The idiot's guide to the AR-15 rifle (or an idiot building one)

ss2211 said:
Ya know, I'm not sure I like this thread. :D I have had a Bushy M4 for several years and have only been able to put a thousand or so rounds through it and now I'm being told that my rifle is barely mediocre. Hmmm. I've done some mods to it like a GGG forearm, a bcm charging handle, and a few pieces of Magpul furniture. So what would make it better without buying a new rifle or upper or lower. Would replacing the inner parts of the lower and upper with DD parts make it more 'reliable'. Or are there other things I could do. Also, does anyone have any advise on Smith Enterprises. I am getting ready to put a Smith Vortex Flash hider on it and was thinking about putting a Smith bolt carrier in it as well. Opinions please.

Thanks
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A new bolt and carrier group would be a great investment.

Here's a link to "the chart of doom" that seems to have turned the AR world on its ear.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwswheghNQsEuEhjFwPrgTA&gid=5

And here's the "Oh No, I bought a..." to do list.

http://tacticalyellowvisor.net/8343/16001.html

It's basically a list of a few simple mods that you can do to improve reliability on carbines that are less than mil-spec.

Skulls_Final.jpg
 
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Thanks Mr. Shotty. I think I am probably going to get a new bolt carrier group from BCM for sure. And I am still considering replacing some parts with DD parts. Anyone else who would like to chime in with their knowledge would still be appreciated.
 
ss2211 said:
Ya know, I'm not sure I like this thread. :D I have had a Bushy M4 for several years and have only been able to put a thousand or so rounds through it and now I'm being told that my rifle is barely mediocre. Hmmm. I've done some mods to it like a GGG forearm, a bcm charging handle, and a few pieces of Magpul furniture. So what would make it better without buying a new rifle or upper or lower. Would replacing the inner parts of the lower and upper with DD parts make it more 'reliable'. Or are there other things I could do. Also, does anyone have any advise on Smith Enterprises. I am getting ready to put a Smith Vortex Flash hider on it and was thinking about putting a Smith bolt carrier in it as well. Opinions please.

Thanks
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Probably the single best thing you can do to promote reliability and durability for your Bushmaster is to put in a quality bolt carrier group (BCM, Colt, Daniel Defense). Skip the Smith Enterprises BCG.
 
Thank you matthewdanger. I am going to go with the BCM bcg. Do you have an opinion on Smith's Vortex Flash Hider? The videos that Brownells has showing almost no flash coming from them are impressive.
 
ss2211 said:
Thank you matthewdanger. I am going to go with the BCM bcg. Do you have an opinion on Smith's Vortex Flash Hider? The videos that Brownells has showing almost no flash coming from them are impressive.
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The Vortex is great. I've had one for a few years and love it. Some of the early users reported breaking off tines but I haven't heard anything like that recently.
 
The Vortex flash hiders are good gear. The earlier ones did have problems with "blooming" (they would open up like a flower over time), but that was quite some time ago.
 
ss2211 said:
Ya know, I'm not sure I like this thread. :D I have had a Bushy M4 for several years and have only been able to put a thousand or so rounds through it and now I'm being told that my rifle is barely mediocre. Hmmm. I've done some mods to it like a GGG forearm, a bcm charging handle, and a few pieces of Magpul furniture. So what would make it better without buying a new rifle or upper or lower. Would replacing the inner parts of the lower and upper with DD parts make it more 'reliable'. Or are there other things I could do. Also, does anyone have any advise on Smith Enterprises. I am getting ready to put a Smith Vortex Flash hider on it and was thinking about putting a Smith bolt carrier in it as well. Opinions please.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would say if you didn't want to buy a completely new upper, try to plan for a bolt carrier group made by BCM or Colt. Replace your barrel after you've shot it out :)
 
Thanks for all of the advice guys. As mentioned before I am going to get the BCM bcg and replace the factory one. The Smith I just got not long ago and havent put it on yet but am going to. I think I am going to purchase the DD lower kit and keep them as a back up or maybe replace the factory parts. Just have to make that decision I guess. Thanks again everyone.
 
You guys who are complaining about the laws in the northeast crack me up. I'm in Denver and can't own an AR at all. Or any other of those dreaded "assault rifles" either, for that matter.

I'm hoping that changes with the McDonald decision, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
McDonald vs. Chicago is going to take a while. Good news is, the Chicago lawyers got reamed by the Justices. I wonder if they're going to use Privileges/Immunities clause or Due Process...

Gah I need to graduate and get a job with a PD. Since CA's budget is shot, I may go serve my country for a couple of years before trying again :)
 
After reading Scalia's comments, it sounds like the answer to your question is "due process." He's only one person, but he's also been the biggest opponent of the use of due process for these things, so if he's in, I think that will be enough to do it.
 
Samael said:
You guys who are complaining about the laws in the northeast crack me up.....
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You should try Texas...

I have to keep my loaded handgun in my car and out of sight at all times without my CCL....sheesh.

I mean, I can keep my fully loaded AR in the back window while driving around but I really want to be able to brandish my handgun too.....

Not to mention, the other day, I went and bought a Glock 19.....They made me fill out paperwork!! What the hell... It took me 15 freaking minutes in the gunshop....




:D
 
shotgunner11 said:
You should try Texas...

I have to keep my loaded handgun in my car and out of sight at all times without my CCL....sheesh.

I mean, I can keep my fully loaded AR in the back window while driving around but I really want to be able to brandish my handgun too.....

Not to mention, the other day, I went and bought a Glock 19.....They made me fill out paperwork!! What the hell... It took me 15 freaking minutes in the gunshop....




:D
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I have my loaded .40 in my car and accessible at all time. The only place I don't have it accessible is in the kitchen at work.
 
After looking at "the chart" I have a simple question:

Why not just buy a complete Daniel Defense carbine and be done with it?

Seems to have all the features at a price only slightly more than the others...
 
retzius said:
After looking at "the chart" I have a simple question:

Why not just buy a complete Daniel Defense carbine and be done with it?

Seems to have all the features at a price only slightly more than the others...
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Thats the route I'm taking brotha.

Yeah Texas is a drag TTD. :D Couple months ago i went to a store and a big white truck had an AR sticking between the driver seat and the center console.
 
retzius said:
After looking at "the chart" I have a simple question:

Why not just buy a complete Daniel Defense carbine and be done with it?

Seems to have all the features at a price only slightly more than the others...
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That is a good and viable option but you can get pretty much the same rifle at quite a discount.

The lower receiver, lower parts kit, buffer and stock assembly and trigger really do little for reliability. Granted, it's great to have top tier parts, but you can assemble a lower on the cheap and put your money into an upper and get the same basic quality.

The biggest difference is going to to be the champfer of the magwell.
 
shotgunner11 said:
I went and bought a Glock 19.....
:D
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Did you buy a new Gen 4 or older model ? Buy hicap mags, lots of them. I remember the god-aweful Gun Ban of '94, hicap "preban" 15 or 17 round G19 mags were $100 used, now you can buy them for $15-20 like-new. I have a Gen 3 OD/black G19, paid $550 for it brand new over 3 yrs (or so) ago, great pistol ! One of the FFLs at the shop had his G19 slide powder coated OD green to match the OD frame, man it looks so sweet! I want a FNP 9 now, I have read a few rave reviews about the .45, and it comes with 3 mags ! I just bought a Ruger LCR last week, nice revolver.
 
ss2211 said:
Ya know, I'm not sure I like this thread. :D I have had a Bushy M4 for several years and have only been able to put a thousand or so rounds through it and now I'm being told that my rifle is barely mediocre. Hmmm. I've done some mods to it like a GGG forearm, a bcm charging handle, and a few pieces of Magpul furniture. So what would make it better without buying a new rifle or upper or lower. Would replacing the inner parts of the lower and upper with DD parts make it more 'reliable'. Or are there other things I could do. Also, does anyone have any advise on Smith Enterprises. I am getting ready to put a Smith Vortex Flash hider on it and was thinking about putting a Smith bolt carrier in it as well. Opinions please.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Something that would help is to make sure you have a proof tested bolt, quality extractor, and the proper black spring and possibly o-ring assembly depending on the tension. Make sure that you have proper staking on the gas key where the metal into the screws is actually deformed, locking it. Make sure the castle nut is adequately staked where again, metal actually is moved, locking it. Loc-tite is not appropriate. Making sure that you will have quality internals would be a huge help. Take care of those issues, and the only other weakness would be the non-chrome lined 1/9 twist, but that's at least workable.

Edited to add: Yeah, I saw Rob_S's link posted after I typed this up. That's pretty much a good summary of what you can do. Bushmaster is at least better than some of the manufacturers that have different dimensions and tolerances of the receivers, so quality of the internals is all you really need to worry about.
 
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