Which AR-15 Carbine do you like best?

[Cole]

Anyone done a serious comparison of AR-15 carbines? I would love to hear some expert opinions comparing the Colt, S&W and other makes out there. For your money, which would you buy for occassional range shooting, extreme home-defense, trips to family farm to shoot varmints and such, etc.

[Tomcat088]

I'm not sure if you've seen it, but in Best of Shooting Times this month there was an article of a comparison of AR's. The article is on page 28-32 if you can find the issue. In it, they compare AR's from Rock River, Armalite, Bushmaster, Colt, and Stag Arms. It's a fairly complete review more in terms of long distance accuracy. They cover several different topics like bullet weights and barrel twist, and the AR's potential and different uses someone might like. If you'd like, I can post some of what they found, but the most accurate was teh Rock River Varmint with the 24" barrel and a 1:8 twist.

[Cole]

Cool, Tomcat. Could you post a little mini-summary? I haven't seen the article.

[aubie515]

I have never been impressed with the "pony" The one's I used in the Army weren't very accurate. The parts for a Colt will cost you more because Colt pins are larger then the other AR's. Colt is the only company that has different specs on their AR's. If I were you, I would suggest going with another company that is to "mil spec." I am not a fan of Armalite as a company as well...they burned me in the past, so I wouldn't get an Armalite...I have heard their QC has been hit or miss...mostly AR10s from what I have read.

What I think are good AR builders...DPMS, RRA, Bushmaster, Stag. Cool think about the AR's are their options seem to be limited by your imagination. If you buy the upper and lower separate, you will avoid paying the 11% excise tax. It isn't very difficult to put together a complete upper and complete lower. I think the first thing you should do is determine how much you are willing to spend...you can spend as little as $650-700 and go up from there.

[armabill]

I have Colt and RRA.

Don't short change the Colt because of the older ones in the military arsenal and the pin size.

[Headhunter 13]

I have the nrew Bushmaster Carbon 15 M4 and like it a lot. It is the first one I have ever owned but no complaints at all.

[Tomcat088]

Cole, I totally missed your reply to me asking to post more about the article. I'm sorry, and I"ll definately throw up some of the numbers for that in the next couple of days. Hope that it'll help you out

[Duncan]

I have two Bushmasters. Both have over 7,500 rounds through them. Both the Devastator and the heavy barreled rifle have NEVER failed to feed, eject, and function. The shortie holds 1.5 inch at 100 and that is more than enough accuracy for the intended purpose of the weapon. The heavy barreled gun shoots sub-moa with decent commercial ammo - and better with handloads.

The best sugestion that I can give is to always use GOOD magazines, keep it clean ( Clean after 500 roiunds or ALL ARs will get sluggish and will, sooner or later, fail to function.), and forget the foolishness that the .223 bullet is a "sniper's weapon".

The M16/AR15 platform is a combat platform intended for shredding the jungle and those hiding in it! The "accuracy issue" should be restricted to off-hand and casual rest positions. If you can put three rounds into a 12"x12" target, on demand, at 100 yards, under field conditions, and your weapon NEVER ceases to function, you are a rare, and effective rifleman - and the weapon is doing what it was designed to do.

For "sniping" purposes in real war there are two schools of thought; bolt action rifles for 2 man teams; semi-autos for "squad support sniping". Both have strong points and supporters, but a 30 year veteran of the SEAL teams, and a close friend, instructs me thus: "The AK-47 is the best fighting weapon currently available to most civilians. I use one and I can have anything I want on an op. I carried a Stoner in Viet Nam and they were great when they kept working. In battle now I use the AK-47 and if we need to take action against an enemy that is over 200 yards away I call in artillery or air support. Out to 200 yards the AK will get the job done."

I would bet my life on my Bushmaster rifles, but now I am practicing hard with an AK-47 and hoping that I never need to call in artillery or air support - and the G3 is also a nice all-around weapon but too heavy. My SEAL friend points out that he would rather carry more LIGHTER ammo than more rifle. He carried, in addition to all his other gear, three LLAWS rockets and 600 rounds for his Stoner - that is from a real warrior with three tours of duty in Viet Nam alone.

Good luck -

[aubie515]

John from Seneca Arms really likes the S&W15...he was able to get one before they were released because his only game is high power matches, so S&W shipped him one...John said he thinks they will sell like hotcakes.

I was looking into an RRA...how is the leadtime for RRA? I know for a while they were backed up...are they caught up now?

[TonyF]

Anyone done a serious comparison of AR-15 carbines? I would love to hear some expert opinions comparing the Colt, S&W and other makes out there. For your money, which would you buy for occassional range shooting, extreme home-defense, trips to family farm to shoot varmints and such, etc.

I don't think any of us mere mortals have the capability to conduct an empirical, scientific comparison of the various AR manufacturers so your question is a difficult one to answer.

The best proving ground is the private sector domestic firearms training industry. Most of the top tier instructors, as well as the bigger established schools, probably see hundreds if not thousands of AR15's in classes each year.

The empirical data from those classes puts Colt at the top with regard to reliability. The primary reason is that the .mil / .gov requires quality assurances from Colt that are not performed by any other manufacturers and this is why Colt is generally more expensive. This is not to say you won't occasionally happen upon a Colt that has issues but Colt is the only manufacturer that pressure tests (MP) EVERY bolt and barrel. Bushmaster, S&W, Armalite, DPMS and the others do not. Government quality assurance extends in other ways to most of the other component parts also.

Stag is the commercial retail outlet for Continental Machine and Tool which is a primary subcontractor for Colt so they *may* be MP testing their bolts and barrels for the Stag line but I'm not sure.

I prefer a 1:7 twist barrel in order to stabilize the heavier premium ammo available these days.

The short answer to your question? For my money it's a Colt.