The Best Reasons to Invest in Gun Kits

Whether you shoot in competitions, hunt for meat, or simply collect historically attestable firearms and militaria, you might have come across the prospect of building your own gun from a parts kit at some time or other. All different types of shooters and collectors have milled over the idea of building their own platform at some point or other, and some of the arguments in favor are fairly convincing.

That doesn’t mean you need to buy gun kits right out of the gate and start working on a new platform right away. A firearm that’s complete and ready to fire from the factory comes with a huge convenience factor, and most factory arms are practical and effective right away, and building one from the ground up just might not be for everyone.

Still, if you’re weighing the possibility, here are some of the reasons why gun kits can make a very useful investment. Here are some of the best reasons that you might want to build or customize your own rifle, pistol or shotgun from one of the parts kits that you can find here at Sarco, Inc.

1.Never Have to Look too Far for a Part

Even without giving a jot of thought at all to the platform that you want to build (or customize or repair or restore) one of the best reasons for investment in gun kits is because you’ll never have to look too far for a part.

Even though a lot of critical gun parts are actually very cost-effective to replace, that doesn’t mean finding the parts is easy. In fact, it’s the opposite. Without purchasing from a specialist supplier (like us) or the manufacturer itself, finding some gun parts is extremely difficult. Finding high quality gun parts, like OEM components, can be even more difficult, especially for some older models that have gone out of production.

If you have a 1911, an AR 15, a Remington 870 or a Mossberg 500, finding OEM parts (or at least parts that meet OEM specs) won’t be too much of a trip. Everyone and their uncle has one of these in the safe, and parts for them are cheap and relatively abundant.

But what about when your safe queen is a lesser known model or a firearm that is decidedly more exclusive or difficult to find? Specialized, higher-end firearms and historical collectibles are expensive and exclusive in and of themselves, and finding parts for them can be a real trip.

However, purchase a gun kit for your favorite platform, and you’ll never have to wonder where your next replacement is going to come from. Get a complete kit and you’ll never need to look too far or too hard for a replacement. Firing pins break, rifling wears down (even with adequate care), extractors fail, springs wear out and stretch, and so on and so forth.

The other thing is that a gun kit or a parts kit won’t just keep a spare on hand. It will keep a spare of nearly everything, or actually everything, on hand.

When something breaks or wears out on your firearm, you have to identify what it is and then get in touch with a supplier that provides it. When you have a spare parts kit around, you won’t have to do any searching or sourcing. There’ll be a basic facsimile of your firearm in reserve, ready for you to pick and choose the replacement that you need.

2.Develop a Better Understanding of the Platform

Routine use and maintenance will go a very long way towards familiarizing yourself with your favorite platform, but that isn't the only way to use one. The first argument we made in favor of the purchase of a gun kit was to have spares around, but that says nothing of the primary focus of a complete kit, which is to actually build the firearm itself from the ground up.

By the way, when you set out to build an entire pistol, rifle, shotgun or even a submachine gun from a parts kit, your understanding of the platform will exceed what you perceived to be its limits. You get familiar through use, assembly, cleaning and firing, but nowhere near the familiarity you can cultivate by actually building one.

Since you’ll actually have to manually assemble the firearm, down to the most minute of components, your understanding of the operation of the platform will take on a granular nature that you’d never before experienced.

There are a few benefits that come along with this that we’ll explore more in depth in the next few sections, but one of that we’d like to call out first and foremost is that you’ll be a better, more complete gun owner after building yours from a kit. For example, when something needs to be repaired or replaced, you’ll probably know just where to look.

3.Enjoy a More Personal Process

When you build your own pistol or rifle (or other firearm) from a gun kit, you can also enjoy a much more personal process of how everything fits together. Also, believe it or not (we trust you believe it) it’s a more enjoyable experience as well.

What we mean is this. Those that don’t hunt or shoot actively don’t understand the affection we form for our gear, and it’s something that can’t really be understood until you’ve experienced it firsthand. It’s like how a car owner feels after making a repair to their own car. There is a sense of pride and purpose in it that does not come from picking it up from the mechanic. You can only imagine how you would feel if you built the car yourself - and perhaps some of you have.

The same goes for collecting, shooting and hunting. There’s a certain affinity we feel for our gear and equipment, and when you build your own, that feeling builds upon itself. The point is that when you make it a point to build your own firearm from a kit, you will enjoy the process more thoroughly, and feel more a part of the finished product.

4.It’s a Great, Educational Form of Recreation

In addition to the personal enjoyment and fulfillment you will get from the process, it’s a form of recreation that is also highly recreational. Have you always wondered just how the blowback mechanism in your semi-auto platform operates? Are you more interested in how to assemble the internals of a bolt or bolt carrier? Are you wondering just how everything in the receiver fits together?

Whatever questions you have, you’re likely to answer them even if accidentally when you take it on yourself to build a firearm from the ground up using a kit. Since you’ll have to do all of the assembly and fitment yourself, it’s effectively impossible not to learn a whole lot about exactly how the firearm in question operates and just what precisely each of its parts does.

So, on the one hand, it’s a highly educational form of recreation, but it’s also a very enjoyable one and very surprising. Granted, there might be episodes of frustration when things don’t work as they seem they should, but by and large, it’s a great way to spend some time getting better acquainted with your gear.

5.Challenge Yourself

Notice above where we mentioned there might be periodic episodes of frustration? That’s because building a gun from the ground up is not easy, even when you know (more or less) exactly what you’re doing.

There are a lot of small parts in even the simplest of sidelock muzzleloaders; this number expands on itself prodigiously with repeaters and becomes almost mind-bogglingly complex with autoloaders. There are a lot of moving parts, and a lot of small ones at that. One might say the entire operation is somewhat akin to a puzzle. One might say that because it’s true. There’s a lot to sift through, all in the confines of a small space.

It can be done, though, and if you’re looking for a really unique way to challenge yourself, building a gun from a kit might be just what you need. It’s a great way to spend a few hours and you’ll be learning a lot through the process as well, not to mention the enjoyment of conquering an obstacle.

6.The Potential to Save Money

Now, keep in mind, building a gun from a kit is not a sure fire way to save money by any stretch of the claim. In fact, that are some kits that might cost more than the actual platform itself, since you’re paying not only for the parts but also for the value of the recreation.

Still, there’s always the chance you’ll get a deal on a kit and you will save money, which is one reason that some people invest in them. In addition, if you only keep the kit around for the parts it contains so that you can make repairs, there’s a good chance you’ll save money in the long run that way, especially if you do make your own repairs.

7.Customize Performance

The other thing that building your own firearm will enable you to do (although some kits will not enable this, at least right out of the box) is customize and personalize the performance of the firearm. When you build from a kit, you can theoretically make adjustments as simple as setting the trigger weight, to adjustments to the springs that actuate the internals, and much more.

Swapping out parts for one another can have a vast impact on the performance of a firearm, affecting areas like ergonomics, accuracy, muzzle velocity, action cycling and time, and much, much more. And you can have all that and more, without even bringing up the nature of the additions and customizations you can make in the form of attachments.

We Have Gun Kits and Parts for Extremely Popular Models and Platforms

The good news for you, if you decide to go through with building your own firearm with a gun kit, is that you’re in the perfect place to do your shopping. Whether you’re looking for a parts kit or a build kit, we offer kits for extremely popular (and hard to find) pistols, rifles, shotguns, submachine guns and other historical arms here at Sarco, Inc. Consider our selection via some of the links above, and contact us if you have any questions at all - customer service takes as high of a priority as product selection does to us.

Get the Rest of Your Accessories Here Too!

It’s one thing to be able to find the build kit or parts kit you were looking for here, and quite another to run up against all of the accessories you needed as well. Whether you’re looking for an esoteric part, a sling, a magazine, or some other hard-to-find collectible that has nothing to do with a firearm, Sarco, Inc. should be the first stop on your list. We even have holsters, cleaning kits and other maintenance accessories here in our online store!

All of this doesn’t mean that you should definitely build a new firearm using a gun kit, but you probably have your own reasons for pursuing or not pursuing the matter. The purpose of this article is simply to afford a few arguments in favor for those that are looking for a justification.

Take a look through our collection of parts kits and gun kits, including pistol parts kits, rifle parts kits, shotgun parts kits and others, where you’ll find parts and kits for extremely popular models, and some more esoteric ones. Take a look through to find what piques your interest, and if you need additional help searching, get in touch with us.

Call us up at 610-250-3960 and we’ll help put you in touch with the best options at your disposal. Keep in mind that we have access to many more parts and accessories in addition to those that you see listed on our website, so don’t hesitate to ask for help.