Originally Posted by
richdkim77
Reading your blog, you write that you paid $699 for your DPMS. You then compare that to G&R's price for a BCM 16" Middy at $1266. This isn't exactly apples to apples. The BCM includes more features, such as an auto carrier, H buffer, mid-length gas, Troy TRX handguards, Magpul furniture. You also didn't mention where you purchased your gun from. If you did some leg work, you could find that BCM sells complete lowers for $270, then you could buy an upper for (Carbine or Middy) for $520 including the charging handle and auto carrier. Now you're at $770 minus handguards... $78 more than your DPMS... not exactly blowing away the price wars there.
You also write you have a mere 390 rounds through your carbine through 11-17-10. Try running it through several 1200-2000 round classes in 3 days then see how it holds up. If you can't afford to shoot that kind of ammo or take a class, I'm not sure how you can evaluate your carbine versus a top tier one.