Wife wants an AR

To be honest, in that price range is it very hard to beat an S&W Sport. Unless building your own is an option, I would take the Sport and go hit the range.

Neither you nor her would be disappointed with one.

Congrats you got a keeper.

For the price thats a good choice . you can pay more for better materials and quality but they pretty much all shoot the same. in the the $650 range they are pretty much all the same. Not sure how S&W are able to produce pretty decent ARs for that price i see tons of them at all the shops so they must be making money off of volume . You can't touch a Colt or BCM at that price but those would be higher quality rifles but another 250-350+ to get one of those. Even a RRA or bushmaster would cost another $200+

anything less like a kit gun might save you a $50-100 but at that price your better off with getting a factory built rifle with a factory warranty .

avoid the plastic lowers and upper receivers which are fine for truck rifle and budget builds

M&A has kits under $500, and lowers are less than $100. an afternoon putting an AR together with your wife is priceless.

Option #1 She could join the Marines and get a real M16.
Option #2 You could buy her a nice little S&W.

I like Option #2. The S&W would likely be an all around very good choice for her that comes in at a reasonable cost.

Ron

wife and ar

You are a lucky man sir

an afternoon putting an AR together with your wife is priceless.

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I wholeheartedly concur here.

Looks like a win-win opportunity.

Buy the Smith, shoot and enjoy. Save the builds for after you learn the platform.

The S&W M&P 15 Sport is a great rifle. It will serve the propose of 95% of the people who shoot. I love the M&P15, I have the standard AR with carry handle and chrome lined barrel etc. it is a great performer. I also have a CMMG,Bushmaster, and Daniel Defense M4V4. If you didn't know by brands, you could not tell a difference in shooting them. She will love the Sport. Don't think you have to go spend $1000 or more to get a reliable good shooting AR. The Sport will do the job.

MK11 said:

Buy the Smith, shoot and enjoy. Save the builds for after you learn the platform.

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+1. It's a great place to start. After two Sports, I may buy a third myself. They refuse to quit.

If you dont want to spend the 900+ on a BCM or Colt then Id say the Sport is the best option.

If you don't know much about them and just want a good quality starter AR that you can buy off the shelf, you really can't do too much better than the S&W Sport.

The M&P Sport simply can't be beat for value in an assembled rifle.

That said, I think you'd do well to put one together for her, using a midlength upper. Middy rifles just plain recoil softer. Not that a 5.56 carbine is harsh, but the impulse is noticeably sharper in a rifle of equal weight.

My suggestion:

DSA stripped lower: $75 + Shipping & Transfer

DSA or Del-Ton Mid Length upper: Some variation here depending on exactly what you want, but lowest cost will be $384 for a DSA ZM4 Middy upper ($250), DSA Bolt Carrier Group ($120) and DSA standard charging handle ($14).

Stock kit: Standard 6-position M4 stock & extension kits are $50 & up for decent stuff. Or you can get just a receiver extension kit for $30 from DSA and put whatever stock you want on it.

PSA Lower Parts Kit: The kit with Magpul MOE grip and trigger guard is only $50 right now (or it was last week when I ordered 2).

Magazine: No brainer. Magpul P-mag 30, about $15.

So, you could build her a basic mid length rifle for as little as $575 plus shipping and transfer. Shipping should be about $30. FFL transfer varies but $20-$40 is normal. So $625-$645 all said and done; You won't beat that for an assembled middy rifle. (A Del-Ton rifle kit would come in about $30 lower, but they've been perpetually out of stock for months now)

If you can assemble a cabinet from Ikea, you can assemble an AR. It's fun, you gain a better understanding of what's going on in there, and you can say you built it for her. She may even want to participate (mine did).

Links:

https://www.dsarms.com/

http://www.del-ton.com/

http://Palmettostatearmory.com

Just a fair warning on DSarms and PSA, the wait times are extremely long right now. Might not be the best choice if you want an AR right away.

Buy her the M&P sport; she will be happy for sure.

M&P sport a great value.
She will love it. Doesn't even pay to build one at that price unless you already have the tools and time.

Doesn't even pay to build one at that price unless you already have the tools and time.

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Who doesn't have a small hammer, a ~1/8" punch and a free half hour?

(And if you don't like the idea of a punch on the lock ring, stock wrenches can be had for under $10)