Budget PSA AR15 for $399 – Worth it?

PSA (Palmetto State Armory) continues to impress with their incredibly low prices on AR15s.  But I had to find out for myself – are they worth it?

At my request, PSA sent me their 18″ rifle kit that boasted of a .223 Wylde chamber with a 1/7 twist stainless steel barrel with a rifle length gas tube under a 15″ lightweight M-LOK MOE handguard.  The complete upper also includes a set of Magpul MBUS (Back-Up-Iron-Sights) which would cost $93 alone.  Also included was PSA’s EPT (Enhanced Polished Trigger)  with a value of $29, and all the other parts needed to complete your stripped lower assembly.

This is the first time I was able to test a .223 Wylde chambered firearm.  .223 Wylde is designed to milk the accuracy out of a .223 Remington round, while still being able to fire higher pressured ammunition like the 5.56x45mm.

Setup

In less than 15 minutes with the help of my new Real Avid Armorer’s Kit I had my PSA “No Step on Snek” lower (FFL required) assembled and ready to test fire.  I topped it all off with the Nikon Black Force1000 1-4x24mm scope in order to really get a feel for the rifle’s accuracy.  I attached my Saker suppressor to the muzzle to keep my neighbours happy.  I used Angelfire 55 grain FMJ, 53 grain A-Max, and then HSM’s 64 grain bonded.

Before I shot the video below, I had sent probably 150 rounds downrange through the rifle without any malfunctions.  After the end of the video, we were well over 200 rounds without issue.  Not a torture test by any means.  But so far so good.  I was very happy with overall rifle performance.

I have been around some excellent quality high-end AR15s, and I can tell right out of the box this isn’t on the same level as those.  But it’s not supposed to be.  The finish of and milling of the rail doesn’t look anything like something like a LaRue Tactical.  But again, it’s not supposed to be.  I just wanted to answer the questions: Does it work?  How accurate is it?  And it did, and it was.

Worth It?

I am very pleased with the rifle so far.  I didn’t print any groups on paper because that’s boring.  But heck – I had one splatter groups at 100 yards on steel and even hit a golf ball with it in the end.  It was definitely “Minute of Spaghettio” and that’s all I would ask of it.  I believe this rifle will stay secured in my office, and I’ll be very confident in its ability.  You can get a kit for yourself for only $399 from Palmetto State Armory.  And they have even more amazing deals like the 16″ freedom package this past weekend for only $259.  Just remember you will need to have a lower (around $39) shipped to your FFL dealer to complete the “kit”

Update: PSA just released a sale for this 18″ upper with a mounted Vortex 1-8x scope for $499: http://bit.ly/2MBIwf9