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"If I only knew then what I know now..."
I own a Stag and I enjoy it. I alos own a Colt LE6920 and enjoy it too. They have both been flawless for me so far.
When I bought the Stag I didn't know any better and at the time it was $500 less than a Colt, not the $200 everybody says they are. That was 2009. I bought my Colt in September of 2012 and the price had actually gone down.
However, if I had known what I've learned from this site back when I first started buying AR's I would've bought a KAC SR15 and been way ahead in the game of life.
The best thing this site has given me isn't so much the knowledge and access to quality information, but direction. Before I was just spinning my wheels and getting nowhere fast. Now I have a heading and course to get there. So to the people who make this site possible and the members that contribute quality information and knowledge you have my sincerest thanks...![]()
Ok, I've got an El Camino full of rampage here, so what's the plan?If you can't win a gun fight against a lightly-trained individual during broad daylight with 88 rounds of 30-06, I'm not sure you'd be able to do it with... any other firearm.
-Fjallhrafn
When I was young and money was tight it used to be a badge of honor to see how little I could spend on food.
Boy, times have changed. I like to think I wised-up since then.
Well, they say confession is good for the soulIt can be embarrassing too! Years ago, when I was younger and knew nothing about ARs, but decided I wanted to learn about and shoot them, I listened to the gentleman
at my LGS, and bought a used Carbon 15. It was lightweight, and that's about all I can say good about it. Had issues. Traded that in on a Stag, again on some other local advice. Had it for a couple of years; it worked fine for me, BECAUSE I never asked much of it (the "hundred rounds a year" thing).
Along the way, I read more and more. I began to take handgun classes, and heard about carbine classes (never knew of them before then). I'm an engineer, and actually now work in the defense industry, so the engineering aspect of this is easy for me to get, once I get the actual data...which I have found here. I have been reading and NOT posting for QUITE some time. I learned a lot from that Stag about the AR platform. I staked the castle nut. I staked the gas key. I learned to adjust the irons and shoot with them. I added an RDS and learned how shooting with that compares to shooting with irons. I learned how to clean and lube the rifle. As a learning platform it served a limited but useful purpose, primarily to see the info posted here in actual hardware.
Then last year, I traded it in on a Colt LE6920 with Magpul furniture. Thanks to what I learned here, I knew what to look at when I picked it up in the store, and it was as described. Since then, I have assembled a few lowers and one upper. I have bought good quality parts from BCM, Rainier, etc. I have shot more. I discovered that I like shooting with irons, which was a surprise. Thanks to the expertise here, I never did go through the phase of hanging a lot of junk on my rifles. This is my primary source for AR info. I do not make any claim to AR expertise, but as an engineer I am engaged in lifelong learning.
My rifles are tools. Excepting a home defense situation, I never expect to go into harm's way with them, but they are at least able to support that now with confidence. For the knowledge that I have picked up from others' real experience here, I am grateful. I may have questions now and then that even searching can't answerAs a kind of payment, I'm adding my experience to the great sum of data that "just buy a Colt" IS good practical advice, good engineering advice, and not just some elitist crap. I do my share of steering people here. I don't know if they come, but they at least receive a vector, and an admonition to read, read, read...
I'm just a guy, but over the years I've gathered a few thoughts on the subject.
- All ARs are not equal
- Not everyone needs a Colt
- The TDP is "the standard" by virtue of being the only one published (uh, unofficially)... and it works (when used in the manner it was designed for)
- People need to educate themselves on how the system operates, what's available (features), evaluate their needs and then buy accordingly
Originally Posted by Jaykayyy
You are welcome! I am here to learn, and so won't post much unless I can contribute (hopefully something technical, given my background). Just wanted y'all to know that there is another appreciative lurker out there.
In not getting a Colt right out of the gate, I did learn - and learn deeply - first-hand experience about other-brand quality. Kind of like a lab, to go with the theory. They normally call that the school of hard knocksI certainly would not have minded giving that Carbon 15 a miss, though (multiple FTE in every mag, some light strikes..on the upside, I learned a bit about malf clearing...) Maybe baring my soul like this helps keep someone else from going there.
I see lots of low end ARs at the range work pretty good, But when you go to a really hard core training the Colts. BCMs and Daniel Defenses take a licking and keep on ticking. Several years ago a friend bought a Kahr SU ca rifle used because it was cheap and used AR 15 mags. He brought it to a training class just because and he said several bottom feeder low end ARs failed yet the Kahr made it through the day! so Buy once Cry once.
Last edited by SteveS; 08-08-13 at 11:55.
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