Look at that handsome devil.

I decided to cheat on myself imposed "top quality only" rule and acquired a Palmetto State Armory AR Pistol (directly from PSA):



SPECS:

PSA Factory Assembled 10.5" Nitride Upper with PSA Flash Can & Free Float Rail

PSA Premium (HPT/MPI C158) Bolt Carrier Group

PSA Factory Assembled Pistol Lower with PSA Branded SBTactical SBA3 Pistol Brace and PSA EPT Trigger Group

MagPul MBUS Sights

Vortex SparcAR RDS (great sight for the money)

SureFire Scout AA in LaRue Offset Mount

The Flash Can adds too much length. This pistol is only a few inches shorter than my factory BCM 14.5" midlength rifle (that has a factory pinned and welded A2X ... extended A2 ... flash suppressor for 16" legality).

Therefore, I bought another PSA pistol ...

SPECS:

PSA Factory Assembled 10.5" Nitride Upper with MagPul Handguard

PSA Premium (HPT/MPI C158) Bolt Carrier Group

PSA Factory Assembled Pistol Lower with PSA Branded SBTactical SBA3 Pistol Brace and PSA EPT Trigger Group

LaRue LT103 QD Rear Sight

Vortex SparcAR RDS (great sight for the money)

I've been so impressed with these PSA products I added a PSA 16" MidLength rifle ...



SPECS:

PSA Factory Assembled 16" Nitride Upper with MagPul Handguard

PSA Premium (HPT / MPI C158) Bolt Carrier Group

PSA Factory Assembled Lower with MagPul STR Stock and PSA EPT Trigger Group

LaRue LT103 QD Rear Sight

Vortex SparcAR RDS

The Vortex SparcAR cost about $150 plus shipping if you find them on sale some place. They use AAA batteries. At $160 shipped they're a super bargain...espcially when you consider they include their mount.

The three I put on these PSA cost $150 less than the single Aimpoint T1 I have on my wife's rifle ... and it didn't include a usable mount. After I added a LaRue mount I was $737 into a single optic.

Is the T1 better than the Vortex? ALL DAY LONG.

Is it 4.5x better..... I guess it depends on how much weigh you place on "value to performance".

The price I have in the PSA firearms ....

10.5" Free Float = $484 (this excludes the MBUS sights, SureFire light, and Vortex)

10.5" A3 = $502 (this excludes the LaRue sight and Vortex)

16" MidLength = $466 (this excludes the LaRue sight and Vortex)

Total PSA investment = $1452

I paid $1366 for my BCM BFH 14.5" with A2X P/W. The BCM does have a factory installed Daniel Defense SlimRail on it.

So far I've not had a single malfunction from any of these.

I added the following to the BCM ...

Added Front and Rear TROY flip sights ... $146
Replaced BCM Gunfighter Stock with MagPul CTR ... $55
Replaced BCM Gunfighter Pistol Grip with MagPul MIAD ... $32
Added Trijicon TA47 ACOG ... $882
Added LaRue SDO ACOG Mount ... $127

Total price of my "go to" AR .... $2608

This is why I've strayed away from the "boutique priced" guns.

I've been selling all of my spare high priced guns because I can only carry one of them at a time. I've transitioned into "cost effective" training guns like my PSAs.

I'm keeping the miles off the few high priced guns I have left and don't care what happens to the cheap trainers.

It was a fun and freeing exercise.

Here's my "go to" rifle with my PSA pistol ...



The rifle has a 14.5" midlength-gas barrel (with P/W muzzle device) while the pistol has a 10.5" carbine-gas barrel.

The muzzle velocity loss of the pistol and decreased reliability / increased port erosion makes the pistol a bad choice.

I shoot nose-to-charging handle so I can shoot the BCM with teh stock collapsed completely but prefer it out just one notch (adds about 1" of overall length).

BCM's "A2X" extended A2 flash suppressor. BCM's pin and weld is ugly but nobody can question it!

Got a Ruger PC9 a bit ago and put an old Vortex red dot on it...got it sighted in...



That will do...

Even though it's a heavy pig and recoils more than an AR- think my wife could manage this better with so much less blast/noise. Plus, I can shoot this places that don't allow rifle rounds, so practice will be fun.

YUP, be a lot better off than needing just one more shot when it fails.