How do the M&P15's stack up against these?Originally Posted by vcdgrips
How do the M&P15's stack up against these?
They are good guns, but not quite in the same league.
JRL, Pat Rogers has given the S&Ws his seal of approval.
I, in fact, have a SW AR 15 after taking an Oct 08 class with Pat. I bought it based on his rec, that of the SW rep in my class and because it was the only thing decent I could find in March of 09 that was not 1800 shipped i.e. Colt 6920. If I could sell it for what I had in it, I would add a little bit more and buy one from the list above. It's carrier key stood to be a bit more staked but otherwise it seems to be well put together. It remains unfired as my Frankengun ( BM superlightwt upper armalite lower (circa 2003) is running stong at 4500 rounds. I am not much of a carbine shooter.
Bottom line- Knowing what I know today if I was in the market today at the sub 1100 pricepoint, I would go with BCM, DD, Noveske, or Colt, put on an Aimpoint, a Vikings Tactics light mount, a Surefire 200 Lumen basic light, a fairly basic sling set up and get to a class.
YMMV Greatly, David
My meager contribution.
AR's built to a standard and at some point, issued to/purchased by DoD entities with high volume round counts on their agenda. Built to MilSpec (which does make a difference in AR's since there are not many people who have as many rounds down range through the AR family of rifles as the US Military. The people building these know a thing or two about it) These are also guns I would personally recommend to my friends and family:
Hk 416
Daniel Defense
Noveske Rifleworks
Colt
LMT
FN
Guns not purchased by DoD units, but built to a standard: (close to MilSpec)
BCM
LWRC
LaRue
Guns I would NOT buy if considering needing to use it to defend life, family, etc. Not built to any standard, or built to "secret" standards they are not interested in sharing with the public:
Bushmaster
Olympic
DPMS
Patriot Ordnance Factory (POF)
I know Pat has had good luck with the S&W M&P Rifles. I do not have enough experience with them to comment. I have a S&W M&P .22LR carbine that works great for what it is, and what it does..........but it's not really the same thing, or what we are talking about.
Now is a buyers market for AR's. Lots of high quality rifles for fair prices. Premium rifles still cost a premium penny, which make the Colt's and BCM's, DD, etc. look pretty attractive considering what you get for the price. You would be hard pressed to put something together remotely close to the quality, with the experience and technical know how of these companies for anywhere near the same price. Unless you buy from the third list.......in which case you could probably build one better.
Last edited by Odin Bravo One; 11-01-2011 at 02:49 AM.
You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
Ive been going through the same thing. For a lower you probably already have the tools lying around but the upper will require some specialized tools in addition to parts. Ive also priced out a bunch of stuff.
I think I am going to just get this complete lower from Rainer:
http://www.rainierarms.com/?page=sho...roduct_id=2746
And buy a complete upper form a reputable maker. Will save some money and have a good rifle.
Sean
Where does Rock River fit on your lists? I am currently considering one of these but would like to know your thoughts on where they fit in on the quality spectrum.
Obviously not SeanM, but. . .
For me they fall in the "no thanks" category. Lots of issues with tight chambers and lack of adherance to the commonly accepted minimum standard .
Seriously, you are going to pay about the same whether you go with one from the "approved" list or the "no so much" list.
Is there something that is drawing you to an RRA?
Director Of Sales
Knight's Armament Company
Sean M and F2F have given good advice.
The AR15's we have seen that typically run well include: Colt, BCM, Centurian, DD, FN, LaRue, LMT, Noveske (as long as it has a true 5.56mm chamber); the best piston gun is the HK416 followed distantly by the LWRC M6 series. The S&W's seem to run well, but we have not seen as many of them. MSTN custom uppers work very nicely.
We have seen consistent problems with a number of rifles, including Oly, DPMS, Bushmaster, POF, Rock River, and all the other vendors offering low end, bottom feeder, out of spec weapons, as well as piston add-ons.
Blayglock, PSA has about the same package a bit less money. I note the Ranier has the Timney trigger. If this is going to be a fun gun only, match triggers are fine. IMHO and IME, anything more serious, stay with standard triggers.
http://palmettostatearmory.com/1619.php
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