another AR thread. mossberg?

bronyblacksmith · Oct 2, 2014

A near by gun shop has a Mossberg MMR tactical ar-15 for 45% off. does anyone know anything about this rifle? or other Mossberg ars?

UffDa · Oct 2, 2014

Generally, you get what you pay for and most of the time less. The Mossberg is a basic AR-15. It should go bang every time.
From what I have seen, they are about the same as the cheaper S&Ws and Spikes. I see them for around $600 street price.

bronyblacksmith · Oct 3, 2014

UffDa said:
Generally, you get what you pay for and most of the time less. The Mossberg is a basic AR-15. It should go bang every time.
From what I have seen, they are about the same as the cheaper S&Ws and Spikes. I see them for around $600 street price.

so why do they get so much hate. what makes a good ar?

fast14riot · Oct 3, 2014

They are perfectly adequate. My dad has one, the MMR Hunter, it's actually quite nice in the fit/finish standpoint, a standout in its price bracket. It is a slick side upper, and has the "grip of shame" but otherwise a perfectly good platform to start with and upgrade later.

It shoots just about MOA with nearly all ammo too.

-Xander

UffDa · Oct 3, 2014

bronyblacksmith said:
so why do they get so much hate. what makes a good ar?

I don't think they get hate. All the reviews that I have read are positive.
Mossberg has a reputation for making inexpensive guns and their AR is no exception. Not everyone can afford a $2500 AR any more
than a $3000 1911 or a $500 knife.

What makes a good AR? Look at the other AR-15 thread.

Just like everything else, it depends on your taste and your wallet. Some folks are happy with barebones stuff and don't care what name is on it.
Others want the best that they can afford. From what I have read, they are reliable and reasonably accurate.

M67 · Oct 3, 2014

bronyblacksmith said:
so why do they get so much hate. what makes a good ar?

Because really, it's another AR made by a company who should just not make one. There's so many damn AR makers out there now it's stupid and some companies seem like they're doing it, just so they can have their name on one.

But, the BCGs are clean and the staking on the gas key is good. Fit and finish is nice, knurling on the handguard is a little sharp for my liking, and I'm not a fan of the UTG receiver extension.

What makes a good AR is hard to say, most people will be happy if it runs 100% and most people aren't going to be treating their AR like the carbine it is. Most people take it out once or twice a year, show people they have it, maybe put 200 rounds through it a year. So there's a lot of ARs that are good for some people's uses.

After a while, you can nit pic an AR down to the castle nut (and yes, there are cheap/soft castle nuts out there and there are some where the finish on the castle nuts are cheap). Lower quality and how it's made, the finish on the lines, finish on the anodization, fit between the upper and lower, if the BCG is staked right and made out of suitable materials to handle a lot of shooting, if the barrels are nitrided or chrome lined or some type of finish made for extreme heat and to handle a lot of rounds. Castle nut staking is give any take, some companies do it properly, some companies do it, others just don't. My POFs didn't come staked but the castle nut was plenty tight.

Another thing is if they can actually put it together right. I've seen "lower" ARs where the barrel nut isn't that thight and after a little shooting, it moves causing the forearm to rotate and if it gets hit hard enough you can fubar the gas tube. Flash hiders not being timed right, trigger guards being in stlaled backwards, roll pins mangled all to hell, signs of puches that slipped, etc.

I've sold a couple, never had a complaint about accuracy or reliability.

Charlie_K · Oct 3, 2014

The only experience I have with Mossberg is in their shotguns. And I've had no complaints about them.

UffDa · Oct 4, 2014

M67 said:
What makes a good AR is hard to say, most people will be happy if it runs 100% and most people aren't going to be treating their AR like the carbine it is. Most people take it out once or twice a year, show people they have it, maybe put 200 rounds through it a year. So there's a lot of ARs that are good for some people's uses.

From my experience working for a gunsmith for almost 20 years, I would not be surprised if many ARs sit in closets and safes and are never fired. We built semi-custom
tactical shot guns. You would be surprised at how many came back for the latest and greatest upgrade and have never been shot.

Charlie_K said:
The only experience I have with Mossberg is in their shotguns. And I've had no complaints about them.

I have worked on over 1000 Mossberg 590s and 500s. Many went to LE agencies and are not babyed. I can only think of half a dozen that came
back for minor repairs. In every case, the owner could have fixed it themselves. The thing I like about Mossberg pump shotguns is that every part
is field replaceable.

M67 · Oct 4, 2014

UffDa said:
From my experience working for a gunsmith for almost 20 years, I would not be surprised if many ARs sit in closets and safes and are never fired. We built semi-custom
tactical shot guns. You would be surprised at how many came back for the latest and greatest upgrade and have never been shot.

I have the unfortuanate occupation where I get to work on guns as well, and I'll agree with you, a lot of ARs sit in closets, looking mean and set up just for the end of days, but the owner never fired it to see if it worked, got sighted in, etc. I'm not surprised by that at all because I've had to do the same for people, hell I've dressed up a couple Benelli M4s for people that I know they haven't even taken out and shot.

Then you got the people who say they shoot their rifle a lot, they put a full 30 round "clip" (ehhh) through it about every 6 months and they promply clean it to make it all purdy again. Then when I tell them I haven't cleaned any of my ARs in years with over throusands and thousands of rounds through them, look on their face is priceless

As for their shotguns, my numbers are scewed. I have to work on a hell of a lot more 870s, 1100s, and 1187s every year than Mossbergs. Could be a numbers thing in my area, or it could be Remington products are more prone to breaking

sideways · Oct 4, 2014

Interesting comments m67 and uffda. :thumbup:

I don't have a whole pile of guns at home just for the reasons mentioned. Time is limited and I'd rather spend my range time zeroing in, practicing with, and ammo matching the ones I do use.

I have never had a problem with an 870 besides the occasional short stroke user error. No doubt that is a numbers thing too.

UffDa · Oct 4, 2014

M67 said:
As for their shotguns, my numbers are scewed. I have to work on a hell of a lot more 870s, 1100s, and 1187s every year than Mossbergs. Could be a numbers thing in my area, or it could be Remington products are more prone to breaking

The main problem that I have seen with 870s is broken ejectors. Most of those are from police depts. It took me awhile to figure out what they were doing. They pull the trigger with the barrel off.
The bolt goes forward and on some guns the ejector gets trapped by the rear of the bolt. When they pull back on the slide, SNAP. We didn't do a lot of 1100s and 1187s. The only trouble we had with
those is the cheap crap shells people buy. S&B especially would gum up the outside of the magazine tube to the point that you could hardly pull the bolt back.

rxavage · Oct 4, 2014

I have an AR10 that hasn't seen a single round

I need to by optics for it and I spend all my free money on knives. Maybe I should just get the darn luepold.

M67 · Oct 5, 2014

UffDa said:
The main problem that I have seen with 870s is broken ejectors. Most of those are from police depts. It took me awhile to figure out what they were doing. They pull the trigger with the barrel off.
The bolt goes forward and on some guns the ejector gets trapped by the rear of the bolt. When they pull back on the slide, SNAP. We didn't do a lot of 1100s and 1187s. The only trouble we had with
those is the cheap crap shells people buy. S&B especially would gum up the outside of the magazine tube to the point that you could hardly pull the bolt back.

For 870s, I get a lot of people who can't put them back together, can't time the slide stops right. Plus I restake a lot of of shell stops on Remingtons.

Have to replace a lot of O rings on 1100s, always interesting to pull them apart to see a black melted turd that been fubar for a decade. 1187s, have to have the gas ports drilled slightly larger every now and then.

I don't think I've ever had to replace a broken ejector on a Remington, Had to replace/tighted several ejector screws on 500s.

We don't have a lot of people shooting S&B loads where I live, most the time when I see gummed tubes is when people think it's a great idea to put WD40 or Hoppes on their gun

Browning Auto 5s....well....that's just because a lot of people have no idea how to take them apart so they have 60 year old grease in them.

Winchester 1400s...I just offer my condolences and say the shotgun needs to be retired.