Shane45

Fishnut, you are going off the rails here. I don't see anyone in this entire thread including myself that has taken a position that its ok to have a ND. What I said was that those that think it will never happen to them, in my experience, are the ones to be more concerned about. Furthermore your description is inaccurate. If a firearm discharged because of a defect, it is not a ND. I accept that I am human. I try very very hard to continually evaluate my gun handling. I make it a personal habit to even check a firearm that was just checked in front of me and handed to me. But I also am acutely aware that because I handle firearms a metric ton more than the average person and because I handle them in a very wide range of environments, I run the risk of lapsing or becoming complacent and I do my very best to real myself in if I find myself making mistakes or ignoring my own rules. But as such I realize I am NOT immune to making a mistake. Because I am aware I am not immune, I am always trying to put myself in check if I am living up to being as safe as I can be. NO ONE IS IMMUNE!

Yes but there is a big difference between the person that handles it once in a blue moon and someone handling them 1000 times a day. Keep in mind that I am NOT excusing accidents. However I am pointing out that as much as we try, they still happen. So be careful of the crucifixion because there is NO guarantee the day will not come that you have the accident. In fact those that say it will never happen to them scare me much more than those that accept it could be them. Frankly those that exibit an honest disposition that it could be them are the ones I find more conscientious and careful. But of course its not just firearms. Look at root cause analysis on some serious disasters and you can find endless cases of incredible financial loss and loss of life from literally one in a billions sequences of small mistakes by individuals that should have never happened...but did.

Everyone says they will never have one..... until they do!

Some thoughts for consideration. My buddy has been to many track days and has completed a number of riding schools. By all accounts a very accomplished rider. So when it reached me that he had been killed on his bike, I thought for sure someone took him out. I persisted in asking how it happened and finally found out that indeed he made a mistake. It cost him his life. But the fact of the matter is that we are engaged in activities that come with inherent risk. We all strive for safety perfection. But keep in mind that is a goal. There will always be the human element. If you ride, sky dive, shoot etc etc you accept an elevated risk. Otherwise stick to knitting. From the gunshop all the way up to the USSS, there have been and will continue to be accidents. We all do our best to prevent them. It is my opinion that GSSC tries very, very hard to prevent accidents. But handle tens of thousands of customers and guns a year, there will be a risk. I am 100% confident they will analyze the incident and make changes where appropriate.

I like new things to review. But Im always cautious about paying early adopter tax. The MRO seems to be in that category. Many issues reported of which reliability seems to be one of them. Maybe wait for the gen 2?

I did go OD

I believe the X95 is almost a pound less.

Facts are getting ignored? Exactly what fact has been ignored? You complained barrels couldn't be found. I found them in 5 minutes. I found barrels for a tavor but I can not get a barrel for a smith and Wesson American made ar. Your criteria seems to be largely centered around cost. If cheap casual shooting is your criteria, then that makes sense. But your logic in your original post does not really hold up under scrutiny. If cheap shooting is your goal then indeed the hi point would be the clear winner. You haven't presented any logic to the contrary. An AK does not even remotely compare to a Tavor in terms of modularity or the chief attribute that someone seeking a tavor is likely after, its size. You say the AK has parts availability. Great but unless you have all the tools to press fit the barrel into the trunion, it doesn't really matter about availability does it? So your key point is price? I do not care about price. The AK is not the solution to the problem. So the price is irrelevant. If I need a specific antibiotic, having 4 times as many other antibiotics that wont solve the problem isn't better.

I think they are both roughly 26.5 with the 16" Barrel. The X95 is shorter so they had to thicken the butt pad to maintain ATF compliance.

You do realize you can buy parts from resellers right? Both 16 and 18 inch 5.56 barrel kits available on gunbroker right now, no wait. I think your issue is you didn't look hard enough. And you could get 2 highpoints for the price of 1 cheap AK. Perhaps you should stock up on highpoints. So instead of carrying 4 AK's you could carry 8 highpoints! Sounds like your describing finish wear. Hope you don't own any HK handguns as they will show finish wear just from racking the slide a few times. But hey, you could get 7.3 highpoint pistols for the price of 1 HK45! Personally I do not gauge a firearms merit on how many copies of the same firearm I can get for the price of a different firearm as I only have one pair of arms to carry it with. I match the firearm to the problem I am trying to solve regardless of its price. In the case of the Tavor, in the pursuit of the most compact non NFA firearm, I find it the best solution.

What exactly are you calling wear? Surface wear? Wear causing a dimensional difference in the part? A barrel is easy to swap out on an AK? You can get a 9mm kit for an AK? You can easily change an ar to 9mm with a kit not requiring a new upper or pulling apart your existing one? I agree complete barrel kits seem hard to get right now but...at least they can be gotten. Yes the AR is the lego of rifles. But what other new rifle has great parts availability? All new rifles take time for supply channels to develop in the marketplace. Here's one for you. Find me a replacement barrel for a Smith and Wesson M&P10. I am deeply rooted in the AR platform but I find your statements to be rather flawed on the Tavor. http://www.tactical-life.com/firearms/iwi-tavor-sar-12000-round-torture-test/#action-4

Furious a military based weapon has a military trigger?

The QD mounts I use are $375 each. The rings I use are $135 each. Id rather use rings on that rifle. Being a precision rifle I don't need QD. I move my glass around and prefer non canted mounts in general. What if you want a monolithic upper? Who makes a forged monolithic? So, in my opinion, people may want billet because they have a feature not offered in a forged offering. Fundamentally though, in a $3200 rifle is a couple bucks more for a billet receiver significant to the overall cost?

Now the mags did have an extra stipulation placed upon them. But as we all agree clear as mud in NJ! I cant actually find the original statement that said they had to be permanently altered in a way the mag is destroyed if an attempt to reverse it was made.

In the eyes of the ATF, if properly installed, it is no longer a threaded barrel. That is not the goal of NJ law. Does the stock still have all its parts to collapse? Indeed the muzzle device and the stock are related. They are both related to compliance. And to be compliant they need to be "permanently" altered/attached. To accept the method of permanently altered/attached for one and not the other is illogical. The state makes no reference in statute to the atf guideline. It makes little sense to follow a guideline that has nothing to do with permanently attaching one part to another. Again the ATF rules are to make 2 parts into one part. And truth be told half the pin and weld jobs done in NJ do NOT pass the atf definition.

If im not mistaken GSSC has a SAR on the rental rack. Might be worth a session to see first hand.

On the topic of buying from Blake, your good to go! On the topic of SAR vs X95, it depends on how it fits you. For me, emphasis ME, I find the X95 a better fit for me. I am 6'2" and have a condor wingspan. The angles of the front grip and the charging handle all just tweaked me a little bit and I blame my long arms. But others prefer it! My shooting partner seems to prefer the SAR. He has become very accomplished at mag changes on the SAR system and is very fast. So in my opinion, its really a matter of preference. I happen to dig the camo job!

Iron Ridge Arms

Just a PSA, that KMR rail has a damn small inside diameter. You really need to use a low pro GB with it.

Vlad, that's exactly the point. NJ seems to accept a pin as a permanent solution to a stock, therefore they would have to accept it as permanent for a barrel. I don't find it logical to adapt NFA law that is NOT based around what is a permanent connection of a barrel and muzzle device, 2 separate items, their pursuit (ATF) is what makes it a single item, a barrel over 16".

To each his own. But to say its only a flashy way to spend money is a little short sighted. My precision AR has an integral 20moa rail. I do not know of any forged receiver that has that feature.

Consider if a pin was not acceptable all your pinned stocks wouldn't be legal either.

Its not about strength. Its about the ability to make it your way, not the way any of the forges that kick out the majority of receivers want you to make it. Ambi lowers have caught on but not to long ago KAC was just about the only one that had a forged ambi lower and they do not sell striped receivers. So if you wanted ambi for your build, billet was it. I don't see any significant strength difference between the two so its about features and finish machining for me. But think about if your after a monolithic. Again, you will be in billet land if you want that feature.

Before you thumb your nose at the 5.56 and perceived strength to contain the mighty 308, your cast M1A receiver seems to hold up to the task. Also consider that AR pattern rifles come in many other calibers than 5.56. For a long period of time the only lowers you could get with some features were billet. Im not going to get into strength of each type, its a deep rabbit hole as to what really makes forged, whats stronger etc etc. But with that being said, wouldn't you prefer your M1A receiver was forged instead of cast? But then again a norinco was forged and I think Id rather have a cast springfield over a forged norinco. But id take a LRB over both of those. Id rather have a billet from one manufacturer over a forging from another. Depends on who is doing the forging, casting or machining.