An AR Question...

[shelzersr]

I am looking to buy an AR15 in the near future and would like to know if there are any brands that i should stay away from? I'm not looking for top of the line, but dont want a POS either. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

Read More

 

[G1GRANDEUR]

There are many threads about this, please do a search.

In short, BCM / Spike / daniel defence

 

[Mac_Fan]

Personally, I would avoid Olympic Arms. THERE! I SAID IT!

 

[rayd8]

There are many threads about this, please do a search.

In short, BCM / Spike / daniel defence

Just to clarify Skang's post, I would place these in the modestly priced good list. If I had to pick one AR to recommend it would be a Colt 6920.

 

[Guilty]

Just to clarify Skang's post, I would place these in the modestly priced good list. If I had to pick one AR to recommend it would be a Colt 6920.

I agree, buy a Colt 6920. Money well spent.

 

[locobob]

Personally, I would avoid Olympic Arms. THERE! I SAID IT!

Yup, agreed. I've had nothing but problems with Olympic stuff, really wish I could say otherwise as they are local and I'd like to support them.

The Colts are hard to beat as they are quality and hold their value.

 

[22many]

In the rifle section there is plenty good info on this topic.

 

[FarmerTed1971]

Build your own... It's fun and easy.

 

[Nwcid]

The only real ones to stay away from are Hesse/Vulcan/Blackthorn. They are so bad they keep changing their name to keep customers. I am not sure how the CAI guns are but if it is like the rest of their stuff it it hit or miss.

As for OA do what you like. I have no problem buying their AR's as a matter of fact one of my favorite guns. Between me and a couple people I know we have/had at least 10 OA guns including SGW which was OA before they were OA.

Outside of that there have been tons of threads about "good" AR's.

 

[The B]

vulcan arms. the machineguns of special forces.

you KNOW this bubblegum is good.

 

[Z-PDX]

I'll bite. My personal history with Oly is good. Realizing there is a lot of history with this company. I like the guys up there. Even the people who hate Oly will admit that their SUM and target barrels are some of the best.

As for a full rifle, I have my own issues with Colt and their customer service / business philosophies.

Fortunately, there are many companies that equal or better their quality:
Spikes, BCM, LMT, , Palmetto State Armory are all great bets in the mid-price. Noveske (Oregon) and Daniel Defense are great choices for higher-end.

All above with provide great customer service along with top notch product.

My personal patrol rifle is a Spikes lower, with a Geissle SSA trigger and PSA 16" middy stainless upper. Spooky accurate and handles great. Kind of AR nirvana for me. Its also my deer rifle.

 

[biggie24420]

If you are interested in building your own:
I assembled my own and spent under $700. I had a stripped lower and got all the parts and it all went together nicely (CMMG lower kit, UTG stock, buffer etc., SA&A (surplus ammo and arms LLC) stripped lower). My upper is a 16'' 4150 Chrome-Lined, Premium Mid-length Mock Dissipator 1:7 twist ($449) and it's a flat top. If you build your own.... I would recommend you go check palmetto state armory. I hear del-ton is good too but when I placed my order for an upper.... it took them 22 days to let me know their barrels were back ordered. In two weeks I had my PSA upper....
I love my AR and it eats up Silver bear (Russian steel case ammo). I also plan on getting a conversion kit so I can shoot .22LR out of my AR.

If you wanna buy:
I don't know because I don't have any experience with other rifles

 

[madcratebuilder]

Personally, I would avoid Olympic Arms. THERE! I SAID IT!

Why? Do you have any personal first hand experience with current Oly rifles? Just repeating twenty year old internet rumor does not make it a fact.

Nothing wrong with Oly, years ago they made some models with cast receivers, these sucked, they stopped making them years ago. Oly barrels are well know for the accuracy.

 

[mjbskwim]

Ya know I hate it when someone responds to a thread buy asking the 20 questions
How old is your mom? Are you driving a chevy? They don't really matter for the question at hand.
But here,it seems the one that needs to be asked is how many rounds you gunna shot?
TONS? Spend $1500 or more to get one that will not need new parts soon.
Regular shooting? Any thing you can afford will work just fine

The fun part is that you are going to want to change parts anyway.So buy what you want to afford because you will be spending more real soon. Don't need to spend a lot (6-700)to have a good,reliable,home defense,plinking AR.

I have done only two so far and they aren't very hard to put together.I do need to assemble an upper once though.

 

[ORBrit]

What's your budget? Don't forget to include optics -which can cost the same as or more than the rifle itself.
Obviously most of us are only recreational shooters and so our budgets for the rifle itself and ammo to feed it determine what level of rifle we should buy.

The beauty of the AR15 is the sheer volume of parts and manufacturers, so if you do end up buying or building on a budget to start with, but end of shooting a lot and wearing parts down, you can always switch them out later.

 

[The B]

just get whatever comes with the most plastic accessories.

 

[Garg]

Ya know I hate it when someone responds to a thread buy asking the 20 questions
How old is your mom? Are you driving a chevy? They don't really matter for the question at hand.
But here,it seems the one that needs to be asked is how many rounds you gunna shot?
TONS? Spend $1500 or more to get one that will not need new parts soon.
Regular shooting? Any thing you can afford will work just fine

The fun part is that you are going to want to change parts anyway.So buy what you want to afford because you will be spending more real soon. Don't need to spend a lot (6-700)to have a good,reliable,home defense,plinking AR.

I have done only two so far and they aren't very hard to put together.I do need to assemble an upper once though.

Lower's are easy and fun to build. Uppers are too. But... I was lucky enough to meet someone who was willing to let me use his shop, tools, and parts. I have built 3 uppers, and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that you need the correct tools (not much but very important) and someone willing to supervise your first few as there are a few "tricks" that make the difference. Just my opinion. your mileage may vary. All in all, AR's are pretty simple devices, and are relatively easy to build. Would I recommend a "complete" build for a newbie? no. But building the lower is really easy, and if you buy a kit with a completed upper, you should be fine, and learn a lot, and have fun. IMHO. YMMV. etc...

On another hand, there are always good value AR's for sale here, generally, for the first timer. Just saw a nice bushy in the classifieds for 700. A very good value IMO.

 

[The B]

Lower's are easy and fun to build. Uppers are too. But... I was lucky enough to meet someone who was willing to let me use his shop, tools, and parts. I have built 3 uppers, and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that you need the correct tools (not much but very important) and someone willing to supervise your first few as there are a few "tricks" that make the difference. Just my opinion. your mileage may vary. All in all, AR's are pretty simple devices, and are relatively easy to build. Would I recommend a "complete" build for a newbie? no. But building the lower is really easy, and if you buy a kit with a completed upper, you should be fine, and learn a lot, and have fun. IMHO. YMMV. etc...

On another hand, there are always good value AR's for sale here, generally, for the first timer. Just saw a nice bushy in the classifieds for 700. A very good value IMO.

there's definitely some necessary specialty tools if you want to build an upper from the ground up. FSB jig, barrel and receiver blocks, quality variable press or mill, barrel wrench, machinists vise, set of carbide drills, reaming setup, etc... the tools alone are significantly more expensive than the finished product.

 

[Garg]

there's definitely some necessary specialty tools if you want to build an upper from the ground up. FSB jig, barrel and receiver blocks, quality variable press or mill, barrel wrench, machinists vise, set of carbide drills, reaming setup, etc... the tools alone are significantly more expensive than the finished product.

That's very true. If you do not build them for a living, having the shop/tools/parts really doesn't make sense. But having access to them and being able to do it is a lot of fun, and very educational. Having something "YOU" built is awesome. For me anyway. I was able to pick out the exact components, and build it to the exact configuration I wanted. Great hobby.

 

[PDXSparky]

Build your own... It's fun and easy.

+1 and use Spike's Tactical components.

I love my AR and it eats up Silver bear (Russian steel case ammo). I also plan on getting a conversion kit so I can shoot .22LR out of my AR.

Agree, Silver Bear is GTG, and for that .22lr conversion, you'll be wanting a CMMG in stainless for easier cleaning.