Best off the shelf AR's?

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Jonny V

Jonny V

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So, after a long time thinking on this, I'm in the market for an AR (probably A2) variant, as an all around SHTF/range duty/fun gun.

The question is, what are the best off the shelf models? I don't want to spend a lot of time screwing with myriad parts, at least at first. So please leave an opinion on a budget rifle, and intermediate, and a cost no object one too, but they all have to be ready as is from the manufacturer. Thanks!:)
 
Budget: S&W M&P-15 Sport. Nothing else in the $600 range beats it, but it's a carbine. Everything else in the $600 factory complete range are plinkers, and not hard use rifles.

Intermediate: Spikes Tactical for a carbine. Stag Model 4 with the plus package for an A2.

ETA: High End: Colt, LMT, and Daniel Defense if you can go for a carbine. Colt MT6700 if you must have an A2, and don't mind a heavy barrel.

Really High End: Knights Armament or Noveske are as good as they come out of the box, but neither offer an A2 style rifle.

Restricting yourself to a fully assembled A2 style rifle severely limits your options. If you can open yourself up to dropping an upper onto a lower, and pushing in two pins to hold them together, then your options greatly expand.
 
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Since we are talking off the shelf and not build it is really a pretty short list of what is trustworthy.
In no particular order:
Colt 6920
Daniel Defense
Bravo Company



Frankly there really isn't really much of a "budget market" left. You can get a DPMS Sportacle but they are junk. S&W has their Sport model which seems ok but also cuts a lot of corners to get to the price point.


As for your price is no object question, as you can see the above 3 top of the line rifles all run around the same cost. It is the extras you add that change the price.
My personal choice is Noveske. They run a bit more but you get a lot more.
They have the absolute best barrels on the market. Come with a myriad of upgrades you don't see on other off the shelf rifles and frankly are just the best available today.
 
While in the Marines, we were using the A2 (it was many years ago). That's the main reason I want an A2, also, not much of a fan of picatinny rails. I guess I want something as close to a "military stock" A2 as I can get. I should have worded my question differently, I guess.
 
stag arms

i love my stag model 3 got. it a few months ago. have fired just over 1ooo rounds out of it w only one failur to eject. i got it at a gunshop out the door for $ 920. now have optics on it and i can hit soda cans at 100 yrds while standing that may not sound great but i have only gone to the range 3 times w my rifle. other then these 3 times w new rifle it has been about 30 yrs since i went shooting. did great at 300 yrds on a bench verry happy w this stag arms.hope this helped.
 
I have been very happy with my Spikes. Had initial magazine feeding problems, but once I got that worked out, the last 400 rounds it has been flawless.
 
Buy a Colt for 1k and never look back
Daniel defense is also top notch for complete rifles.
BCM mostly sells uppers, youll have to pay alot for one of their complete lowers

Best budget gun imo is the S&W M&P Sport

You can save alot by building the lower receiver and slapping the upper on it.
It is extremely simple and requires no tools.
Do some research on it before you buy anything, it might seem hard until you actually watch a video and realize is so simple.
Just Google "Installing Lower Parts Kit" or "Installing LPK"
 
Some people only want a weapon they can carry to war with out any support and not worry about breakage in extended operations; others use theirs for competition shooting where their weapons are worked hard in a limited amount of time.

Probably the majority use theirs for plinking, target practice and hunting. If you meant plink, range/duty, implied target and stuff hitting the fan type weapon then a few possible considerations should be answered in your own mind first IMO.

I was looking at Centerfire systems the other day and they had some ARs complete for less than $700 and others for over $1300. Kinda like cars; do you want a Mercedes or a Ford. They both will get you there.

One thing that is nice about the AR platform if something breaks they are easily fixed with what ever milspec or better parts you want to use. To me barrel and twist rate being the most important determining factor when seeking a new weapon. Everything else can be changed in just a few minutes if desired or broken.

I have ARs from 4 different manufactures ( 3 are not top of the chart ) and many friends who have stuff I would not even have looked at a few years ago. They are all off the shelf, lubed, placed a mag in and shot. Lock and load with out problems. If a company has a good warranty and reputation for customer support then where is the problem unless you really do expect total SHTF?

To be honest IME even in war it is not like the movies where you go from one fire fight to another endlessly. Days months and weeks with out anything and then it gets serious for a while until the threat is neutralized.

Fire superiority in war is a given equation for the winning side regardless of your war paint and camo suit. You alone; it would be hard to factor that equation into a lone wolf scenario and still come out on top. Hours and hours of boredom with moments of shear terror comes to mind but without luck or fire superiority the terror will be your last thought besides the pain.

I trust all of my ARs to go boom and hit what I am aiming at or I would not keep them. You think about stuff hitting the fan for some extended time frame and carrying 1000s of rounds with you then you might consider a .22lr for multiple rounds carried or a Winnebago for a support vehicle.

There are those who shoot a +1000 rounds a day and swear if it is not top of the chart you are going to have problems. I would not disagree and figure the metallurgy under those conditions would be something to consider due to the stress (because of extraordinary heat transfer) to all components.

I could have purchased a 308 (AR) last week that had feed ramps polished and been gone through by a qualified gun smith that would actually shoot ammo other than match for several percentage points below retail; great rifle that was tricked out and rather expensive but at that price point it was way less than some top of the chart AR-15s.

Weight of weapon and ammo plus cost of the ammo it was a no go for me. Still would like to have had it but not as a safe queen because I hunt an appreciate a weapon that is not a pain to have with me to lug around. Did not fit my mission requirements.

With out rambling on with my personal opinion it is heat that destroys hardness and warps/softens metal; think most would agree. Better the manufacturing process and metal that is used in parts "should" equate to less failures. Yet we have all seen best of the best fail under certain conditions; just the percentage of failures is less due to higher quality manufacturing processes, quality control and testing of products.

If you are going to be doing mag dumps and shooting 1000s of rounds a day get something that is/was designed for full auto but has been restricted to semi-auto due to the laws of the land or go full auto for mega bucks and federal paper work.

If you are going to shoot a couple of hundred rounds a day and do not plan on getting you new AR to glow like a night stick then IMO there are many many weapons that will fit your needs and out last you and your kids. Good luck on what ever you choose.
 
Well, since we're tallking best in price ranges, sorry guys, but you can just leave the likes of Stag, Double Star, Bushmaster, DMPS and Smith out of the mix. When you're tallking best, you're talking quality parts that are assembled by people that know what they're doing. Not just people capable of putting parts together.

The best in terms of bang for the buck would be either Spike's or Bravo Company with the edge going to Bravo Company, just because they've been in the game longer and I do believe that experience is something to be considered.

At the intermediate level, I'd say Colt and Daniel Defense. I don't think that I have to say any more. Their performance and reliability speak for themselves.

At the top where cost is no issue, I'd go Noveske. The Pac Nor chrome lined barrels that Noveske uses are capable of extreme accuracy. If you want to buy a rifle and know that you have one of, if not the, best available this is the way to go.
 
I have a Bushmaster that has been extremely reliable and a joy and the wife has a DPMS that has also been very reliable and a good weapon.

Neither of them broke the bank and I'm not a big accessory type of person. I am by no means an expert as some here are but these work and for my taste work well. Then again I'm not looking for the apocalypse type weapon yet either.
 
The best off-the-shelf AR's are probably, in no particular order:

Mil-Spec, non-proprietary:
BCM, LMT, Colt, Noveske, Daniel Defense, Spikes

Not Necessarily Mil-spec, proprietary:
LaRue, LMT MRP, POF-USA, Ruger

The rest, I'd argue, are sub-standard and you can get the good ones (^^^) for slightly more. RRA's are decent, as are Stag's, but they're not as good as the above, and don't offer anything you can't get from the above (excepting a few hunting configurations and the left-side-ejection of the Stag).

Also, building one yourself is easy, as long as you have some basic intelligence and a work bench to bolt a vise to.
 
My preferences are BCM, Colt or Noveske.

If I was on a budget I would get a Aero persion lower and either a BCM or Noveske basic upper. A colt for $900 isn't a bad choice either.

Noeveske Basic upper is like $780 and a complete lower can be had for $200 (under perhaps).

A BCM upper could be had for $650 and again the lower for $200. .

Cost is no option I'd get a complete Noveske in whatever configuration suited my fancy.


DD torture test....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89HEefl1KI4
Click to expand...

My issue with that test is there is no way to compare it to how any other make would have done. For example I'd imagine any AR with a taped muzzle and a closed dust cover isn't going to be highly affected by being buried. The aimpoint t1 is what impressed the heck out of my.
 
Prices are dropping on Colts so much these days that if you want an M-4 style rifle I can't see why you'd want anything else. (Around $900 for a SP6920)

S&W has a number of specials they run on CDNN that get closer to $700 for an M-4 style rifle, but my understanding is they aren't 'milspec'. (Small single stage heat shields, 1 in 9 twist etc). Reviews of the M&P models (not the sport ones) have been pretty good.

If you want a full sized rifle I'd have BCM build one, or modify a Colt MT700 to take a flash supressor without ruining the target crowned muzzle.

I THINK Bushmaster and DPMS are the only companies really making an off the shelf semi auto A2 these days and I don't think either has a chrome lined barrel.
 
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I THINK Bushmaster and DPMS are the only companies really making an off the shelf semi auto A2 these days and I don't think either has a chrome lined barrel.
Click to expand...
Olympic, Bushmaster, and DPMS are the only ones I can find making an A2, and all are 1/9 twist without chrome lining. Bushmaster does catalog a semi-auto only, chrome lined, 1/9 twist, A2 on the military side of their online products listing. I think an A4 with a carry handle on it is the best bet, and even those are hard to find correctly spec'd in a complete rifle now.
 
KISS starter rifles: Colt, LMT

More advanced railed rifles: BCM, Noveske, KAC, DD.

Note that BCM is sold out of lowers so can't sell complete rifles. But you can allways clip a BCM upper onto a Noveske or LMT complete lower. No harder than a strip for cleaning. If you do your homework, a really good rifle costs very little more than a DPMS, Bushy, RRA. Colt 6920's are under $1100.
 
Thanks for the help. I'm leaning towards the Colt and full mil-spec (except for the select fire). Colt's been making this rifle for a long time now, so I don't see the need to confuse things any more. Thanks!
 
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