Rank Production AR Manufacturers

[blksheep 466]

I own a Bushmaster and Olympic Arms and Instruct on a Colt. Where do you guys rank the different manufacturers?

 

I like bushy I have owned 2 and picked up the Oly arms in trade and like that also. Our dept. uses the Colt and thats what I instruct on, and its solid.

 

How do you rank the companies.

 

I can rank mine like this:

 

Bushy

Colt

Oly arms

 

I have never shot S&W or stag etc so I cannot comment on them altough I do have a PSA stripped lower that is well machined but not put together.

[notmetoo 41]

Can't speak to this, I've only owned one (LMT and it's great) and fired two (my LMT and a RRA).

However, you may have started a war along the lines of Mac vs. PC, Coke vs. Pepsi, Chevy vs. Ford, Glock vs., well everything...

You get the idea.

 

And that's not a bad thing - I'm looking forward to reading the rat of the responses.

[blksheep 466]

Let the war begin.....

[Shane45 807]

Colt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bushy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olympic

[blksheep 466]

I almost couldnt find the end of the post!

[KpdPipes 388]

Shane is being too Kind to Oly...I know of an entire batch of Oly barrels that was not parkerized properyl, laid on their sides, which etched the rifling out of half the barrel..i wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt had the damn thing in my hands and Seen it. the other "No Go" for me is DPMS, I don't trust their internals. As for everyone else..everybody has good days and bad days. I've had colts with improperly staked gas keys, and i;ve seen Stags that were absolutely perfect.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Polish milled AK

Wasr-10

Saiga

[Old School 611]

Shane is being too Kind to Oly...I know of an entire batch of Oly barrels that was not parkerized properyl, laid on their sides, which etched the rifling out of half the barrel..i wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt had the damn thing in my hands and Seen it. the other "No Go" for me is DPMS, I don't trust their internals. As for everyone else..everybody has good days and bad days. I've had colts with improperly staked gas keys, and i;ve seen Stags that were absolutely perfect.

 

PM sent

[MidwestPX 172]

I look at it as there are commercial ARs and there are, for lack of a better term, military ARs. Bushmaster, CMMG, DPMS, Rock River Arms, Stag all get grouped into the former while LMT, Colt, BCM, Daniel Defense get lumped into the latter. In carbine classes, I personally have noticed that the commercial ARs tend to experience more issues than the military ones. Speaking with multiple instructors, they have observed the same. I don't delve too much into the minutae separating brands within a group because I don't think there all that much separating them as far as features/specs are concerned.

[autoxnyc 4]

Colt by far the best here. Bushy is ok but not made like the Colt. for example, Bushmaster is not parked under the FSB. every little detail counts.

[KpdPipes 388]

PM sent

PM answered.

[vladtepes 1,060]

Shane is being too Kind to Oly...I know of an entire batch of Oly barrels that was not parkerized properyl, laid on their sides, which etched the rifling out of half the barrel..i wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt had the damn thing in my hands and Seen it. the other "No Go" for me is DPMS, I don't trust their internals. As for everyone else..everybody has good days and bad days. I've had colts with improperly staked gas keys, and i;ve seen Stags that were absolutely perfect.

 

for some reason there is apparently a HUGE difference between DPMS in 308 and DPMS in 556 as far as quality goes.. I have no idea why..

[Dr.Jimmy Rustler 23]

Polish milled AK

Wasr-10

Saiga

ohh you.

 

while I dont have enough experience with them all to rank them ive had zero problems w my stag

[henrym 19]

I couldnt be happier with my smith to be honest. Head and shoulders above the other brands I have shot.

 

The bcg and components are mpi tested as well.

[vladtepes 1,060]

Polish milled AK

Wasr-10

Saiga

 

so you know nothing about AKs either..

 

 

here is a link back to the shotgun section..

http://njgunforums.com/forum/index.php?/forum/66-shotguns/

[GRIZ 3,369]

A lot of this depends on when they were made.

 

Back in the 70s and 80s Bushmasters were crap but the present product is pretty good.

 

I've seen more Colts break down because a lot of my experience is with Colts so I wouldn't say they're bad. You need to base your decision on more than a small sampling.

 

The three I've had work for me is (in no particular order):

 

Colt, DPMS (which some hate), and Rock River.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

so you know nothing about AKs either..

 

 

here is a link back to the shotgun section..

http://njgunforums.c...um/66-shotguns/

 

Thanks, I got lost.

[DevsAdvocate 112]

LMT, Noveskse, Colt, BCM, and a few others are in the top tier, where their quality is almost unquestioned.

 

Stag, PSA, S&W, etc. are mid-tier. Quality, but a bit more decently priced.

 

Bushmaster isn't even really a brand anymore, they just build ARs out of Remington's Ilion, NY plant. So for all intents and purposes, they are Remington.

[raz-0 1,259]

I think DPMS has a marked difference between a custom order and a stock item, even in the 5.56 lineup. I've seen plenty of nice ones.

 

The reality is that given the proliferation of DIY and quality small vendors, that all the ARs on the market have been improving in quality. I think the only place where it is easy to differentiate them are barrel quality, and bolt carrier group. Even then, ther'es more end purpose and personal preference type choices being made there than any absolute quality differentiation.

[Shane45 807]

For me its about the instructor reviews, build quality, materials and testing. Build quality is self explanatory. Materials is fairly self eplanatory, Series of aluminum, process by which it was made(forged, cast, extruded etc etc, ) Barrel steel, Anodising. And then there is the instructor reviews. A conversation I had with Doc Roberts a long time ago on the subject. Readers digest version most AR's will appear to perform well under the minor stresses put on them by the casual weekend range trip. Its the high round count in a short time span, aggressive OCF classes that tend to expose the lesser rifles. And this is where the better materials, better build quality tend to show themselves as being a superior rifle. When a rifle brand that represents 50% of the class is having 90% of the failures over thousands of students and rifles, I think there is valuable data there. Interestingly Im seeing a trend among some instructors toward the SCAR and a few have said the ones they see in classes just arent going down.

[KpdPipes 388]

for some reason there is apparently a HUGE difference between DPMS in 308 and DPMS in 556 as far as quality goes.. I have no idea why..

 

I know people that swear by them..i just dont trust their internals..Like I told Old School, in my armorer's course we here shown examples of problems with ALL manufacturers, including the Almighty, Holy Colt (Cue beam of sunlight and heavenly Chorus here). The only 2 manufacturers that were mentioned as having repetitive, consistant issues were Oly and Kitty-cat. Dont get me wrong I have a DPMS slick-side upper...on a dedicated .22. IMO there are enough other companies out there that provide LPK's that steering clear of one particular manufacturer isnt an inconvenience. I wont knock anyone for choosing any particular brand, All i WILL say however, is be aware of reviews, and other's experience, and make your choices accordingly.

[Shawnmoore81 623]

I've shot smith and Wesson m&p, a couple diff bushmasters, colt m4 and target, dmps. As far as those brands I liked the feel of the sw and colt. I think the hk and the sig 516 are nice pieces of machinery also. I Handled em but haven't shot em..... Yet

[dtown223 12]

LMT, Noveskse, Colt, BCM, and a few others are in the top tier, where their quality is almost unquestioned.

 

Stag, PSA, S&W, etc. are mid-tier. Quality, but a bit more decently priced.

 

Bushmaster isn't even really a brand anymore, they just build ARs out of Remington's Ilion, NY plant. So for all intents and purposes, they are Remington.

Thank you so much for NOT writing "for all intensive purposes"

My least favorite malapropism

[Bwana4 0]

Well, to spend a few dollars...LaRue Tactical OBR, Noveske, Les Baer, then

LMT,DD, then RRA, then the rest. Just one person's opinion