Academy is selling them for $879.99.Originally Posted by beenalongtime
Academy is selling them for $879.99.
At the current $879 Academy Sports price they are an absolute steal.
I picked one up as my first tactical rifle after handling and trying out a few other options. At the time the Tavor was taking everyone by storm and ARs were very mature by then, but I don't at all regret my ARX decision. I agree with Bodhi on a lot of points.
If you want an AR, get an AR. The ARX brings something different to the table in terms of user experience.
IMO, the ARX brings a lightweight, 3rd gen. piston-driven fighting rifle at an amazingly good price to the table in a package that emphasizes ease of use, simplicity, and good out of the box experience. It's very ergonomic, but different than the AR.
It's without a doubt the cleanest, easiest to maintain rifle I've seen to date. Ignoring the aftermarket, in terms of simplicity and ease of operation, it's basically the Glock of combat rifles. Lots of polymer and very few parts that all work reliably. It's a very cool running rifle as well, and I notice that heat dissipation is very good on it compared to some other, lightweight AR builds. And it probably uses/requires the least amount of lubrication of any rifle I've seen. Literally three drops (1 to each extractor, and 1 to the cam channel) and you're good to go. Just wipe the rest down and have at it.
Nowadays the aftermarket for it covers just about all of the complaints anyone has had about the rifle. You can get extended bottom rails, extended charging handle, and a two-stage ShootingSight trigger that is really good (disclaimer, I was one of the beta testers).
As far as accuracy goes, that's completely overblown. I have a Steiner T5Xi 1-5x24mm on top of it and I regularly shoot at the 600m lane in my local range on steel silhouettes with 77gr TMK Black Hills ammo without issue at all. Hits all day long if I'm doing my job. It will never be a sub-MOA gun, but it's a great 2 - 4 MOA shooter.
As an enthusiast I have made use of the swappable ejection features and the easily swapped charging handle. Besides just working with lefties, It has been useful when setting up shooting drills with others who don't need brass flying into their face or bouncing around to their side. And if I'm going to be doing a lot of shooting from prone, swapping the charging handle to the other side makes it easier to stay relaxed and in position while laying down and shooting.
Things like the folding stock, ejection and charging swaps, quick change barrel, and the clean running operating system all seem like very minor elements, and in the grand scheme of things they are very minor. But what they all add up to is an out of the box quality of life experience that, IMO, far exceeds the ARs that I've seen, even at similar price ranges.
I run mine with a Steiner T5Xi 1-5x24mm on top and a Steiner Mk4 light on it.
Now, what about its quirks? Well, for one thing, you are going to be working with a different cheek weld (I call it the Euro cheek weld) if you don't get the aftermarket cheek riser that can be had. Some people hate that, but I think that's a facet of not wanting to learn the gun, and wanting the gun to be just like an AR. The trigger is a fairly crisp but heavy single stage combat trigger, so you'll want the ShootingSight trigger if you prefer two stage AR style triggers more. The controls can be stiff at the beginning as you work the gun in. The length of pull on the folding stock is fairly short. You will *not* be running C-clamp on this rifle. You'll want to make sure any mags you use with it don't have the over-insertion tabs that some manufacturers are using now, since they generally prevent the magazine from fully inserting into the gun. The charging handle is too small for some people. If you using the very conveniently located bolt drop, then this won't be an issue at all for you, but the extended charging handle is a nice, inexpensive upgrade if you want to be able to rack the bolt hard and fast. Some people don't like that it doesn't come with QD mounts.
Finally, as for reliability, it has a great reputation. It just seems to run and go no matter what you do to it. However, the few issues that have come up all seem to be related to the firing pin and spring. This consistently seems to be the "failure point" on the rifle if you are going to encounter an issue. I have never encountered this myself, but I wanted to mention it. So if you were going to take this out to a class or the like, I would generally recommend taking a spare firing pin and spring if you aren't going to bring a second rifle, just in case disaster strikes. I do the same thing with my pistols in keeping some spare springs and the like, since experience has shown me that certain parts will fail when you least want them to. In my case this appears to be trigger springs.
Other than that, I've not heard of any other major failures of the rifle, though I haven't seen anyone subject it to a meltdown video yet.
Last edited by arcfide; 10-17-2017 at 12:25 AM.
They are now, not when I was originally looking (and have since bought/built two AR's).
I am still leary based on published stuff that has been presented over at the Beretta Forum. Everyone has to decide for themselves, and unless I find a killer deal or try one and it feels like something I can't pass up, my approach is more wait and see.
According to what EL told me, it is common in the gun industry to advertise stuff not available or that may not become available ever. (Ameriglo Spartan sights advertised in their catalog for instance)
I was impressed with my samples, minus a couple annoyances (terrible trigger, charging handle too small, not friendly with my slings). When it comes to rifles I lean more snowflake so guns like this are interesting to me, and I appreciate the folks here who've shared their experiences
"Customer is very particular" -- SIG Sauer
They weren’t this inexpensive when I bought my first one either. Think I paid $13XX and it was close to $1400. At that price it was worth every penny to me. Happy to pay a little extra to get a third gen that will run for thousands of rounds uncleaned with minimal recoil and extremely light. It’s extremely reliable. Anything under 1k is an absolute steal.
I should note that I also paid around $1300 - $1500 a few years ago for the rifle. I don't regret it at that price either. At the $879 price you could buy the rifle and then add a ShootingSight trigger ($215) and extended charging handle ($17) for a total of only $1,111.00 .
I didn't like the looks of the ARX when I saw it--it looks chunky and clunky. When I fired it, though, I was impressed. Yes, the trigger is a typical Euro trigger that is heavy and gritty (but then again so, in my opinion, is the typical AR trigger--why can't manufacturers install decent triggers from the start?). However, as mentioned above, it has minimal recoil and it doesn't bounce around like the AR series tends to do. It is more accurate than it gets credit for, and as mentioned above, it is clean.
It is a much better carbine than it usually gets credit for, and my guess is that it will prove more reliable with heavy use than the average AR.
It is an option very much worth considering.
$880 for Beretta's new euro-wonder rife?
Reason 345,565,987 of why I have to get the hell out of Kalifornia
"Not available online"
[emoji53]
Last edited by Guerrero; 10-17-2017 at 03:26 PM.
From Older Offspring after a discussion of coffee:
"If it doesn't come from the Kaffa province of Ethiopia, it's just hot roasted-bean juice."
None available in my state either, good thing I can't afford it right now... my AR is scurred.
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