What are the best priced 7.62 ARs on the market today?

Check out the DPMS .308s. They are reasonably priced at around $1,000. I have a DPMS Panther in 5.56 and its not a bad rifle for casual shooting. I also have an LMT MWS, and it is a fantastic rifle- but it was not cheap.

This will make you groan. Fairchild had 15% off everything guns. I had a scratch and sniff which hit the high number. They added the two discounts and I walked out with the Ruger SR-762 for $690, no tax of course, about 3 years ago. That said, there's a nice aspect to its gas piston system as I reload, hence create a variety of stuff to tinker with. Shooting is very therapeutic. So it's a matter of "features" that you think are the deal makers or breakers. In these times, the norm for not too fancy is in the $1400-1900 range. So if your bank is broke on the lower number, looks like a nonstarter. There are some new FNs out there for $1200. The M1As are in the AR range too. I'd avoid any of the Noreen product as every one I looked at had craftsmanship and design problems. BTW, the first thing you do if you get an AR/SR platform is to put a decent trigger group in it. That'll be $150-180 range. And yes, shooting a real 7.62 is more fun for me. Just like offloading my Desert Eagle 50 in favor of the 460. Much more impressive on dispersing targets over the countryside. Love it when you can taste watermelon from 50 yards away.

DPMS in St. Cloud, MN manufactures the 7.62 AR and is a premier rifle manufacturer paying close attention to tolerance as they machine and build each rifle. Go to http://www.dpmsinc.com/ I don't build em, or sell em, I just shoot them and they are very accurate weapons. Good luck in your search!

SSgt Timothy Prevost Have you considered building one yourself? Then you get exactly what you want.

I have an M-1 Garand that absolutely love, and it shouldn't be cost prohibitive.

I always Liked the M-1 A/ M-14 from the American side... and the FN/FAL from The Brit Side... had too many problems with the G-3/HK... 40 years...
Got an AR-10T Clone at Christmas and still getting used to it... but the recoil and shot Placement is much better than the Others...

https://www.slickguns.com/product/popular-ar10-rifles-under-1000

"Semi-automatic, magazine fed .308/7.62" and "inexpensive" are concepts that just don't go together. Assuming you have a place to shoot it (pretty hard to find a mile long range) every time you send one downrange it's going to cost you about $.50.

.223/5.56 is a little cheaper at $.40 a round, BUT you can buy a replacement bolt that will allow you to fire .22 from the same barrel at $.09 a shot.

If you're talking about doing distance shooting, yes, the heavier the bullet the less it's going to be affected by wind, air resistance, etc. but if you're going down to your local range on a still day and putting holes in paper, you'll never see the difference between .223 and .22... but you'll sure feel it in your wallet, and the real difference in shooting is practice, practice, practice... get to where you're shooting something the size of pennies firing .22, and then change out the bolt and fire some .223 at distance to dial in your wind and trajectory skills. That alone will put you in an "elite" class of shooters (50% of the people who go to the range can't hit a car from 20 feet away).

I'm not opposed to heavy caliber rifles, I'd love to have a .50 BMG... but I don't have anyplace to shoot it, and at $2-$4 per shot it would be stupid for me to get one... it would just be something sitting in the safe, nowhere to shoot it, pretty hard to even zero it.

For your money a Daniel Defense M5V1

Anderson Arms. Little over a Grand. Good quality. Anderson has been making parts for people like Colt and DPMS for years. Chances are if you ever had a Colt manufactured M-4 in the Army the upper and lower were made by Anderson.

I guess that all really depends on how big your bank is...what is your budget and are you looking to go new or used?