a high-quality upper, you’ll not be disappointed with this complete upper receiver from Centurion Arms. That is once you manage to get past a starting price of around nine hundred dollars.
Yes, you can get a high-quality stripped upper for a lot less, but remember, we’re talking about a fully assembled upper complete with a forward assist, ejection port, bolt carrier group, charging handle, barrel, and handguard.
CMT Tactical BR URG Complete
CMT Tactical also offers a complete upper receiver you may want to consider when divesting those dollars. As with Centurion’s M4 SOCOM upper receiver, the CMT Tactical BR URG Complete hovers in the one-thousand-dollar range. Both demonstrate a keen dedication to putting together a higher-quality receiver that performs flawlessly.
Geissele Super Duty Complete Upper
As mentioned earlier in this piece, as the quality goes up, so will the price as this following complete high-quality upper proves. Suppose you’re seeking an upper that contains a cold-hammer-forged barrel and is built utilizing some of the most stringent standards in the industry. If that’s the case, the Geissele Super Duty Complete Upper can be yours for only twelve hundred dollars.
These are only three examples of higher caliber upper receivers on the market today. If you’re a builder and want to ensure your upper provides more than just a few value-added features, expect to pay slightly less than these fully assembled uppers, but somewhere in the same range as an entire “off the rack” AR15. Again, it comes down to how you intend to use your AR15.
The Decision is Ultimately Yours
Sometimes purchasing or building a high-quality upper receiver that is the same price as an entire rifle may seem like it isn’t worth the money. Although protecting your family and property is something we all care about deeply, you can get the same effect with a much less expensive rifle. There are, however, some decent reasons for having an AR15 with a high-quality upper receiver.
Suppose you live in a world of competitive shooting, and your livelihood depends on accuracy and precision. To win, you’ll need to shoot faster and with more accuracy than all the others. In these situations, having lightweight, match-grade barrels, triggers, and sights in your AR15 typically becomes the norm. When money is on the line, any match shooter will agree you need an upper receiver that meets or exceeds a higher standard of quality.
But for the routine trips to the range for recreational shooting or those deer hunting escapades each year, spending your entire budget on creating your upper receiver or purchasing a high-quality upper won’t cut it.
Somewhere In the Middle
When doing the research, you may discover that your needs are somewhere in the middle. While you do need an AR15 upper that will work dependability for longer than six months, you don’t need one of such high quality that it requires you to sell your house.
Each gun enthusiast has a particular idea of what constitutes a great session. Every one of us has a specific set of standards that we expect to see in our AR15, especially after a few builds or modifications we’ve made on rifles in our existing arsenals.
When building or buying your next upper receiver, keep in mind that the need creates the necessity, not the other way around. If you’re in a situation where every shot counts, sometimes a higher-quality upper is the necessity, and just as many more times, it’s not.
