I recommend staying with the .223/5.56 for your first AR. What are you hunting, deer? I take it you are in KC Missouri? What is the biggest, baddest animal you will hunt?

I currently keep "Brown Tip" (which is a 70gr TSX bullet loaded to 5.56 pressure, you can get it from SSA or ASYM if you don't have access to the .mil load) and know people who hunt with it. It typically expands to about .45-.5" and will penetrate 24-28" in game animals. I'm talking animals like Nilgai antelope, etc. I know a guy who harvests hogs from a helicopter by the hundreds each year, and this round has given him better performance on-target than M80 147gr .308 with a sample size of about 75 animals for each, on the hunt he formed his opinion on.

The other information you got about the 300BLK was also accurate by my understanding, as well. Just the barrel. That's it.

There is a wide variety of ways these rifles get into service depending on the agency, all the way from contracted purchasing to allowing individual officers to use their own weapon, but you're right in that when contracted, the purchasing decisions are generally made by the bean counters and not the people actually using them.

My opinions on rifle or component quality are based on what I've seen over the years. Having seen a lot of failures of one kind or another, I've developed a set of biases relative to what brand of rifle or components I would ever own to put to hard use. When people start taking about rifles, there is always someone who chimes in and says "My Bushmaster has been completely reliable". You're right, any company can occasionally make a bad rifle, or in the case of Bushmaster, for example, occasionally make a good one. I tend to view it from the standpoint of "if I want the best odds of getting a reliable, high-quality rifle, what brand would I buy based on the performance of the many brands I've seen in hard use?"

Being the good investor I am, I'm again considering selling my BCM for a 100%+ profit. Decisions...

They are a distributor for many parts. Not all are imported. The AR part I'm recommending is american.

Leapers, Inc. - Hunting/Shooting, Sporting Goods and Security Gear

The part so, far gets acceptably good reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Billet-Spec-Bu...owViewpoints=1

I agree on preferring different COMPLETE rifles based on the "criteria you stated". Not a fan of Bushmaster for ownership myself, in spite of... I'm sure you know a lot about a slew of parts. But I'm talking about the one you say is a non-recommendable part.
1.Two Friends running it. Rock solid thus far.
2. Reviews... Very good thus far.

While i'm sure you have lots of good experience to share and can probably "teach me" a few things... Your analysis of this "particular UTG part" is unfounded. I will probably end up ordering one myself? Don't need it now but if i come across another cheap stripped lower. I'm buying it fror 3 lowers. :) Lowers will be the most important part...

I have a UTG scope mount for an AK, its rock solid and holds zero on my Burris xts-135, I shoot 100-200yrd groups on AK that breaks AK stereotypes. My friends have the UTG buffer on their rifle builds and you have a UTG rifle case. 3 good UTG parts. :)

how many AR's do you own?

Just the one.

Good luck with that. I hope it works out well for you.

Nah bro... Keep it. It's not worth losing. BCM is a good rifle and it will be hard to replace for a while.

Also, the BS that we're going through may drive up prices permanently. Maybe not to where they are now? But I think a base AR is going to start at $1000 instead of the $750 it was starting at 10 weeks ago before our president was re-elected. Your BCM is going up in value. But you may have features that may be outlawed? And you may have a grandfathered AR.

:tiphat:

My view is that since the AWB was introduced today it might fuel further hysteria and drive prices up temporarily... good time to sell. If I sold I wouldn't really ever plan on buying one back, anyway.

Just so tempting to sell and profit. :icon17:

I see a gun (handgun or assault rifle) the same way as I see a fire extinguisher; hopefully and probably I will never need to use it, but when I need it I will be surely glad that I at least have it.

It would be extremely gratifying to see the AWB go down in flames realizing that the government caused the gun industry to gain massive profits because of their knee-jerk stupidity.

Well, my two cases of SOCOM 5.56 "Optomized" 70gr "Brown Tip" came in today. Tested it against a cinderblock and against water/paper/water.

Cinderblock showed penetration through both sides, with VERY little energy remaining upon exit (it bounced off of a soft-cover 1" thick text-book after tearing/denting it heavily). Here is what the round looks like:

The round on the left punched the cinderblock. IN/out both sides, hit the book, dented/tore and bounced off.

The round in the middle is a pulled, unfired projectile.

The round on the right first hit a 3-1/4" thick 1/2gallon cardboard milk-carton full of water, immediately after, a 1" thick soft-cover dry text-book, and immediately after that, it penetrated fully through 2 gallons of water in the form of plastic 1-gallon conventional milk-jugs, and then was found in the bottom of the milk-jug behind them. It expanded to 0.32" by 0.49" at the minimum (measured the narrowest distance "between" the "petals") and maximum (measured across the farthest spanning "petals"). The hole in the cover of the book leads me to believe that it was fully expanded by the time it left the 3-1/4" thick milk-carton, as did the resounding SLAP! of it hitting said book (I was shooting suppressed and using electronic ear-pro. The "SLAP!" was insanely loud.) and it obliterating the cardboard milk carton.

All-in-all, it's a sick round and a great addition to my stash. It will run great out of my 10.5" SBR, and should expand effectively out past the 200 yard mark. Should run about 2475fps from that barrel and the effective expansion threshold is around 1800fps.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2nk5hrb.jpg

*Testing conducted from a 14.5" barrel at roughly 15 yards. As a size-reference, the pulled projectile mic's 1.038" in length.

Not sure if this Falls under Political, but I don't think it does, so i'm sharing

Washington city councilman walks out on council meeting because of citizen with CCW - YouTube

What will you change your name to? .45acpmustang? :rofl2:

Thats the first time I ever heard of a 5.56 round going completely through a cinderblock. Do you have video or at least photo of the block? This is an interesting round.
Who makes the Brown-tip? Penetration is unlike most 5.56 ammo and on a borderline, decent bullet weight

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...k_original.jpg

LOL... Let's End Racism.