.
Yeah, they're actually pretty cheap still right now. It's ammo that's expensive and hard to find. I thought I'd save my reloads for hunting or serious shooting, but pick up some 38 Special for plinking, and the only thing less than a dollar around was Russian steel cased full metal jacket round nose. I did buy a box of 50 just because it's against my religion to walk out of a gun store without buying at least one thing. Generic AR lowers were $50 or so, with complete firearms running $600 or so. Of course they had the fancy name-brand ones like Spike's Tactical for two or three times the price.
From what I can tell if you get a good barrel and bolt carrier group, most of the other stuff doesn't have to be high-end in order to have a functioning firearm. The weak link with high volume shooting seems to be the gas tube, although if you're shooting rapidly and continuously enough to melt the gas tube you probably will run out of ammunition first. I really don't like the charging handle design of AR's, and I do tend to replace those with 'premium' ones (that are ambidextrous and/or easier to get hold of). The charging handle is awkward to use and the design just seems really fragile and prone to breakage, although I've got to admit I've never broken one, nor talked to anyone who uses their firearm professionally who has broken one.
I've got to figure out a way to raffle off a couple 1,000 round cases of 300 Blackout ammo (maybe one subsonic one supersonic), only have me be the one who gets them, and everybody else pay for them. Then I get to shoot my nice little olive green gun a lot more. When you only have a couple hundred rounds of ammunition it tends to make you want to ration it.
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