AR15 Quality vs Crap: How do you tell the difference?

[tacticalgunner]

Funny, i have never replaced a trigger for a better trigger. I might like it if i did, but with everything i own, i have learned to shoot it and pretty darn successful at it. I know i will here i am missing out but after 12 years of using Uncle Sams stuff, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Cheaper guns are not always crap and the ones with the roll stamp that says Knights or Noveski is not a guarantee that you will pull the trigger and it will go bang. Proper maintenance and good ammo mean a lot in my book.
Abby Out....

 

[tacticalgunner]

But you know, come to think about it, in 2004 my armory got a shipment of replacement barrels for our M4 Colt's, about 200 barrels and they all had a DPMS sticker on all the boxes, "manufactured for Colt". I never really thought about it for a while but that seems legit. I then was at Crane Island for a weapons testing day and the Colt guy and another manufacture (Can't remember who) was talking to me and I brought that up to the Colt rep, and he said that DPMS was their barrel manufacture "he thought", i then asked what they made up in Hartford and he said "not much, we put'em together up there". So my thoughts are this, is there a machine shop somewhere that pumps out Lowers and barrels etc and just brand them, and the ones that pay a lot in marketing elevate the price to pay for cool pictures of an Ex soldier holding their rifle? I might have been misinformed about the whole thing but it does not seem outside the box when it comes to government contracting.

 

[Boboclown]

Not many companies make their own stuff. Daniel Defense does, I think PWS (or just most of their own stuff), Colt does make some stuff, LWRC, FN, probably a few more. Most just source their stuff from someone else and do their own thing with it. Whether it be a part or just the raw forging.

 

[tacticalgunner]

Just because gunmaker "A" and gunmaker "B" both get their parts from manufacturer "X" doesn't make A=B. Keep in mind that manufacturers make parts based on their customers specifications, then those customers have their own approval, assembly and QC process, that is what makes the difference.

In other words a Volkswagon and Porsche may come out of the same factory it doesn't make them the same vehicle.

True fact, I have never seen a Porsche not have problemsI have never seen a Porsche not have problems

 

[osprey]

While price certainly can be an indicator it certainly is not the only factor in a quality product. I have a high end pro built 6.8 spc spec II upper for hunting and it came over gassed so I put an adjustable gas block on it and spent considerable time finding a hand load that would shoot under moa. It was a bit more finicky than I would have liked but it shot well in the end. Last Summer I picked up a PSA 6.8 upper with a chrome lined fn chf barrel for about a third of the cost of my other upper. For what I paid I did not expect too much and I figured I would just use it for shooting the cheaper surplus ammo I had been collecting. Much to my surprise it will digest and shoot almost any ammo and hold moa or better with most. Obviously I got a good barrel but I would not call it a fluke. If my life depended on it I would probably grab something with a known rep for quality, like DD, LWRC or Noveske, but for general use I think there are still some bargains out there.

 

[IronMonster]

I bought a couple of BCG last week from the actual manufacturer that makes them. After I placed my order he sent me an email and informed me that he was out of what I ordered and wanted to know if he could supply me with contract overruns made for a OEM manufacture. I ask him what the difference was and he told me a laser engraved logo instead of no logo. His sell for $115, The ones with the logo on the manufactures site sell for $289

I said I was fine with that

 

[Diamondback]

I bought a couple of BCG last week from the actual manufacturer that makes them. After I placed my order he sent me an email and informed me that he was out of what I ordered and wanted to know if he could supply me with contract overruns made for a OEM manufacture. I ask him what the difference was and he told me a laser engraved logo instead of no logo. His sell for $115, The ones with the logo on the manufactures site sell for $289

I said I was fine with that

NICE!

I know a lot of the big boys buy raw forgings from Anchor Harvey.

 

[PiratePast40]

One of the things that go into a more expensive product is verifying quality. Doesn't mean that it's better quality, just that control steps have been taken to verify that it meets certain parameters. Those could be certain hardness, steel composition, heat or surface treatment, coating, or even technique and processes. Keeping track of the specs and verifying through testing costs money. People mention mil spec quite a bit, and many manufactures add that to their literature. As others have mentioned, doesn't mean that it's better, just that you know what it is. There is also the caveat that mentioning mil spec is one thing, providing the certificate of conformance and quality assurance paperwork is quite another.