Let’s call them stock options. SAA keeps many different buttstocks available. The one most people recognize is the standard A2 (colt) style with a fixed buttstock. The A2 buttstock has a longer buffer tube with a threaded end to screw through the butt-stock and into the buffer tube.

If you are headed away from the traditional then the world is your oyster. We should also mention the pistol tube or pistol stock, which isn’t really a stock but a smooth tube for the spring and buffer to operate in. If your barrel is less than 16” long then you have a pistol and you should be using a plain smooth pistol buffer tube. A pistol can not have a stock or it’s considered a SBR (short barreled rifle) and you would have to register it as such and go through a bunch of paperwork (local, state and ATF) to legally own it. Less the 16” barrel = no stock (tube only). The pistol tube can be wrapped with foam or you can put a pistol stabilizing brace on it. The stabilizing brace may look like a stock but the ATF says it is not.

To finish off your AR-15 rifle you will need a buffer tube, buffer spring, buffer, lock or castle ring, receiver plate and the stock itself. The buffer tube can be mil spec or commercial spec. The difference is slight but significant and the two are not interchangeable. Just make sure you get a mil-spec tube and a matching mil-spec stock. Inside the tube will be the spring and buffer. The buffer weight is available in different weights depending on the caliber you will be firing but there are other factors. Most folks will use the H1 buffers but there are H2 and H3 available. It’s the job of the spring and buffer weight to cycle your rifle and drive the BCG into battery.

The receiver end plate can be plain or have various sling mounts on it. The plate mounts to the end of the receiver and keeps the stock lined up with the receiver.

Magpul has a vast collection of buttstocks from basic fixed MOE style to adjustable PRS Precision Rifle Sniper styles.

Next - Part 10 of 10 - Putting it all together