Frankengun vs Factory

Frankengun vs Factory

Firearms training

It’s way past time to get a few blogs out from Cajun Arms. As you probably know, the past two years saw unprecedented times for those in the firearms and self defense business. With sales up over 400% there hasn’t been much extra time to write blogs. But man-oh-man, do we have some stories and thoughts to share in the upcoming months. We ran over 1,200 students through our various classes during this time as well. Just when you think you’ve seen it all… you haven’t!

Firearms sales

One of the items that bugs the heck out of us is home built AR carbines and pistols, whether built by the owner, a buddy, or some one-off “shop” assembler. Now, for the record, there’s nothing wrong with this as long as your head is in the right place. There’s no better way to understand how your AR15 runs than to assemble one. And there is the pride in ownership factor of having built it yourself. However, if you are looking to run your rifle in a long day of training or staking your life on it when things go pear shaped, you might want to consider a quality factory built rifle from a reputable manufacturer. Can you really trust your building skills or the skills of the gun shop using low cost parts when it comes to the reliability of that gun? Keep in mind, if you try to build a rifle with quality components, parts, and pieces in line with a factory rifle in the $1,000 plus range, it will cost you more to just buy the parts. We figure your time is worth something too?

Buy from a pro

The small one-off “builder” is to be avoided too. They typically have no warranty nor the tools, skills, or common sense to build and fit a high quality piece. They are more likely to paint a turd with some “cool” paint scheme to try to sell it. Beware! Resale is an issue if you ever want to trade or sell too. We typically do not buy home made or no name guns. If we do, we only offer the cost of the parts on the gun at a discounted rate figuring we need to rebuild it.

Ask yourself what the rifle is expected to do for you. If it's to defend the lives of those you love, serving as your go to home defense platform, it would be smart to put that responsibility in an AR like a Barrett, Springfield, Sig, Spikes, LWRC, POF, or other well-known quality manufacturers. But if it's a range toy Gucci experiment, then go for the home build. Just know its limitations.  If you bring your Frankenstein to class, please bring a back up! We hope to post again soon. Keep your head up and make good choices!