Average shooter vs "Trained shooter"

[Kvjavs]

You're not going to find the answer you're looking for.

Does your rifle work? Great! Move on.
Did something on your rifle break? That sucks. Replace the part with something from a quality brand and move on.

A lot of these budget brands are capable of making a functioning, reliable rifle. Just keep in mind that they cut corners somewhere or another, whether it is materials or quality control. Just because YOUR rifle didn't have any issues, doesn't mean issues don't exist due to these "cost saving" measures. My PSA is perfectly fine, but there are a lot of others that are not.

Don't seek the validation of others for your budget choice. Just enjoy it.

[Swstock]

The point of buying a better gun is to reduce chance of failure.

Every manufacturer has guns that work and every manufacturer has guns that dont. Better QC reduces the chance of a gun malfunctioning.

That sample of 1 isnt enough to show my point.

[1911-A1]

That's great that you have good experience with your bargain bin ARs. However you're a sample size of one. Talk to instructors who hold regular carbine classes and you'll hear a lot about students who roll up with DPMS, DelTon, Spikes, no-name parts builds, etc and end up being the ones who hold up the class with their persistent malfunctions.

No one said those guns never run, you're just much more likely to run into defects and issues with cheaper guns because they don't spend the money on QC

[teksid]

I have a Noveske, two Colts, a BCM and a few PSA’s. They all shoot fine, but if I ever NEED one it won’t be a PSA.

[Iraqgunz]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

The problem with that train of thought "certain parts, quality..Mil-spec" the government chooses the lowest bidder when it comes to contracts. Always has and always will, so what does that really say about Colt and FN?

[Campbell]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

You can lead them Gunz, but you can’t make them drink....

[Five_Point_Five_Six]

So I see a lot of posts on this forum, about people that buy "cheap/garbage Ar's" and that they don't shoot them enough to know that they are "garbage".

So my question is, what do the people posting these statements think is the right amount of range time/rounds down range to qualify them to professionally report on what is GTG or NOT? What amount makes you no longer average?

Because I shoot at least 2-3 times a week with the same 3-4 people, EVERY week and I have to disagree with what is junk or not. I can pretty much guarantee I put in more time at the range than most on this website. I have both and so do the guys I shoot with highend AR's Noveske, Colt. I also have the so called "GARBAGE Del-Ton, Ruger AR's" and guess what? I have no problems with any of them and truthfully I shoot my "lowend AR's" more than any of my highend. I have a *&#@ ton of rounds through my cheap AR's and rarely clean them. I take them out on 3-4 day hunts where we are hiking all day & night through the desert and them perform flawlessly!

I am not saying that a Del-Ton is the same quality as a Colt or BCM etc.... But they do and will last and handle hard use. I just think that we should be a little more opened minded to the lower end market, they have their place and actually perform quite well!!

I'd love to see some pics of these high end ARs and budget ARs that were put through so much hard use for you to form this opinion.

[Caduceus]

The point of buying a better gun is to reduce chance of failure.

Every manufacturer has guns that work and every manufacturer has guns that dont. Better QC reduces the chance of a gun malfunctioning.

That sample of 1 isnt enough to show my point.

This. Better quality = better function.

Mag dumping 500 rounds in one sitting shouldn't be a big deal for most firearms. Heck, I go out most range days and put around 400 rounds downrange on a rifle, maybe 200 in a pistol. That's my average day, maybe 2-3 days monthly. Doesn't make me an expert, nor do I claim to be. I don't even claim to be a very good marksman or avid shooter.

But my S&W M&P-15OR had issues in the first 500 rounds (possibly from switching brass to steel case, but it never improved even with cleaning). My PSA's have been about 50/50 (mostly issues with the non-5.56 flavors). My go-to gun is a Colt or a DD/BCM. Both of those have been through classes with 500+ round days (usually 2-day courses), shot in the summer heat and humidity in South Carolina, their torrential rains, and the snow in Kentucky. The DD recently got a supressor and has at least 500 rounds without issue. I have over 3K rounds through each (granted, not a huge number) but no issues with either. I also have a KAC 11.5 SBR that's getting close to that number that I use in my run N gun matches - weather ranging from 30-90 degrees and drug through mud pits, banged around when I run, dropped, clattered against rocks, rested on car doors, etc.

Notice I didn't put the S&W or PSA through those events?

[Firefly]

You’d hate me and my guns.

[1168]

Op, if cheap rifles were just as good as proper ones, the University of Science, Math, and Culture probably wouldn’t have so many that say Colt, FN, and HK on the magwells. I’m sure they’d love to save a few bucks.

Of the dozen or so AR’s and AR barrels I own, my PSA barrel is the only one that is not threaded properly. Something I never would have noticed had I not tried to mount a suppressor. And my RRA trigger is the only one that I’ve deadlined due to rust. I also deadlined another trigger in just 1000 rounds due to wear. You are correct that most people don’t shoot enough to find the cut corners, or tinker enough to find the reverse engineering errors. But honestly, with the prices that Colt 6920’s have been going for at LE oriented stores, you’d be crazy to buy a RRA, Bushy, or DPMS.

There is no free lunch.