Tell me who makes the best AR's? Rank them, in your opinion. Best to worst.

Armalite, Rock River, Dpms, Larue (sp?) Stag, Colt, etc.

Who makes the best, who's is the worst? I ask because I honestly don't know.

Best can mean different things to different people.

On reliability out of the box, I can state the following, baised on the last 30 years.

I have never seen a factory Colt, that did not work 100% out of the box, with good ammo and magazines of course. I have seen many of these over the years.

More recently Rock River's have been reliabile as well. I have seen a few hundred of these shot in the last 5 years.

I've never owned an AR-15 that wasn't reliable. I've owned I think 7 of them now from the lowly model 1 sales to Colt. My all time favorite is a Sabre Defence Competition Deluxe. It's never FTF and it's very accurate. It handles very well also.

Depending on what you do with the gun has a lot to do with how you feel about it. A real good example is Colt. People that work with these guns place a very high value on them. Most target shooters don't like them. Are either wrong? No, the gun is extremely reliable and has a reputation as such, but most of them aren't extremely accurate and this stigma follows them too.

Terry

there is a reason for price differences, shot peened bolts , magnafluxed , chrome bbl on an on
colts have it all, i had a new colt i had to send back , gas tube problems they fixed it,with cheap federal softpoint shot 1/4 in groups

May as well ask people to rate their favorite brand of pickup truck.

Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota...

Here's one for you. Friend bought an Olympic Arms AR15. It wouldn't eject In fact it eject inward. Yes you read that correctly. Here come to find out the bolt was assembled into the carrier 180 degrees out. Now as you all know on a quality AR15/M16 you can't put the bolt cam pin in with the bolt 180 out because the hole on the wrong side is much smaller. This is to make it idiot proof. Goes to show you the quality of the Olympic Arms.

quote:

Originally posted by Rub Line:
May as well ask people to rate their favorite brand of pickup truck.

Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota...

No need. I have already made up my mind which is best truck!

When I do not know about a subject, I like to gather information to educate myself. I am new to the AR world and wonder what is junk and what is good.

Just looking for reliability. What gun functions as it should. What gun has a crap trigger, what gun ejects inward (interesting) and what peoples opinions are.

Most all of them are reliable. A bad one gets out the door at every company from time to time.

Terry

There are two issues here, one self-resolving. There are many firms assembling AR's but very few that actually manufacture the parts.

Happily, most of the parts makers enjoy us.gov contracts so parts are all but interchangeable. The joker in the deck is the "look-alikes" that some smaller companies make and use in their rifles. Some parts, like match triggers, are not mil-spec since the mil isn't interested in them at all anyway.

The second matter is company-specific and it's the level of expertise and care exercised in the assembly. The custom houses are best for this but RR, Colt, Armalite (usually), Bushy and DPMS (most of the time) are more than adequate. A stinker gets out the door sometimes at every company but some seem to have more'n their share.

Buy whatever you want - chances are you'll be just fine.

Mark

Wendell

If you are looking for relibility re-read my first post.

It is baised on over 30 years of being "around"
the different brands of AR's, as they have come and gone. And seeing the ones mentioned being shot several thousand times each.

I've never bought a complete AR.

I bought complete uppers, stripped lowers and assembled them. And tore them down and reassembled etc.

I use the best parts I can afford. As others here have said, there are lots of brand names, but only a few companies making the core parts, upper receivers, stripped lowers, barrels, small parts etc. The high end brands get their parts from the same vendors that the Stags and RRA's of the AR world get theirs.

Both of my AR's run well with no issues. I attribute that to good quality parts and extreme care in assembly.
I think I have two of the "best" AR's in existence. I know who built them, what parts went into them and I know for sure the builder has tested them thoroughly.

Any of the usual suspects will serve you well. Stag, RRA, Del-Ton, Bushmaster are some that come to mind.
If you can afford Colt, Noveske, LMT or one of the other high end manufacturers by all do it.

Gratuitous AR pics.

N E 450 No2,

Yes, I believe you have had some experience in this. Thanks for your input.

I am not in the market, I just want to know more about the guns.

A friend just got a DPMS .308 and a Rock River Varmint.

I have a Rock River LAR8 in .308 and a 20" Varmint (.223)

Now for the ...

quote:

Gratuitous AR pics.

Thanks Zeke, good lookin' gun

Here are mine:

20" Varmint with VX III 4.5-14


.308 with EOTech

Wendell

"Rumor" is that DPMS and Rock River 308's have a "similar" heritage.

Reports on them have been good.

Stag is CMT's commercial outlet. With that said I know CMT built most the Colt parts in the early days and very well may still be doing so. Stag/CMT is making the Smith & Wesson AR15's. There not a whole lot of manufacturers that actually make the upper and lower receivers. I'm talking about the normal forgerd receivers, not the ones made from billet.

starmetal

My Brother in Law has a S&W AR.

It looks good and shoots real good.

But it is the only one I have any experience with.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
Wendell

"Rumor" is that DPMS and Rock River 308's have a "similar" heritage.

Interesting. I will be able to tell more laying them side by side. We shoot together occasionally.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
starmetal

My Brother in Law has a S&W AR.

It looks good and shoots real good.

But it is the only one I have any experience with.

I built me two AR15's. One is a 6.5 Grendel and the other a 7.62.39. I used Stag upper and lower receivers. I have an old pre ban Colt HBAR and for the heck of it threw the one Stag upper on the Colt lower and you couldn't tell the difference in the finish or color. I had talked to CMT about some bolts and we discussed how they made some of the first parts for Colts and how many people didn't know that. CMT has been in this business for a long time.

Talking about the 308's Arma-Lite isn't happy about the "other" brands being called AR10's. I believe the other brands can't legally call them AR 10's. I also believe there are only two configurations out there for the AR's in 308...the Arma-Lite and the others. I think some of the difference is in the different magazines. DPMS makes Remington's larger caliber AR.

quote:

Originally posted by starmetal:
Talking about the 308's Arma-Lite isn't happy about the "other" brands being called AR10's. I believe the other brands can't legally call them AR 10's.

I see, that would explain the names.
DPMS calls their LR 308
Rock River calls their LAR8

I know the Rock River take FAL mags.

DPMS Mags are unique to the brand.
DPMS does have a forward assist that some of the others don't.

I like the Wilson ARs a great deal, but they are expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by DuggaBoye:
DPMS Mags are unique to the brand.

Also fit Knight SR-25s.

Over the past few years you would see quite a few Rock River AR15 NM Service Rifles being used
by competitors plus a whole host of others as well. Not uncommon for 15's to be a collection of parts from all manner of sources, some good and some not so good. Most NM versions of the AR15 Service Rifle class w/ quality 7 or 8 twist barrel, float tube under the handguards, tuned trigger@4.5lbs, NM tuned sights, etc. will easily hold the X ring at 600 yards w/ a skilled trigger puller. Fulton Armory, Compass Lake Engineering are two highly regarded suppliers. Rock River will closely compete with these two most of the time and at less initial cost, but as most of them today, backordered out the gazoo. For general info on the makings of match grade 15's, may want to read what Mr. Frank White of Compass Lake does w/ 15's. There are other good builders out there, but these three I have the most "time behind the gun..."