If you're new and buying a general purpose carbine, of the M4 variety with a 16" barrel and want to be a somewhat serious shooter with decent gear - you don't have to spend a bundle on a $3k fancy rifle, $2k optic, and $1/bullet match grade ammo. But you do need to buy high quality stuff that won't shit out on you during training or real life.
Buy a basic AR from one of the following makers between $1000-1100, you don't need to spend more than this to have a 100% reliable general purpose carbine. Buying used is okay too if the gun is not beat to hell, because serviceable means serviceable, not looking for safe queens.
Colt Defense
Bravo Company
Daniel Defense
Lewis Machine & Tool
Smith & Wesson M&P
Stay away from the following brands because they suck. Parts are made of lesser quality materials (steel alloys, aluminum alloys), with little or no quality testing done (HPT/MPI), and assembled poorly (staking, torquing, loctiting) but marketed as "milspec" with no explanation or details.
Bushmaster
Rock River
DPMS Arms
Olympic Arms
Other unknown / backyard brands
Once you have a well made AR, buy an good optic. Red dot sights are the most popular choice, which makes sense because for real life shooting you're probably going to be close up (within 100 yards - but probably much closer than that). Aimpoint leads EOTech in the serious shooter market, but not by much, and both are good optics. Currently the Aimpoint PRO is probably the best value purchase at about $400 and comes with a mount, ready to shoot. Just put it on the gun and go to the range.
30rd PMAGS are plentiful, cheap, and the new industry standard in the past few years for their reliability and durability, as well as re-designed non-tilt follower. Otherwise, the aluminum mags that you should be looking for will say Colt or NHMTG on the bottom and if they don't, then don't bother with them. Remeber, PMAGS are easy to find & cheap so there's no reason to own crappy magazines.
Plan to buy alot of .223 / 5.56mm ammunition. 55gr M193 or 62gr M855 is going to be a fine training ammo but for real life use get either a modern barrier blind load such as Fed 62gr TBBC, or 75gr TAP if you're looking for reliable frag. Reliance on M193 or M855 for real life shooting is stupid and has lead to people's view of the 5.56mm caliber being ineffective at times. The caliber is not the problem, bullet design has been the problem, solved with modern tech.
So once you buy a good carbine, and a good optic, a few PMAGS, and a boatload of training ammo; you're ready to focus on learning how to run a carbine. Don't cheap out and the gear will last a long time, cheap out and when it breaks you're just going to have to buy these recommendations anyway. Then how much will you have spent?
Additionally, you should seek out some high speed training from people who know what they're doing, have experience in the industry doing the kind of shooting you want to do, and know how to explain it to others. Don't get trained by some fat slob at the local range when big time instructors come to your area once or twice a year.
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