Quality AR Rifles

[.300RUM]

I'm sorry if this is already posted, didn't know if it went through last time. If it did, please remove this thread.

Just wondering what some quality AR rifles are. I have been told that if you stick with the ABCs(Armalite,Bushmaster,Colt) that they are high quality rifles.
My local dealer has a Colt LE Carbine and it looks like a sweet gun. I've heard many people say that Colts are overpriced and that you are just paying for the Colt name.

Are Colts a top quality rifle? I'm willing to pay extra for reliablity and high resale value. What about others like Stag, RRA, S&W, DPMS?

Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

[TinGLOCK]

I haven't owned AR's for very long yet, but I am convinced that most of this quality discussion is based on opinion. There are many features to look out for that are--I think--subjective measures of an AR's quality, depending on what you're looking for (i.e. M4 feed ramps). But on the web, it seems that when the question comes up, the majority of the answers are based on what people like (i.e. ARFCOM).

Here's a table comparing brands: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...jFwPrgTA&hl=en
Here's a tutorial on building AR's: http://forums.officer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81462

For my purposes, I found the second to be more useful.

If you're buying something just to resell it, then go with what you think the popular brands are.

[TXDMERC73]

Colt does make good AR's but not as good as Bushmaster. my friends have torture tested a few AR's and the Bushmaster was flawless i was suprised i bet my money on the Colt AR-but it jammed a couple times form not cleaning it none of the rifles had been cleaned during the test , Bushmaster came on top! RRA second and Colt was 5th place.

[TinGLOCK]

Colt does make good AR's but not as good as Bushmaster. my friends have torture tested a few AR's and the Bushmaster was flawless i was suprised i bet my money on the Colt AR-but it jammed a couple times form not cleaning it none of the rifles had been cleaned during the test , Bushmaster came on top! RRA second and Colt was 5th place.

Sounds very scientific.

[Xringshooter]

Colt probably has the highest resale value because it is a Colt. However, Armalite, Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, Stag, DPMS, S&W, Remington all make very good, very reliable rifles.

If looking for a good all around gun amd not worried about resale, any of the above will fill the bill. Ifg the Colt LE model was offered at a competitive price I, personally, would not turn it down. Typically you do pay a bit more for a Colt, but I couldn't say that it is X degress so much better than the others.

Personally, I like the AR's that I build myself, that way, I can customize them from the ground up.

[lauer87]

I'd say go with Noveske, Colt, RRA for top quality. Just my opinion though.

[Mancolt]

Sounds very scientific.

lol, my thoughts exactly!

Back to the point, this question has been asked numerous times. I wish I could find the exact thread I'm thinking of in my head but I wasn't able to with a quick search. If you do a search on here for "AR15 quality" "best AR15" etc, you can find PLENTY of opinions.

Anyways, most of the suggestions you'll get are based on opinion and not hard facts. My personal opinion is something like this (in no particular order within each tier):

Top Tier
Colt
Noveske
LMT

Middle
Bushmaster
S&W
Stag
RRA

Lower
DPMS
Del-Ton

I have a Stag, and for what I paid, I consider it to be a great rifle. I partially "built" my rifle. I bought the lower, LPK, and put those together. Then I bought the Stag upper and popped that on. If I was willing to spend the extra money and didn't want to build my own (which was so much fun, I'm definitely building my next one too), I honestly don't know which of the top tiers I'd go with. It'd be a real toss-up for me.

[.300RUM]

Thanks guys!

One other question that I have is the availibility of these rifles. As I stated before, my local dealer's ONLY AR was the Colt. My local Gander Mtn. had a used Bushy for sale but that's it. Someone told me something along the lines of "all ARs that were being built in the next three years were already accounted for. I thought that this sounded like baloney but didn't know.

How hard is it for dealers to order an AR and which brands are the hardest to get? How long can you expect to wait if you order one?

[nra-life-member]

I look at it like this.. The AR's mentioned are all copies of the Colt.. Colt IMHO is the only way to go for a traditional AR..

My dealer has a LE6940 due in this week.. If I didn't have a SIG SWAT and Colt 6920, I would be all over it..

Placing the order is the easy part... getting the ordered item in, is another story.. I have heard my dealer on the phone with some of the distributors - they pretend to be wholesalers that are selling retail..

[arjohnson]

Colt does make good AR's but not as good as Bushmaster. my friends have torture tested a few AR's and the Bushmaster was flawless i was suprised i bet my money on the Colt AR-but it jammed a couple times form not cleaning it none of the rifles had been cleaned during the test , Bushmaster came on top! RRA second and Colt was 5th place.

And who's your freinds?