Tier1 AR15 recommendations for a first time AR purchase

[3 AE]

It's been five weeks since the OP put in the original post. It would be nice to have an update to see if his neighbor has made a decision one way or another. Just so the bickering can end and we can move on.

[Biggy]

SOLGW

[pinzgauer]

That’s the kind of comment normally heard from the Neo Fudds (“but muh Colts are the bestest, so they get a pass when they churn out crap”) who are trying to differentiate between products without recognizing that time and technology have moved on. Colt these days is just another parts bin assembler, who outsources their parts to the same companies everyone else outsources their parts to. The only thing they have over other basic bitch M-forgeries is a 1-7 twist barrel.

Whatever DNA Colt got from the mil-contract days is all dried up, as they don’t have that contract anymore.

I’ll articulate this: My duty weapon is a new Colt (delivered 2 years ago), and it came with a barrel nut that was not timed properly, causing the KAC (P&S) rail to be crooked.

Wow, you certainly put a lot of words in my mouth. And I'm a neo-fudd now, that's a new one.

My reply was about your fit and finish comment... Which outside of a few areas that I listed is pretty subjective and usually a sign of someone who's not very informed on what matters on ARs and what doesn't.

You kind of tipped your "just as good as" hand when you said they were mil-spec but also said that they sometimes use 9310 for bolts.

I'm not completely anti-9310, many Grendel bolts are made from it for some specific reasons. But as Bill Alexander said, you live or die by the heat treat.

But for 223/556 it's not mil-spec if it's not c158 and several other things.

Do I entirely trust CR colts? No, though I still believe they're probably better than many alternatives.

But when you can get pre-CR Colt oems for 750 to 800 bucks it's kind of an easy button.

Wyndham maybe veering towards a better mil spec type rifle, but they're early variants were not and there's not a lot of trust there.

For what it's worth, your KAC barrel nut timing issue would not be a mil-spec issue. If the nut allows the gas tube to go through cleanly and not contact it it's fine. But could be a few degrees off.

I view that as more of a KAC design issue then a colt mfg defect to. But it would be easily corrected, less than 5 minutes.

[Dan_B]

If the original question is still open, the person has or can can get a good quality lower…I ran into this LaRue Tactical sale and got one for myself; 16” 5.56 LaRue Upper for $749

https://www.larue.com/products/larue...e-ar-15-upper/



LaRue Complete AR-15 Match Grade Upper

“…a complete, ready-to-shoot-extremely-small-groups LaRue 16” 5.56 LaRue Upper for $749 …drop this LaRue upper on your any-brand AR-15 lower, toss on a magnified scope, use match ammo or your own handloads, and easily shoot under 1-inch groups at 100 yards…. using this same 16” barrel profile… 20 rifles averaged just over 0.400 moa using Hornady 75gr BTHP Match ammo.”

SPECS:
Caliber: 5.56 x 45 mm NATO
Barrel Lengths: 16.1”,
Rifling Twist Rate: 1/8
Barrel Life: 10,000
Gas System: Direct Impingement

[Hammer_Man]

Wow, you certainly put a lot of words in my mouth. And I'm a neo-fudd now, that's a new one.

My reply was about your fit and finish comment... Which outside of a few areas that I listed is pretty subjective and usually a sign of someone who's not very informed on what matters on ARs and what doesn't.

You kind of tipped your "just as good as" hand when you said they were mil-spec but also said that they sometimes use 9310 for bolts.

I'm not completely anti-9310, many Grendel bolts are made from it for some specific reasons. But as Bill Alexander said, you live or die by the heat treat.

But for 223/556 it's not mil-spec if it's not c158 and several other things.

Do I entirely trust CR colts? No, though I still believe they're probably better than many alternatives.

But when you can get pre-CR Colt oems for 750 to 800 bucks it's kind of an easy button.

Wyndham maybe veering towards a better mil spec type rifle, but they're early variants were not and there's not a lot of trust there.

For what it's worth, your KAC barrel nut timing issue would not be a mil-spec issue. If the nut allows the gas tube to go through cleanly and not contact it it's fine. But could be a few degrees off.

I view that as more of a KAC design issue then a colt mfg defect to. But it would be easily corrected, less than 5 minutes.

I think we’re actually in agreement on a lot of things, I just get tired of the broken record that this forum has become ad nauseam. Like I said I don’t think Windham is the best rifle out there, but for $850.00 or less I think they offer a respectable product. Fit and finish may not matter to Uncle Sam, but I think it’s indicative of overall quality in most products we as consumers buy. As of late, Windham’s products seem well made, and they use industry standard materials. I could understand the hate if they used 6160 receivers, 4140 barrels, etc, but that isn’t the case. As for the 9310 bolt, that doesn’t bother me, as long as the heat treat has been done properly. Even JP uses 9310 for their bolts. My only caveat with Windham is their 1x9 twist barrels. I don’t understand why they don’t use 1x7 twist barrels, when they have them in their parts catalog.

As for the KAC rail on my assigned weapon, I’m not saying the barrel nut or the rail were faulty. They weren’t installed correctly, which is a fit and finish issue. Does this mean that all Colts suck because my Army Colt assembled in 2019 wasn’t assembled correctly? No of course not. I think it’s only fair to give other manufacturers the same benefit of the doubt, especially if they’ve shown a willingness to listen to the market and improve. Heck, toward the end of Remington there were some pretty decent looking DPMS, and Bushmaster rifles as well. I mean Rittenhouse (regardless of your opinion on his actions) fought off an entire horde with an M&P sport, and a cheap Chinesium red dot.

If we keep repeating the Colt mantra without recognizing the efforts of other manufacturers, we as a community will become the new old Fudds. Leaning over the gun counter 20 years from now on any given afternoon, telling the young folks that all they need is a 6920, and a box of shells.

[MistoGators]

BCM upper + Aero lower
Colt 6920
Zion 15

All great options for under $1k.

[rlewpolar]

If the original question is still open, the person has or can can get a good quality lower…I ran into this LaRue Tactical sale and got one for myself; 16” 5.56 LaRue Upper for $749

https://www.larue.com/products/larue...e-ar-15-upper/



LaRue Complete AR-15 Match Grade Upper

“…a complete, ready-to-shoot-extremely-small-groups LaRue 16” 5.56 LaRue Upper for $749 …drop this LaRue upper on your any-brand AR-15 lower, toss on a magnified scope, use match ammo or your own handloads, and easily shoot under 1-inch groups at 100 yards…. using this same 16” barrel profile… 20 rifles averaged just over 0.400 moa using Hornady 75gr BTHP Match ammo.”

SPECS:
Caliber: 5.56 x 45 mm NATO
Barrel Lengths: 16.1”,
Rifling Twist Rate: 1/8
Barrel Life: 10,000
Gas System: Direct Impingement

Funny, just started a new thread asking about this upper. How are you liking it? Is that an Mlok rail? Have you attached anything to it? I have a Larue PredaOBR and it has a proprietary rail which is easy to attach sections of picatinny rail to. Was wondering how you would go about attaching gizmos to this rail. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[titsonritz]

Funny, just started a new thread asking about this upper. How are you liking it? Is that an Mlok rail? Have you attached anything to it? I have a Larue PredaOBR and it has a proprietary rail which is easy to attach sections of picatinny rail to. Was wondering how you would go about attaching gizmos to this rail. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Looks like they are using their Stealth 2.0 Receiver and Handguard set which is available in 10.5" and 13" M-LOK

[rlewpolar]

Looks like they are using their Stealth 2.0 Receiver and Handguard set which is available in 10.5" and 13" M-LOK

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro