AR Stoner Upper Review & Accuracy | MidwayUSA's AR-15 Complete Upper
AR Stoner Upper Review & Accuracy | MidwayUSA's AR-15 Complete Upper
So how good is the AR-Stoner complete upper for an AR-15 and how does it compare to other upper options on the market today? We help answer this question as well as look at the accuracy and reliability you can receive from this upper sold at MidwayUSA.com…
I ordered several AR Stoner uppers (5 total) I gave all but one of them to my kids (all grown up) and they all shot better than what you were getting. I’m very surprised you didn’t get better than that. Mine were all under 2 inches. The ease in which a barrel can be replaced I would suggest to just replace that one for around 100 bucks and set that barrel aside. Any ar-15 that can’t hold a group under 2 inches at 100 yards isn’t worth keeping.
The AR stoner is on sale today for $199 !!
The non chrome lined will always have bad groupings until the barrel gets some rounds through it. Should have had a follow up video with results after some extended use. Chrome lining doesn’t make a barrel more accurate, just easier to clean and longer service life.
I bought mine in 2019 for $229. It’s a classic carbine 16", 1:8 twist, not chrome lined and no front sight.
Since I am not a competitive shooter, police officer or military I won’t be running hundreds or thousands of rounds each month. It was needed in Vietnam but not in the states. None of my other rifles have a chrome lined barrel. Why should I pay extra for something that’s not needed.
I bought a PSA complete classic lower for $119 and topped it off with a Vortex LPVO w/Vortex cantilever mount for $299.
For $647 out the door I have a very accurate rifle and it’s very simple in its appearance.
Bought the re branded AR Stoner (bear creek aresenal) chambered in 243. Mine shot 8 loads out my ladder test sub moa with the best groups .3". I buy directly from BCA now and save money with a better warranty. Midway marks them up and only gives a 1 year warranty. BCA was a $150 cheaper for my same 243 upper with a lifetime warranty. BCA said they would give me a lifetime guarantee on my AR Stoner when I called them to confirm is was indeed their upper.
Was looking at one of these in 7.62×39, you help me make my decision to buy it
will this accept .223 ammo?
AIM Surplus also sells BCG’s that look very much the same.
Just picked it up for 215
Thank you for the video. Over the last year I have built a few AR15’s and one was an AR Stoner. I bought several different MIL-SPEC type BCG’s and after switching stuff around and 2 of the rifles were made into 22LR and we never used there 556 BCG and I have been wondering if the AR-Stoner BCG was the one that was shaped a little different. Very nice review. We have had no problem with the AR-Stoner and of coarse if you are wanting a budget build look into PSA .
Just buy this upper for training and shoot the shit out of the barrel with cheap steel cased ammo.. I have my psa freedom upper that I do the same with. By the time you burn out the barrel the cheaper ammo will have already paid for a couple new ones
Got a Nitrided barrel assembly for $125 (FSB, Barrel Nut, Delta Ring, Flash Hider, Etc) These not having chrome lined barrels won’t be a huge issue going forward.I’m a big fan of nitriding/meloniting.
1:9 Ugh no chrome lined. was going to say a good training upper but scratch that. no way it will last any decent time. Probably shoot varmint ammo good, even better of you free float it.
Ar stoner is aka bear creek arsenal… You heard it straight from the horses mouth
I bought two of these AR Stoner uppers from Midway for $199.00 each. Paired one up with a Plum Crazy lower, for $300.00 I have a super lightweight, great for walking around AR! Extractor broke at 150 round mark, replaced with mil spec, good to go again.
AR Stoner uppers are actually Bear Creek Arsenal uppers rebranded
I bought the Stoner for $249.99.
Just got my AR stoner today in 7.62×39…. would have liked it a bit cheaper , but hey I’m happy with it… gonna change the hand guard to a slimmer one and I put a utg back iron sight on too. The upper went on a Anderson multi cal lower…
I paid $800 for my stripped down optics ready armalite m15 but after seeing these accuracy results I’m glad I paid more for a premium AR. At 100 yds with green tips I’m sub moa. With 69gr match kings it’s a tac driver especially with the 3-9x scope. Super enjoyable gun to shoot. The rounds go exactly where you want almost every time. The two stage trigger on that gun is really nice too..
The right answer is colt le6920! Why waste your money on a bad copy!
Maybe they have gotten better since this video. But I bought a AR stoner upper in 450 bushmaster and at 105 yards I was getting 1 – 1.25 inch groups shooting off of a led sled so that took my shooting errors out of the equation.
Awesome video! Thank you, I love how you showed the difference in groupings with all the uppers. I just ordered the AR-STONER AR-15 A3 from midway, and that’s exactly what I wanted it for, close range tactical/home defense and some occasional long range shooting.
Really appreciate you taking the time to make this video! 🙂
are you right handed? all your shots seem to be drifting right. What kind of trigger are you using in your rig? What’s the pull. Single or double break? If you are using the standard trigger that comes with some lowers and are the bargain basement brand like AR Stoner then the pull is often 8-9 lbs. Not ranking on you just honest questions if you have the time to answer. Thanks.
👍great post. very helpful. up to about $280 now. thank you.
Excellent review !!!
In today’s world keeping one in the closet might be smart.
Full upper sale today
I’ve owned 22 AR15s and for me the M855 lake city green tip was more accurate than M193 or XM193. 18 of mine were Colts 1-7 twist 20” or they had colt 20” barrel. M193 ammo is pure trash
You really need to shoot 200 to 300 rounds out of a firearm to really break it in.I have had guns that would not group worth a damn until I really ran them hard. Taking a brand new gun, and giving it an accuracy test with the first 20 shots is really not a fair test. I had an AR with a freedom barrel that shot a 100 yard group that looked like a buckshot pattern, and now after 500 rounds, it shoots as tight as anything I own !
I built an ar15 with one of their (AR Stoner) side charging uppers, 15.5" free float m-lok handguards, and 20" 223 wylde barrels. I generally use the 62gr IMI ammo and normally get between .5-1" depending on how the day is going for me. The worst group I’ve had with this rifle and the 62 IMI was about 3" (honestly probably had more to do with me than the rifle) and the worst group I’ve had with the rifle and any ammo was right around 5" using the cheapest ammo (Tula 55gr) I could find in Wally World. Again I’ve seen videos where the cheap Tula ammo can shoot under 3" so i probably had some part to play in the poor grouping. If you are still reading this I know someone who works at Midway and yes, AR Stoner is one of their house brands as is Swenson, supposedly they are manufactured by the same people that manufacture parts for several other companies (he has been told several of them but he doesn’t remember which ones), but since they don’t have to go through a middle man to get the products, and they aren’t selling to any other parts seller on contract, they can sell it for a cheaper. Where as dpms may buy the exact same parts from the manufacturer just with a different brand stamping on it, they then sell the product to other companies (brownells, cheaper than dirt, midway, sportsman guide, etc)and they sell it themselves. Since they are also selling it to other companies to make a profit they can’t sell directly to consumers for their cheaper plus profit cost because, that would effectively be saying fuck you to all the secondary retailers they have and people wouldn’t buy their products from the secondary retailers at the price they’d need to sell them at to make a profit.
Just seeing this video 5 years after it posted. I posted a video unboxing two of these as well. I was pleased with the buy.
Is the Stoner barrel melonited?
The lack of chrome lining doesn’t make difference. I have an X-Bot and Remington 700 and neither have chrome lining. Like the man said the lack of a chrome lining won’t make a difference because very few people fire that many rounds where it would matter. Please the replacement barrel is likely to be very inexpressive.
Since the majority of us are not precision shooters a 3" group at 100 yards is more than enough to defensive shooting. Those that stress about 1" groups at a 100 years isn’t going to get them and it won’t matter.
Even if you had the equipment you say to get those tight groups the average person never gets enough trigger time to become proficient with any of his firearms. Most guys buy them, gawk at them and stuff them into a safe and never shoot them.
With the number of firearms in private hands the gun ranges should be crowded every day and have a two hour wait to shoot. Where I shoot I usually have the pistol and rifle range to myself and I had to wait around for someone else to finish before its my turn.
Follow the link to a video by mixup98, he has the same upper. Shooting a group at 100 years using PMC X-TAC 55gr. FMJ at 5:39 the results are impressive. I’d say it had to do more with proficiency than anything else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-NxhGODD1A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-NxhGODD1A 199 or 210 shipped how can you beat that?
Great info here.
I’d love to see you do a review on a Radical Firearms upper. I like the idea of a Nitride coated barrel. I know Radical Firearms coats both the inside as well as the outside of their barrels with the Nitride coating.
I just picked up a Radical Firearms 16" 5.56 upper with a 12" hybrid free-float rail for $239.99 on sale at Brownells. What I like about the rail is the Key Mod is reversed so the recoil is less likely to cause accessories mounted on it to loosen, or come off. It also has a fully Nitrided barrel. I could have gotten it with the BCG and charging handle but chose to upgrade to a black nitride BCG and a BCM charging handle.
I spent $239.99 for this upper, $135 for the Battle Arms Development Black Nitride BCG, and $49.95 for the BCM Mod 4 BCG. All out that comes to $424.94. After spending $29.95 for the Tacticon backup sights, My total build comes to $454.89. I threw this on a complete DTI lower I pirated off my DTI rifle. I can always swap back and forth if I chose to.
This is my final budget home defense build. I don’t want to use my high end rifles for home defense since I don’t want them to be confiscated for a "self defense homicide" investigation.
Very good review,extremely well put together. If only all gun reviews were like this one👍👍👍
I also subscribed and gave you a thumbs up. But let’s run it again.
is the bolt and the barrel Mag particle inspecteD?
Currently it’s unavailable at the moment
Cool doodles on the piece of paper 😎
I bought the same upper and love it, I have never had a problem ever, and I have put over 2000 rounds through it and I’m still shooting under 2 inch groups at a 100 yards, plus I got it on sale for 199.99 plus free shipping
I got one for $199 and it is so far 100% reliable. Amazing quality for the price.
Pretty sure bear creek builds thess
Just picked one up on midway for $219! very happy!