The Search For My First AR-15

[U8395279]

Have you purchased from this site before? The price doesn't include tax and shipping right away along with a lot of the other websites. Which with those things the price goes up to what it would be if I bought it retail.

With Black Friday only a week away, you would be silly to buy something right now. Wait for all of the Black Friday ads to come out next week.

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[Jakeburchett3]

With Black Friday only a week away, you would be silly to buy something right now. Wait for all of the Black Friday ads to come out next week.

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That's the plan. Any places in particular I should look for deals at?

 

[U8395279]

Ditto with SKrueger, I really like my Sport-15! It's very basic, a slick side, no forward assist or bolt cover. I got it on sale at Cabalas about a year ago, what with sale price, vet's discount, and all, about $485.00.
It has yet to have a malfunction, plenty accurate, excellent fit and finish! The only AR that I own that beats it is a Colt H-BAR!

The original M&P 15 Sport is now discontinued, and has been replaced by the newer M&P 15 Sport II. It has both a forward assist and a bolt cover, unlike the original model.

There are literally dozens upon dozens of reviews of the S&W M&P 15 Sport II available to view on YouTube. There are reviews from popular gun TV shows, well know firearms bloggers, and countless owners of the M&P Sport II.

All one has to do is to do a search on YouTube, and one can pretty much learn all that there is to know about this rifle.

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[U8395279]

That's the plan. Any places in particular I should look for deals at?

You can check popular websites like Brownell's, Midway USA, Bud's Gun Shop.com, etc.. Then check local retailers too: both large chain stores, as well as local gun shops.

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[Chaffee]

What do you mean stripper lower and parts? Where are you guys located and what is the name?

In Portland working as Portland Gun Store, and if you have the parts, we have the bench and tools and will gladly help you with your build at no charge, (by appointment only, please don't be 50 people at the door at opening, call me, not Don. and I am doing training until Sunday.)
[email protected]
503-658-8525

 

[Chaffee]

You can check popular websites like Brownell's, Midway USA, Bud's Gun Shop.com, etc.. Then check local retailers too: both large chain stores, as well as local gun shops.

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Radical firearms black Friday!

 

[AMProducts]

So as to the direct question...

I would absolutely without a second thought recommend the S&W Sport, or the S&W M&P-15, both are great rifles, the M&P comes with the forward assist and dust cover and is more of a "mil-spec" style, which is my personal preference, even though I can say I've only used the forward assist only a few times in my life, I still like having it there.

My personal preference is to just buy whatever lower is inexpensive, and then buy a "kit" from palmetto and put it together myself. You could just buy a PSA rifle off the shelf also, most of the ones I've seen are price competitive with the S&W.

 

[cookie]

Some ARs are built with M16 quality steel and some are built with bolt action quality steel. There is a difference if you shoot it lots and lots.

 

[Mikej]

Jake, I was in your shoes this exact time last year! At the gun show last year on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Long story short, I'd looked at Kieth's and was debating the Colt for just short of $900.00, but held off. Ended up at "Curt's Discount Firearms" in Milwaukee that same day and saw one of their builds on the wall. It was unique from all the generic looking rifles on the tables at the gun show. With a free float barrel and low profile, not to aggressive, aluminum keymode hand guard.

Curt's gave me the black Friday pricing on Tuesday before black Friday so the rifle was a shade over $700.00. 1000 rounds of their own reman .223 was $300.00. So I ended up with a rifle that no one else has, built by one of the highest rated stores in the Northwest. The gun has been flawless. And I know IF, I ever have issues, that Curt's is known for service after the sale.

 

[Brutus57]

Sign up for Aero Precision's newsletter. They have some great sales periodically as well as good daily deals. They also make high quality ARs and parts for good prices. I used their lower for my build as well as their ultralight scope mount. Primo!

Brutus Out

 

[Mikej]

I get ads from "Primary Arms". They have all the parts from different manufacturers for builds and complete rifles too.

 

[BlindedByScience]

Many good opinions here, figured I'd add my experience and recommendation.

A gentlemen early in the thread basically said "all AR's are the same". Well, not really. In my experience over a decade or two (OK, almost four...;-), I can tell you the one component that makes the clearest and most obvious difference is the barrel. I have a 14.5" Rainier barrel that shoots on par with any other barrel in my safe, including 20" versions. Honestly, it's probably the most accurate of any of my AR's. The other component that makes a clear difference is the trigger and it's quality of break. Sights and optics are probably third but we could debate that a bit.

I've got no dog in the fight here, but honestly if I didn't already have an AR, I'd look no further than the rifles put together by Rainier Arms. Like this one:

Rainier Arms RUC MOD 3 - 16 Black

Here you're getting a Rainier Arms barrel, and ALG trigger, and other solid high quality parts all put together and ready to go. Not an inexpensive rifle, but not in the Noveske category either. I think this would be a fine first rifle, one that would last your lifetime with a minimum of fuss. You could certainly build one with the same parts, but for a first rifle, this is an easy recommendation.

As they say, one man's opinion.....B.B.S.

 

[biggie24420]

I have a Stag and a spikes tactical. I used to have a Colt.
Buy once, cry once! buy a good quality rifle if you plan on having it as your defense gun and a toy. If you go with a Colt 6920 or a Spikes Tactical M4LE (like what I have), you won't have any issues in my opinion. You can always add more to it.

Personally I like the way the M4 carbines look. The mid length is a good choice too. When I bought my Spikes, I put in a sharps reliabolt, added a flashlight, finally bought an AimPoint, and a sling. Don't add anything you don't need. My carbine has a little weight to it, but it has nothing I don't need. I like to upgrade the trigger but I don't know how I feel about it, heaven forbid I have to use my carbine in a self defense situation.... then I'd have to explain why I had such a light trigger on my defense weapon etc. not something I want to deal with personally.

If you have the money for a $2k plus rifle/carbine, that's your business, but I think for $1k you can get a really solid, dependable, quality rifle or carbine. Also consider having at least 7 mags and 500 rounds. Learn how to use your iron/plastic sights but I highly recommend you get a good quality red dot (aimpoint is my choice) and go from there.

 

[Baseacegoku]

I find the S&W's a little on the basic side

The S&W is so basic it wears uggs and yoga pants to starbucks to order its pumpkin spice latte.

 

[Joe Link]

I'd buy your first one and build your second. I've convinced most of my buddies looking for an entry level rifle into saving a while longer and getting a Colt LE6920 (~$975). They're a reliable rifle from a coveted brand, and if you ever needed money quickly (or just wanted to upgrade) you could probably sell it for close to what you paid for it within a day or two. This is a benefit of factory built rifles that I think many people discount.

 

[Cardoff]

Hey everybody this is my first post on here. I am currently searching for my first AR-15, in .223/5.56. I have looked through every post in the rifle forum for the last week so far and have seen some decent deals but not a whole lot on the entry level side of things. I have also checked prices at NW ARMORY, KEITH'S SPORTING GOODS, and US GUNS. All of them had nearly identical prices for all of their AR-15's. I live in Vancouver and I am willing to drive a little bit for a good price. I have also been looking at a couple other sites and usuing the Gun Genie site. I have also been looking at retail sporting goods store for their Black Friday deals on AR's as well. Do any of you have suggestions, first off, for a good entry level AR, and second, somewhere that I will be able to get a good deal on it for. Or even let me know if you are selling your AR! Thanks everyone! Hopefully I'll get some good info from you all.

DPMS Panther Arms Oracle .223/5.56

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

DPMS Panther Arms Oracle .223/5.56

I'd say yes. BUT, it's lacking a lot of 'standard' features for that money, best to hit up the Ruger or M&P instead for not much more.

Also, if you do want a little more, i checked out the Springfield Saint, it feels really good, has nice features and fit, it's a little more than the Ruger, but still a very solid buy, it'd be hard for me to choose between the Saint and the Ruger if i was buying my first.

 

[AMProducts]

I would actually go so far as to poo-poo the DPMS rifles. They are a production rifle at low cost, but generally speaking their quality tends to reflect that. It's not unusual to get into a DPMS and then find standard mil-spec parts simply don't fit. This was a problem I had when trying to fit a KAC handguard, the barrel is too large and I had to get a file out and file down the barrel, because I wasn't about to file a handguard I paid more for than the upper. I replaced this upper about a year ago with a PSA 16" M4 profile CHF-CL 1:7 with the "standard" bolt-carrier group, couldn't be happier.

DPMS over-all makes "okay" products, if it came to one of their AR's I don't think I would complain too much if it was in the $450-500 range, but given what S&W and PSA offer at a similar or lower price point I'm generally not interested in whatever they're selling.

I have not looked at ruger's offerings lately, when they first came out with the SR-556, I wasn't impressed, just another proprietary implementation with the price point to match, and when we took them out on the range they kinda sucked. I really don't care what anyone says, there's nothing wrong with the gas impingment system, and every operating system out there is a long set of trade-offs, either weight, reliability, accuracy, cost, etc. The old browning short recoil system was very reliable, and didn't put a lot of "gas back in the receiver" but I have yet to see someone adapt that to an AR. I'm sure that will happen next week.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

I should state when i'm talking about the Ruger, that i mean the AR gas system version.

 

[MrMillspecer]

There are new, basic model Colt AR15s available for around $599. I would purchase one of those first then build your custom dream. You most likely end up with more than one. My first was a Daniel Defense then built 3 others. Even my low cost Delton middy kit just runs and runs. I have never shot such a reliable, semi-auto, platform IF assembled correct. I would trust the DDM4 built to milspec first but wouldn't hesitate to grab any of them if needed. Good luck