ar-15? whats the best?

S

stevewest

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
1,359
Did a really stupid thing 4-5 years ago and sold my springfield M1-A. I am giving serious thought to picking up an AR-15 before its too late. Just curious about what you guys that own/shoot like the best. I have looked at the Smith and Wesson - look good on paper, but would like to know what the experts think. I would like to get a flat top with battle sights and put some optics on it. Give me some guidance, please!!! I don't want to spend a ton of money but do want to get something that is fun to shoot(accurate!!). Thanks in advance
Steve
 
opps!!! just noticed that Mark has a similar thread going - Sorry about that!! Help me out if you can.
 
IMO they will all be about the same. The design has been around forever it isn't like each has invented something different. You just have to ensure you aren't getting some sort of overseas subquality internals.

Ironically, the Bushmaster was looked down upon during the Clinton gun ban days. Now they are viewed as one of the top brands. The only thing that happened in the interim was the Washington DC snipers using it. Kinda strange.
 
yup. buy a major recognized brand, ie colt, bushmaster, wilson combat, etc, and it will be fine.

my experience is only with colts, but know many who have bushmasters. the wilson combat has their "bulletproof" warranty, but i don't think they machine all their own parts. if i were to buy one, it would be the wilson.

but i have three colt's issued to me (commando, police carbine, m16-a1), and i need dept letterhead to buy my own. :(
 
A Colt small pin upper (LEO) model is among the best sub-$2K rifles you can get right now. A Noveske Rifleworks N4 Light is another superior rifle. LMT if you can find one is a great product at a moderate price.

Bushmaster's, like most brands, have varied in quality over time. I have some very good prebans. Later, Bushmaster and most mass market AR-15 makers turned out large numbers of lesser rifles. S&W seems to carry a pretty good reputation and is a reasonable choice.

Be sure to read this thread:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=6642
 
Sid Post said:
A Colt small pin upper (LEO) model is among the best sub-$2K rifles you can get right now. A Noveske Rifleworks N4 Light is another superior rifle. LMT if you can find one is a great product at a moderate price.

Bushmaster's, like most brands, have varied in quality over time. I have some very good prebans. Later, Bushmaster and most mass market AR-15 makers turned out large numbers of lesser rifles. S&W seems to carry a pretty good reputation and is a reasonable choice.

Be sure to read this thread:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=6642
Click to expand...

my coworker went to colt armorer school a couple years ago, when the s&w's were just hitting the market.

several of the agencies attending had recently purchased them and were complaining loudly about thier quality, fit, and finish. maybe they have gotten better since. i dont know.

ive heard good things about the sig and hk, but they are both about double the cost of a base colt.


btw, the carbine is a small pin (which i hadn't heard of until a week ago). just issued, brand new in the box. yay!
 
They are definitely not all the same and it kind of depends on the features you want and the $$ you are willing to spend. Bushmaster and S&W M&P are ok for low end rifles. I looked at a lot of them tried quite a few owned by guys at my gun club and decided on a Patriot Ordnance. Piston operated, Internally lubricated silicone nickel finish, barrel heat sink, timney trigger, Billet Machined 7075-T6 aircraft aluminum alloy w/Oversized Trigger Guard, 4150 Mil-B-1159F Vanadium Alloy hammer forged polygonal rifled barrel, etc. etc.
Then I added a Leupold 1-3 power optic. I also have Troy folding iron sights but they are not currently installed.

POF01.jpg


But kind of like you said I don't think I prefer it to my M1A.

reachout.jpg
 
The SIG and HK aren't really AR-15's. In fact, I think SIG blew it big time. They took a great rifle and bastardized it for the civilian market. If they left the basic rifle alone and updated the mag well to AR-15 mags, I would own one. Instead the got rid of the great stock and replaced it with an inferior one, put a grip on it that is slick and hard to hold, and put cheesy handguards on it.

The HK M-16 isn't available to US civilians yet. Their civilian conversion might make it our shore before a ban but, I'm not holding my breath. Their other rifles aren't really AR-15 style rifles.

If you want a gas piston rifle the LWRC seems to be the best option today. My experience with the POF rifles hasn't been too good.

I have a CMMG SBR that is a good "cheap" rifle and a real bank account busting Colt M-16 which is a whole different kind of good. :D
 
ive never shot the sig or hk, and didn't know about the hk being currently unavailable.

the people i talk to normally are cops, so i guess it just never occurred to me.

i know they aren't traditional ar's, but i thought the piston drive was supposed to be fairly promising. (?)

i also didn't know the sig doesn't take ar mags. disappointing.

what is wrong with the stock?


never heard of patriot ordinance, but it looks nice. sid, is this what you mean by POF?
 
MORIMOTOM said:
i also didn't know the sig doesn't take ar mags. disappointing.
Click to expand...

It does take AR mags. I believe he was saying that the original sig rifle didn't take AR mags, but they should have just retooled it to take AR mags and left it. Instead they retooled a lot of it, and he finds the changes to be downgrades instead of upgrades.

IMO it doesn't make sense to have a folding or collapsible stock on a rifle meant to have a scope and be real accurate. Sure such rifles can be "fairly" accurate. But IMO, a solid stock is the best option for accuracy. However someone with real sharpshootin' expericence like M1Marty would be better to listen to than me.
 
zenheretic said:
It does take AR mags. I believe he was saying that the original sig rifle didn't take AR mags, but they should have just retooled it to take AR mags and left it. Instead they retooled a lot of it, and he finds the changes to be downgrades instead of upgrades.

IMO it doesn't make sense to have a folding or collapsible stock on a rifle meant to have a scope and be real accurate. Sure such rifles can be "fairly" accurate. But IMO, a solid stock is the best option for accuracy. However someone with real sharpshootin' expericence like M1Marty would be better to listen to than me.
Click to expand...

gotcha. did the old model look just like an ar?
 
vjb.knife said:
They are definitely not all the same and it kind of depends on the features you want and the $$ you are willing to spend. Bushmaster and S&W M&P are ok for low end rifles. I looked at a lot of them tried quite a few owned by guys at my gun club and decided on a Patriot Ordnance. Piston operated, Internally lubricated silicone nickel finish, barrel heat sink, timney trigger, Billet Machined 7075-T6 aircraft aluminum alloy w/Oversized Trigger Guard, 4150 Mil-B-1159F Vanadium Alloy hammer forged polygonal rifled barrel, etc. etc.
Then I added a Leupold 1-3 power optic. I also have Troy folding iron sights but they are not currently installed.

POF01.jpg


But kind of like you said I don't think I prefer it to my M1A.

reachout.jpg
Click to expand...
No fair, you are cheating. :)

Piston driven examples are not ARs they are AR Hybrids and a whole different ball of wax.
 
Sid Post said:
The HK M-16 isn't available to US civilians yet. Their civilian conversion might make it our shore before a ban but, I'm not holding my breath. Their other rifles aren't really AR-15 style rifles.

If you want a gas piston rifle the LWRC seems to be the best option today. My experience with the POF rifles hasn't been too good.

I have a CMMG SBR that is a good "cheap" rifle and a real bank account busting Colt M-16 which is a whole different kind of good. :D
Click to expand...

I am willing to bet that HK is not ever going to sell their rifle to the Civilian market in this country.

I don't know what your experience with the POF rifles have been but mine is excellent. It has yet to fail and it is extremely accurate. I have had a little over 1,000 through it. I find it to be as good or better than the LWRC rifle which I have shot on several occasions that does not have the corrosion resistant receiver system, the barrel heat synch or the polygonal rifling. Sorry, but Colt does not compare to the POF or even a 23 year old Olympic Arms Service match rifle that I have. The Oly arms has a cleaner trigger and better barrel than the HBAR's ever did.
 
Sid Post said:
A Colt small pin upper (LEO) model is among the best sub-$2K rifles you can get right now. A Noveske Rifleworks N4 Light is another superior rifle. LMT if you can find one is a great product at a moderate price.

Bushmaster's, like most brands, have varied in quality over time. I have some very good prebans. Later, Bushmaster and most mass market AR-15 makers turned out large numbers of lesser rifles. S&W seems to carry a pretty good reputation and is a reasonable choice.

Be sure to read this thread:
http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=6642
Click to expand...

Good lead. The provided link has some good info.
 
Get a FS2000 if you're just looking for something fun to shoot. It's unique and ugly, so like an AUG it'll probably double in value if there's a ban.

All kidding aside, rock river, armalite, S&W, and a COLT 6920 would all be high on the least for a baseline AR. Personally, I'd get snag up a COLT if you can find one at a decent price still. I've never understood the piston craze. No issues or malfunctions with my issues M4 and it's been shot extensively in the harshest conditions.
 
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If you've got the money right now, why not buy a couple lower end ones and be able to either a) turn a profit on them in a few months and buy what you want on the secondary market or b) if no ban goes through you could probably at least get your money back. I've been thinking about buying a whole bunch of stripped lower recievers, but the order backlog right now is crazy.
 
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