If you're living in Oregon they just passed ballot measure 114, which means that you can't have magazines with more than 10rds after a specific date, and also that the cops (Like the notoriously fascist Portland Police Bureau) get to decide who can and cannot own a gun.
But there's a loophole; Get your magazines before 114 goes in to effect and you can keep them, although you are required to prove that you bought them before the day of doom.
So if you might every want to get an AR, or just feel like it, it might be worth it to pick up a bunch of mags now and box them up with the receipt just in case.
What do you like in that $600-800 range? Ideally it would fit those mags I bought
The mags will fit in any AR-15 and then some.
IWI Z-15 is a good value (rifle, pistol, click the Email For Price button to see actual price). I like mine. Ruger MPR is another common recommendation, but I haven't tried one myself.
Another option is getting an upper kit + lower kit and slapping them together. The upper kit can be shipped to your front door (in most states at least), but the lower kit has to be sent to an FFL like any gun.
If the one you get doesn't come with iron sights, you'll want to budget 50-100 for optics too.
Ke arms complete lower.
http://www.kearms.com/ke15-clr Bcm upper.
https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-standard-12-5-carbine-upper-receiver-group-w-kmr-A10-handguard/ I think iwi is like the one thing I would never do as a leftist. Feels way to icky. Ruger qc is mediocre.
Yeah I’m not going to buy the Israeli one.
Pretty nervous to try and build one myself though. I’m fairly handy but a gun noob and don’t want it to blow up on me
If you buy the uppers and lowers from those places I mentioned they will click together fine. 0 issues. Very easy. Bcm and ke arms are probably the "standard" I'd go to for now. Don't get psa or aero.
Even putting a rifle together from parts, the only key portions that are technical are the barrel assembly(gotta get a torque wrench) and staking the castle nut and getting the gas block together with a pin set. It is not by any means a complicated affair and genuinely will save money.
There's a nice guy in the PNW on Reddit who will assemble everything for free if you're there.
A complete upper and a complete lower click together with two pins. The only pieces you need special tools for are the castle nut that holds the stock in place and the barrel. Installing your own bareel is kind of a pita bc you need an armorer's wrench and a torgue wrench and it's just a pain to do by yourself without specialized clamps and shit. But the lower is easy. As long as you have some roll pin punches and a decent basic tool kit you can do it if you're handy. Make sure to get some extra detente springs tho because if those fuckers go flying you'll never find them again.
Word. When it comes to weapons the Israelis make extremely solid, well designed, well built shit. They're evil but so is pretty much any other gun manufacturer you can buy from, unless you can get NORINCO shit where you live. Buying weapons really shows what "no ethical consumption under capitalism" means. If you're paying money for guns and the guns aren't stolen your money is going to terrible, terrible people.
That's pretty much where I stand. I don't fault anyone for avoiding them, but 1, I don't put much weight in consumptive ethics, and 2, most American gun manufactures are arguably just as gross.
I care a lot less about aesthetics than whether something is effective against fash and gaybashers. From what I've read IWI Z-15s punch above anything else in their price bracket and don't seem to have the QC issues most stuff under $800 does nowadays. But a person could usually do perfectly fine with an MPR or M&P15 or build kit if they don't feel comfortable with an IWI.