CHEAP DIY

In a world of custom, John Wick-inspired, lightened, and Cerakoted rifles and pistols, price tags can exceed a few mortgage payments. For those who work for a living or live with a spouse’s watchful eye, we decided to make budget-friendly upgrades to an affordably priced DPMS AR-15 carbine and a second-hand Glock pistol. Rather than making Gucci guns, we worked to enhance the performance of both platforms without breaking the bank.

The AR in AR-15 originally meant Armalite Rifle; some would say it now stands for America’s Rifle due to the millions of AR-15 based rifles now in circulation. The proliferation of the AR-15 design has resulted in rifles ranging from inexpensive to several grand. We chose a brand-new, value-priced DPMS to upgrade.

And if the AR-15 is America’s Rifle, Glock has created the universal pistol. Found in every corner of the world, Glocks are known for their reliability and ability to perform when needed for duty, competitive, or defensive uses.

BASELINES

Before making changes, we performed baseline testing on both guns to determine the effectiveness of our upgrades. We tested accuracy by shooting different types of ammunition at known distances. Shooting performance was tested with a variety of drills incorporating multiple targets of different sizes, different target distances, movement, and reloads.

The DPMS delivered 3 to 5 MOA performance from a variety of ammo, with some heavier match ammunition performing a little better. The Glock ran well and could be shot decently, but the sights held the pistol back. With prior use breaking