Build the AR-15 of Your Dreams with the Gunstruction App

The American firearms market is awash with AR-pattern rifles and parts nowadays. For black rifle aficionados, opportunities to pick up quality guns, receivers, and accessories at affordable prices have never been greater.

Having been “raised” on the AK platform, I was slow to get in the AR game. To be totally honest, I think I was intimidated by the huge number of brands, “mil-spec” name-dropping, and endless gun-forum debates on which company’s hardcoat anodized black finish was better than any other’s. Like the main character in a Lovecraft yarn, I frequently found myself standing on the precipice of a world I couldn’t even comprehend comprehending, and always scurried back to the safety of my comparatively simpler AK world.

I finally broke that habit a few months ago when a promotional email for Palmetto State Armory landed in my inbox. Its offer of a blemished lower receiver and attendant lower parts kit for only $100 piqued my interest. The following deluge of emails offering complete uppers for $400 or less got me even more curious. Could I really put together a well-made AR-pattern rifle for less than $600?

The answer, obviously, was yes. But the best part of having a gun with a huge aftermarket is customizing it—and where could I even begin there? Did I want a Magpul polymer handguard, a free-floated aluminum one, or a triangle retro-style piece? Heck, what would my gun even look like after I was done with it?

It was about this time that I happened upon AR15.com’s GUNSTRUCTION app (it’s branded in capital letters, but hereafter referred to in lower-case letters to save your eyes), which has just recently emerged from beta for all the tinkerers of the gun world to play with.

In addition to allowing you to kit out an AR with tons of different types of furniture, sights, foregrips, and pistol grips, you can also build your AR from the ground up—including which type of lower and upper to use (and the attendant parts they’re made of, from trigger pins to forward assists). The level of customization is daunting at times, and even more so when you realize Gunstruction’s extensive library of professionally-modeled parts holds only a fraction of what’s really on the market. But the app presents it all in an easy-to-use and fun format that you can easily lose yourself in for hours. Beyond simple part swaps, you can also dress your gun up in tons of different paint schemes and camouflages in Gunstruction’s Paint Mode.

I could go on for paragraphs about just how much stuff is in Gunstruction, but the best way to get that point across is to simply check it out on your own.

To learn more about Gunstruction, the story behind it, and where it’s going, I spoke with AR15.com’s Juan Avila via email.

“The idea of a 3D builder was something we chased down and tried to make a reality years ago with the now-defunct Weapon Builder project,” Avila shared with me regarding the origins of Gunstruction. “We engaged the community in efforts to make a virtualization project that was more than a few images laid over each other—a combination of parts you could spin and zoom in and out of, something that gave true ‘feel’ to the rifle you were building.”

However, technology limitations at the time prevented them from fully realizing their vision—but that’s changed. “Roughly a year ago,” Avila continued, “we ran across a company that was interested in doing a 3D builder and had begun work on a prototype that showed off their skills. This group formed GUNSTRUCTION Inc. (GSI), the company behind Gunstruction. Partnering together, we came up with a new focus, a new plan, and merged our goals.”

After this plan was formed and set into motion, Avila and GSI solidified the critical industry connections that were necessary to include as much branded gear as possible in the app. As to what the goal of Gunstruction is, Avila had a suitably vague and promising response for something like a dream rifle AR-15 builder.

“Goal is an interesting word which implies an end point,” he replied. “Our long-term focus is to constantly evolve and improve the engine, the interface, and the catalog. Gunstruction is not the only builder out there, but what makes it special is that we are not focused on selling products, but on the user being able to build their dream rifle across every part ever created by every manufacturer out there.”

Though some companies’ products may be absent from the app’s 900-plus-repertoire right now (EOTech optics are one such notable absence), it won’t be long before they see the importance of being included in Gunstruction’s library. “Since the initial beta release in August,” Avila said, “we’ve logged almost half a million users to the site, with almost 200,000 unique visitors from 158 different countries.”

He went on with some other “fun numbers.” Since its release, Gunstruction users have:

• Painted or camouflaged 1.6 million parts in Paint Mode
• Added 1.1 million accessories to their guns
• Viewed more than 6.8 million different parts

Those are certainly attractive statistics, especially to companies seeking to highlight their products in Gunstruction’s ample ad space.

However, there’s more than just AR-pattern guns available to the shooter and collector in the American firearms market. I asked Avila whether Gunstruction would be expanding to include other platforms in the future.

“Absolutely!” came the enthusiastic reply. “With our first full release, we introduced small calibers to the AR-15 builder [currently available are .22 LR, .223/5.56, 6.5 Grendel, 6.8 SPC, 300 BLK, and 9x19mm]. The problem with this is the popularity of large calibers, which require a larger magazine well and from our point of view a new platform. I won’t say what is next on the agenda, but we have looked at everything from AKs to shotguns and more.”

To add to the PC/desktop/browser version of Gunstruction, mobile versions are currently being worked on. And GSI is adding new parts with every iteration.

So how does it actually work, in practice? Well, I wouldn’t have written this article if it didn’t rock. There are some hiccups. The built-in price calculator tends to inflate scratch-built guns’ costs (the entry-level midlength AR I put together that’s featured in this article’s images came out with a price of $2,066—much higher than I know it would be in reality). This may be due to the builder factoring in each and every part’s MSRP (including things like triggers, pins, dust covers, and end plates, which are usually cheaper when included in lower or upper kit bundles at retail). However, issues like that can be worked around by marking certain parts as owned in the builder to keep a more solid grip on a final dollar amount.

In any case, the app’s utility and fun value far outweigh its nigh-unnoticeable downsides. It’s awesome to be able to put your dream AR together from scratch, and see just how sweet—or stupid—it might come out.

So go ahead. Give Gunstruction a try. Build the AR of your dreams. Or nightmares, if you’re on a budget.

Matt Korovesis

I've been a history and gun enthusiast since I was a kid. I love to shoot just about anything, from silenced bolt-action .22s to fully automatic heavy machine guns, and I love even more when I get to write about them. My main interests are modern small arms and the military small arms of World War II and prior conflicts, with a particular focus on Russian and Finnish firearms. Reading about guns like the Mosin-Nagant rifle in books and on the internet got me interested in collecting, shooting, and writing about them, and I hope to do the same for others through my work.

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