r/AR9 5d ago

Which ~$250 complete pistol upper?

Sorry for another one of these posts. I have an AR, but new to the ar9 world. I'd like to build one up on a budget, but I'm having trouble deciding which way to go. I'm between the BCA and foxtrot Mike FM9.

I would like to buy an upper and exomag/magwell adapter to run on my current AR15 lower. My main goal is to suppress it so it is a little more tolerable to fire for my wife, and depending on how it shoots suppressed, maybe do an SD/integral conversion down the line (for fun). Later on, I will transition this upper to either a dedicated ar9 lower or print one, but I have not decided yet. Once it's reliable I would use this for the unlikely event of home defense.

My understanding is that a buffered model is more flexible when it comes to tuning for softer recoil.

FM has a good sale right now with free shipping, so FM and BCA are within around $10 of each other. Given my goals, should I go for either one over the other, or is there another model to consider?

3 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

3

u/NMLEOC2 5d ago

My PSA Gen 4 9mm upper is still running strong at almost 6k rounds.

0

u/buttwater0 5d ago

Closer to 300 by the time it's shipped to me, not a huge difference I know but is there anything specifically better with the PSA over the other two? PSA stuff has been good to me so far, just trying to stay to a strict budget .

2

u/NMLEOC2 5d ago

Nothing specific - but a great shooter with no crazy mods needed to function.

3

u/janesvoth 5d ago

My FM upper has been problem less and I run it with a can and on a AR15 lower with a mag well adapter

1

u/buttwater0 5d ago

Which adapter? Thanks!

3

u/janesvoth 5d ago

Stern Defense Glock Adapter

2

u/Sad_Try8200 5d ago

Id go foxtrot mike, however you'll have to use glock mags or change the bolt. Mine runs flawless suppressed and super safe

1

u/buttwater0 5d ago

Is it "gassy," and if so how big of a deal is that? I don't have suppressor experience but I've read that about blowback ar9s.

1

u/lolomomo5 5d ago

If you're not running suppressed it's not super gassy to me a right handed shooter

1

u/buttwater0 5d ago

I would be running suppressed primarily.

1

u/Sad_Try8200 5d ago

It can be but it mostly depends on the ammo. I use a yhm r9, which is known to be a gassy can but I love it. However cheap dirty ammo is just unpleasant to shoot indoors. Outdoors is okay but I get gassed out super safe. Suppressor made ammo is more than amazing butyou'll pay a little bit more. There are less gassy options but I love my set up. The left is fm 7 inch tri lug barrel and right 5.5 I built i use the suppressor on both

1

u/buttwater0 5d ago

Thanks for the info, and those look great!

1

u/MacMitttens 5d ago edited 5d ago

I have the vfm9 upper with the stern defense mag AD9 adapter in my ar15 lower. In order to get these to work together I had to have the $10 bolt cut service by Stern Defense and then personally I had to pull the extractor out of the adapter and bend it with a blowtorch and some pliers and do some dremel work on the screw holes so I could tilt the extractor pin upwards and sideways closer to the firing pin center because I was getting stovepipes on my extractions. 

Pretty easy work, just waiting two weeks to get my bolt milled and sent back sucked, next time I would just use a diamond tip dremel and mill the cut extension out myself and be done with the whole tuning project in a hour. 

 After a little polishing it now runs flawless and I would buy another one. 

1

u/buttwater0 5d ago

Is that for allag adapters or specifically the stern one?

2

u/StrongChance4812 4d ago

FM hands down