BCM is excellent IF you value reliability over accuracy.
This could be kind of misleading. Although i’m sure that most would agree that reliability is more important than accuracy for a “fighting” firearm, I wouldn’t call a BCM inaccurate.
Considering what its diet is likely to be, M193 and the like is 2 to 3 MOA ammunition anyway.
There ought to be a pinned thread on What Parts Did You(I) Use, if/when you go that route.
Prices really have plummeted in the last few years. $400 ARs are now common, and it's hard to find threads about them being "junk" either (ok, arfcom does not count, you can be flamed for just having an opinion there).
And, really, you are not buying that much more by spending more on an assembled AR. A $1600 AR is not twice as good as an $800; the only for-sure thing is that it's twice as expensive.
It's very much a sign of the maturity of the AR market that asking which is best is more a GM/Chevy/Ford/Doge/Ram question rather than "How do I know if I'm buying a Trabant or not?"
There are a ton of good suggestions in here already. Aero, PSA, BCM, ADM--really all are good.
Now, at your price point, you can easily look at POF and Colt and Brownell's. But, that's going to be down more to how do you want the thing to look. Which is a different kettle of fish, entire.
That flat-top S&W M&P15 would not be a horrible choice for HD. MSRP is only $1200, but I've seen much lower prices than that.
I agree with this to an extent. You do get to a point where you are comparing apples to apples and differences are a matter taste; but there is still stuff out there that i would consider junk. What I would consider not junk is a rifle that runs and will keep running with minimal maintenance. What i mean by minimal is that it doesn’t need to be pampered. This comes from using good, in spec parts that meet minimum requirements.
For many, they will never notice the difference between a $600 AR and a $1200 AR. That’s those that MIGHT shoot 1000 rounds a year and only go out to a range with a nice table to shoot from.
Those that actually use their ARs to take classes to be prepared, strap them to the back of a four wheeler and spend time where dying is more likely than most activities, pursue more active outdoor activities or just plain shoot a lot; these people may see the difference between a $600 AR and a $1200 AR. Better small parts, like springs and rings. Better quality bolt carrier groups, better barrel steel, proper gas system, 7075 buffer tube instead of 6061, etc.
The reason I like and mention BCM a lot is because they have been around for a while and sort of have become the standard for a bang for the buck actual fighting weapon. If you were to come up with a check list of all of the necessary components needed for a good, reliable AR, you’d hit them all with a BCM.
Personally, if i was going to buy a complete AR and cost was no object, i’d probably be looking at a Daniel Defense or Noveske. I’ve also shot a few suppressed Triarc ARs recently and they were impressive.
