Thinking about an armalite m15a4

[hemi5oh]

Hi all, first post, been lurking around for a while doing as much reading as I can. I have decided that I now need to add an AR to my collection, and have found an Armalite M15A4 locally NIB. What price range am I looking at to be reasonable? The gun will be a defense weapon so quallity is very important to me. It seems everyone either loves or hates the Armalite brand, why is that? I have handled it and the quallity seems good except for the gas key staking, it leaves a little to be desired. Thanks in advance for the help guys, I hope to join the ranks soon.

[Cagemonkey]

Hi all, first post, been lurking around for a while doing as much reading as I can. I have decided that I now need to add an AR to my collection, and have found an Armalite M15A4 locally NIB. What price range am I looking at to be reasonable? The gun will be a defense weapon so quallity is very important to me. It seems everyone either loves or hates the Armalite brand, why is that? I have handled it and the quallity seems good except for the gas key staking, it leaves a little to be desired. Thanks in advance for the help guys, I hope to join the ranks soon.Considering the current panic, I'd say anywhere from to $1100 to $1250 range. Restake the BC and get a Mil spec. bolt with a crane extractor upgrade kit.

[C4IGrant]

Hi all, first post, been lurking around for a while doing as much reading as I can. I have decided that I now need to add an AR to my collection, and have found an Armalite M15A4 locally NIB. What price range am I looking at to be reasonable? The gun will be a defense weapon so quallity is very important to me. It seems everyone either loves or hates the Armalite brand, why is that? I have handled it and the quallity seems good except for the gas key staking, it leaves a little to be desired. Thanks in advance for the help guys, I hope to join the ranks soon.


Don't know what they are going for (never paid much attention to them), but I would say that in this climate, it is worth at least $1k.

Now you asked about it for defense and if it is quality. I would label it as "ok" and that it does not meet the basic Govt standard for a fighting weapon.


C4

[Eric]

One review here. (http://www.weaponevolution.com/forum/showthread.php?t=322) Overall, I think Armalite is a good weapon. There are a few simple things that they should be doing that they skimp on: marking their barrels, staking the gas key and receiver end plates, F height front sight bases. Of course the importance of some of these things is arguable.

[vaspence]

I have owned 2 M15A4's. The last one I had was fine after upgrading the extractor, replacing the buffer spring (out of spec) and replacing the gas rings (also out of spec). This was a brand new gun. It ran fine after that in a Pat Rogers class, I believe we fixed all of the problems on Day 1. I shot a few 3 gun matches with it and sold it to a buddy who is still shooting it. I'd check the buffer spring length, stake the bolt carrier key,upgrade the extractor and check the gas rings. Or just buy a new BCG from LMT or BCM, that's what I did. That said, the gun was accurate and I had no further issues with it. I probably put 2500-3000 rounds through that gun with the first 1000+ being in Pat's class.

Spence

[SHIVAN]

I use their lowers a lot, as I know what needs to be changed/added. I've not used their uppers much, except in AR10's, and I also know what needs to be changed/added with them.

In short, I like the lowers - can't comment on the uppers.

[hemi5oh]

Thanks for the help guys, all very important things to think about for sure. Don't know if I'm looking to spend that much on something right now just because of a bit of panic buying driving up prices. I have also found a Sabre Defense, not sure what model NIB for $1500. More than I would like to spend for sure, but it dosen't seem to have some of the issues of the Armalite. I guess I'll have to see if the price will go down or at least stabalize a bit. Thanks again for the help.