Anyone here into firearms?

MacCool

A thief with a hammer punch, and crowbar will take about 5 minutes longer to get into a $1000 gun safe than he will getting into a $200 StackOn. I agree, if you're going to get a safe get a good one, not one that costs $1000.

xdeslitx

hey guys i'm sort of in the market for an AR now.
Since there's so many different variations, it gets very confusing.

What's a decent one that's isn't crazy expensive.
Would it be better to buy separate uppers and lowers or is there one that's a decent pre-built one already?

and why the heck are there so many names for it? LOL it makes it even more confusing for newbs.

Ackrite

There are so many different AR's on the market that range from ~$700 for an S&W M&P 15 sporter to about $3k for an HK MR556. Although the S&W's are cheap $, I believe they come with a lifetime warranty. My personal favorite is LWRC for many reasons, but you would be looking at around $2200. Since you are in CA my advice to you would be to join Calguns and read a lot since there are some very CA specific things that you have to watch out for. You can also assemble your own for relatively cheap and learn the ins and outs of the AR platform, which many people would recommend. I usually go with JD Machines stripped uppers and lowers and assemble off of that if I'm going the DIY route.

xdeslitx

hmmm...lifetime warranty sounds appealing to a newb like me.

MacCool

S&W Sporter is about as far down the quality scale as I'd go on an AR15. Below that you have the Bushmasters, RRAs, etc.

You can get a Colt 6920 for about $950. I'd go that route for my first rifle. Learn to shoot it, maintain it, what works for your purposes.

xdeslitx

so bushmasters isn't good? my uncle seems to like bushmasters and dpms lol but he's more into the big bore stuff so i'm not sure if he's a good source for a 223

i'll look into the colt thanks

BlackZeda

Bushmaster quality is excellent as I have had serveral over the years and never had any issues unlike other manufacturers. Back in the day there were only two choices; Colt and Bushmaster. You will find that in the AR niche there are extreme fanboys of one make or the other. Since all these other johnny-come-lately ARs have been introduced the sellers and buyers have felt compelled to rag on Bushmaster in order to get their part of the market since Colt has such a good reputation backed up by the fact that they supply the military. Bushmaster had at one time an issue with improperly staked BCGs, but I have never seen one. IMO you are paying $200 for the name stamped on the side if you go for Colt (oh, and they are more "milspec"...I can get a can of tomatoes that are "milspec", it doesn't mean they are better).

Bushmaster is a good brand if you are on a budget, but if you want to spend some bucks and get a premium AR look into Noveske, LMT and BCM.

I am sure that someone will disagree with my assessment, but keep in mind that I have actually owned Colts, a Noveske (my current favorite), LMTs and Bushmasters which have all performed very well.

The only AR I would stay away from is Armalite and Olympic as I have owned those and did indeed have issues.

MacCool

Bushmaster, DPMS, CMMG, Olympic Arms....these are all generally considered to be lower tier rifles. This is objectively based on the materials used in their construction, the level of QA, and observation of failure rates in high round-count situations. Subjectively, people who shoot a lot and have experience with these brands wouldn't have one. As a budget range toy, that you can take out, show your buddies your new "Army rifle" shoot a couple of hundred rounds a year then put back in the closet, those lower tier rifles can be perfectly fine. You just wouldn't want to bet your life on one. The difficult part is that in many cases you'll pay as much for a DPMS or Bushmaster as you will for a Colt. For my part, there are several brands that I own or have owned and that I'm a fan of. My suspicion about Bushmaster and its ilk is based on lots of shooting, lots of hanging around guys who shoot, many instructional carbine courses from nationally known instructors. I've heard what they say, and I've seen those rifles break in courses when they're put to the test. There are a lot of DPMS rifles around here (DPMS HQ is about 60 miles from here). Like I said...range toy?...have at it. Gonna bet your life on that rifle or take pride in owning demonstrably high-quality firerarms?...get one that's well made and reliable. Me? I'm inclined to buy the best quality I can afford. I buy my tools from Snap-On, not Harbor Freight.

Go over to M4Carbine.net and do a search (use the orange search button in the top header) on Bushmaster, or Rock River Arms, or DPMS.

xdeslitx

@BlackZeda - How many rounds have you put through your Bushmasters since MacCool mentioned reliability issues when used a lot?