My memory is fading, but some time ago I saw a ranking of the the AR rifles. It was someone who went to ( I believe ) Frontsight school, after many years and thousands of black rifles being tortured the school made a list of all the makes of AR's

TIER 1...Will complete the course

TIER 2...May complete the course

TIER 3...Will likely fail the course

They ranked each rifle brand tier 1, 2, or 3 so students could pick a rifle they know would complete the course, nothing worse than spending time and money, then watching everyone else shoot while your rifle was down due to a breakage/parts failure.

Does anyone have that list? Or know what I am referring too?

Probably posted over at www.ar15.com.

doubledown

I have been using, and around others using the AR 15/M16 for @27years in high numbers.

I have never seen a new Colt AR, out of the box that did not function 100%.

I have seen at least 600 different Rock River AR's, shot at least 750 rounds each, some up to 5000 rounds each with no problems.

These would be my top 2 picks.

+ 1 rock river makes an excellent ar. i consider them the best of tier 2. still not a colt, lmt, or noveske (tier 1).

doubledown, I doubt very much whether Frontsight evaluates their "black rifles" at 600 yards. If their only criteria is whether the gun goes bang every time, that is not sufficient for me. I need something that will go bang every time AND is accurate! To me that means the Colt HBAR. One does not see too many Colt's at 3 gun matches, mainly RRAs but that does not mean that Colt's are no good, just that the shooters follow the herd. God luck with your search for "the list".
Peter.

colts have all the stuff done to them, like magnaflux and shot peening that some others dont have and might not be nessary when only used for target shooting, and ive had a brand new colt hbar that had a gas tube problem and wouldnt cycle properly, they fixed it and with softpoint cheap federals it shot 1/4 in groups

Peter,Good point.
I can say I have seen several Colt factory, out of the box rifles shot 200,300 and 600 yards.

All of them shot very good.

When I first switched from an M1/A to an AR for NRA Service rifle I started with a box stock Colt H Bar.

This rifle shot very well. After a few matches the only thing I changed was to install a thinner front sight.

I shot several perfect scores at 200 yards rapid fire with this rifle.

My understanding is that Pat Rogers developed the Tier system.

Tier 1 are weapons built to a standard by contract. Colt, FN, and other manufacturers required by law to produce a product of known quality.

Tier 2 are weapons built to meet or exceed the military standard but under no obligation to do so. BCM, LMT.

Tier 3 is where people start to disagree.

I spent a good deal of time and money playing on the AR side and if you look in my safe you will find components from Colt, LMT, BCM and LaRue. Certain other things may be all right, but as a general rule, if one has to ask about brands I just tell them to buy a Colt and proceed from there.

Like one AR15.com poster said, Colt has grease stains on the shop floor that have been there since before RRA was in business.