[CZ52GUY]

Last weekend, after procrastinating and buying a safe full of autoloaders, I finally bought THE autoloader, the 1911.

Now I'm thinking that with a safe full of Long Guns, including 3-AK's, I probably ought to consider acquiring THE tactical carbine, an AR-15.

I'm not going to debate the relative merits of the .223 vs .308 or 7.62x39. This is probably as much about filling in a spot in my collection as anything else. My buddy's have them...I got to try one a couple weeks back with a sweet Nikon ProStaff on it...very enjoyable to shoot...pretty accurate too.

Interested in those who have AR's providing some ideas on a good "first AR".

Looking for reliability, value, and more classic lines. Not interested in building one (don't have the time right now). Interested in good out of the box performance, and perhaps participating in a Carbine Event at my club (.223 is a pre-requisite if I want to do that). Probably want something I can pick up locally...I do most of my own "smithing" on my AK's...I think I'd be just as happy to let somebody else deal with any issues in an AR...so something common and familiar to most smith's is preferable.

Any and all opinions welcomed...resources outside of the forum I can be pointed to for self-study would also be most helpful.

Thanks in advance,

CZ52'

[jobu07]

Since you don't want to do the kit thing, you might try looking around for a good inexpensive complete lower half and then ordering a complete upper half from one of the reputable companies. You'd probably come out ahead of the game that way too. No serious building, just two pins. And you can mix and match to your liking this way too. That's how I got mine.

[cslinger]

Bushmaster
Rock River
Armalite
Colt
DPMS

Probably in that order based on performance and price. Colt is solid but pricy.

For the money I don't think you can go wrong with a Bushmaster. They are common and have chrome lined barrels, good steel and in my experience are stone reliable. The Rock Rivers do have better triggers though IMO.

Any of the big manufacturers will do you just fine and should be reasonably priced.

Chris

[CZ52GUY]

Thanks Chris

[Risasi]

Ditto on cslinger's list, and what jobu07 said.

Really, almost any AR manufacturer out there that you have heard of makes some decent rifles. Another one to throw on the list is Olympic Arms. You can also pick caliber from them and DPMS. Not a big price difference either. An Oly upper in 300 whisper was $579 last fall. When I got a price quote from them. Check their sites they list what they will build.

Personally I own a Rock River Car-4. It is very nice. The big deal with them is the trigger job. It needs no tweaking. I can empty a 30 rounder in about 3-4 seconds. I P.O'ed my local indoor range doing it one Saturday afternoon. Their other customers freaked, and they thought someone snuck in with an NFA. :D

On a side note, the two brothers that run Rock River used to work for Les Baer, and then split off several year back to start their own company. Their AR work is impeccable. I would also like to check out one of their .45's.

So my take is get a complete lower from RRA, and mate it to whatever you want.

[Gary G23]

Bushmaster

[Jack19]

Bushmaster
RRA - Give Pete at Legal Transfers a call. He built mine.
Armalite - with the free offer of a flash hider when the ban sunsets....if you care.
Colt - I'm not sure you get more than resale value by paying more for the Colt....still, something to be considered.

I have a Rockmaster....all RRA with the exception of a Bushie barrel...and couldn't be happier.