Bushmaster quality?

[Uni-Vibe]

I bought mine in 1999. It's a M16A2 type. I haven't kept track of the round count, but it has never once given me a problem.

I'm off to the range this afternoon to put a couple hundred more rounds through it.

Did I just get lucky, or were the older Bushmasters better than the new ones?

(All that being said, when I recently bought a car gun, it was a 6920).

And what about the new Windhams?

[Stickman]

Bushmaster has an up and down history with AR15s. It’s like the QC rules were only in play certain days. Certain time periods were better than others, but nine were on par with Colt or the like.

I own a Buhsmaster URG which has been flawless, though I confess it hasn’t been fired much if at all in the last decade.

[Renegade04]

I believe that the Bushmasters of old (Windham, ME made models) are better that those of today. I have a Windham, ME made XM15-E2S A3 Target and it is a great shooter. It was the basis for my Travis Haley Blackwater clone.

Inspiration:


Clone:

[Slater]

Their QC has indeed been up and down, but over the years I've heard generally positive comments about their barrels. Don't know if they make their own or buy them from a subcontractor, though.

[Sry0fcr]

Bushmaster has an up and down history with AR15s. It’s like the QC rules were only in play certain days. Certain time periods were better than others, but nine were on par with Colt or the like.

Probably about as accurate of a statement as anyone will post. My dad's Bushy had a castle nut that was near completely backed off out of the box, and ran haaaaarsh (overgased & underbuffered). YMMV.

[ramairthree]

The whole overgassed thing is true.

But they leaned way towards reliability with crappy ammo and in crappy conditions.

[Iraqgunz]

Something that seems to be lost on some of the members here. You shouldn't haven't have to stake a castle nut, replace shitty carrier key screws, buy an H buffer, get a .040 front sight post, ream a chamber etc... on a new rifle to make it functional. Bushamster and other junk vendors survive because people don't demand they fix their products.

Bashamster quality is all over the place and has been for decades. Sadly, they could have made their stuff legit and yet chose not to.

[Esq.]

Something that seems to be lost on some of the members here. You shouldn't haven't have to stake a castle nut, replace shitty carrier key screws, buy an H buffer, get a .040 front sight post, ream a chamber etc... on a new rifle to make it functional. Bushamster and other junk vendors survive because people don't demand they fix their products.

Bashamster quality is all over the place and has been for decades. Sadly, they could have made their stuff legit and yet chose not to.

I would argue that they "survive" (How many times has Colt gone bankrupt or nearly so, now?) because they produce a product that people want and can afford that will fill a need they have- which in most cases is to sit in a closet and collect dust. That's the truth of the matter.

Now, you can say, "Well, those people are stupid and they should educate themselves and the only AR's in existence should be Colt 6920's etc..." But that's not the way of the world, never has been, never will be. Like it, don't like it....some things simply ARE.....

[ChattanoogaPhil]

I purchased a Bushmaster during the ban years. It was my first autoloading centerfire rifle. Fed it a steady diet of Wolf 62gr with the lacquer drips down the side of the case. Never skipped a beat.

Included was a 1983 USMC TM (don't know if Bushmaster included it or the seller did). In any event, I read through it and learned a little bit about the rifle. Also came with this spliced together 10rd magazine which I soon replaced with an outrageously priced 30rd magazine at a gun show. I took it out a couple years ago and it still shoots well. I now use the lower on a CMMG .22 dedicated upper and replaced the A2 stock with an adjustable. Maybe one day I'll buy another lower for the .22 and return the Bushmaster to it's original form.

[MSW]

There used to be a gun rag called “Gun Tests” in the 1990s that claimed no advertising dollars from manufacturers & they bought OTS guns, tested them & reported their results. Any problems requiring return were also reflected in the reviews as well. Back in the early 1990s (before the 1994 ban) there was Armalite, Bushmaster & Colt for ARs. Their review of all 3 led to the conclusion that Bushmaster was a few hundred dollars cheaper and did everything the Colt & Armalite did “better.” So, I bought a Dissipator—I liked the 16” heavy barrel with carbine gas system & full sight radius.

I’ve never had a problem with it in thousands of rounds. After reading about all the differences, I replaced the bolt & BCG with BCM; it now has a Geissele SSA trigger and an A2 stock. It still runs like a top, but is overgassed, as evidenced by brass sprinkles with M193, but the 1/9 twist allows me to consistently hit clay pigeons resting on the 100 yard berm with the TA11 ACOG on it. With handloads, I am able to subMOA with it. But it is an Hbar, so I would have been surprised if it didn’t shoot well.

Retrospectively, I wish I bought the Colt, not because of problems with the Bushie . But since the 1990s, I switched to building my own with CHF barrels. The exception being the Daniel Defense indulgence years ago.