Thinking about building a short barrel rifle, either with a complete short barrel upper or a kit? Well here are 4 good reasons that building with an assembled upper might be the way to go. It definitely offers some advantages over building with a stripped upper. These are some of them.
Saves Time
If there’s one solid reason to build with a complete short barrel upper or kit instead of a stripped upper and then buying all of the other parts separately, it’s that a kit or an assembled upper can save you a lot of time
Depending on whether what you have your eye on is really a complete assembled upper or not, you can basically mate it to a compatible lower, load a mag and get to the range. In the realm of home building and customization, there is no faster or more convenient alternative.
Guaranteed Compatibility, the Hard Work Is Done For You
Unless you’ve done this before and know exactly what you’re looking at in terms of parts and hardware, there’s always a risk that whatever you buy in conjunction with a stripped upper is not necessarily going to work with it. A different species of this same basic issue is that you’ll get a part that while technically compatible with the rest of the upper, doesn’t offer the performance you want. Consider a barrel that works with the upper but doesn’t have the right rate of twist.
When you get a complete, assembled upper, you don’t need to pay any mind to any of that.
A Bundle Might Be Able to Save You Money
It depends on what sort of shopper you are but you can definitely (potentially) save money by going with a complete assembled upper as opposed to buying a stripped upper and building that thing out. There are bundles that are more cost-effective than buying piecemeal could be anyway.
You Still Have the Flexibility to Make Customizations
One of the big draws to building with a stripped upper and buying all of the other components separately is that you are in complete control of design spec and therefore performance. For customization, building with a stripped upper is the superior option. We won’t beat around that bush on that.
But that doesn’t mean you are forfeiting customization or control when you build with a complete short barrel upper kit. You’ll just need to do a little more work if you want to swap parts out.
Cons of Building from a Stripped Upper
If these benefits of building with a complete short barrel upper still haven’t convinced you, then let’s look at some of the negatives associated with building with a stripped upper.
- You may end up spending more money on parts and tools to assemble it.
- There’s no guarantee the parts will work together, so if you didn’t do your homework you could get yourself in a bind.
- You could easily overlook a part you need.
- It’ll take more time for all the parts to ship to you.
- On top of that, it takes more time to build as it is.
Where to Get a Complete Short Barrel Upper
Here for a complete short barrel upper or a complete short barrel build kit? Visit MCS Gearup. They carry a wide range of parts and accessories for SBRs, including assembled uppers and build kits.
They also carry the parts and accessories you need for AR15 pistols, including pistol uppers, pistol braces, and parts kits. Visit their website for more information or get in touch with them directly.
