Ar 15??

[John H.]

Looking to pick up a high power, semi-automatic riffle... Open to suggestions. Friends are telling me an AR 15. Which one? Decisions-decisions..

Thanks..

 

[Avenger29]

What's your budget? What's your use?

I see you live in NJ. How does that change things for you? What restrictions are in place?

Neither the AR-15 nor AK clones can be considered "High Power", by the way. They fire what's called an intermediate cartridge, a cartridge that lies between a pistol cartridge and a full power rifle cartridge (i.e, a .308 or .30-06).

 

[MD_Willington]

.223 high power?

Get an AR10 in .338 Federal

 

[John H.]

Not sure of the NJ restrictions... I'll have to do some home work. Budget... thousand bucks or less... Maybe as high as $1,200 if it makes sense..

 

[cbrgator]

M1 Garand. AR-15 is not high power.

 

[Guns and more]

The AR is not the choice of the military because it's a high power weapon.
The pluses for the military:
A soldier can carry a lot of ammo.
A wounded enemy takes three soldiers out of action. A dead enemy takes one out.

But, an AR is a great firearm, everyone should have one.

 

[Mags]

A wounded enemy takes three soldiers out of action. A dead enemy takes one out.

MYTH

 

[MrCleanOK]

A buddy of mine at work makes the same mistake, even though he has shot my AR and I have explained this to him several times. .223 Remington / 5.56x45 mm is not a "high powered" cartridge. It's an intermediate cartridge. ANY common big game hunting rifle shoots a more powerful cartridge.

If you want an auto-loading rifle that looks high powered and really projects the "this thing is a death laser" image, you can't beat an AR-15 (though living in NJ will kind of rain on that parade). If you want a truly high powered auto-loading rifle, look at M1A's, .308 caliber AR rifles, FALs, PTR91s, Garands, Saiga rifles. Those are all .30 caliber, and really are high powered.

 

[cbrgator]

Garand

 

[Tim the student]

What do you want to do with said rifle?

Defend your house?

Go and have fun at the range?

Hunt?

All the above?

What is your budget?

When you can nail that, the suggestions may be better.

 

[John H.]

Home defense and fun at the range... I do, however, have a G23 and a Ruger sp101 for home defense, not to mention my model 11 12 gauge. Budget's no more than 12 hundred large..

Thanks again..

 

[Creature]

.223 high power?

M1 Garand. AR-15 is not high power.

.223 Remington / 5.56x45 mm is not a "high powered" cartridge. It's an intermediate cartridge.

The NRA (and myself) disagree with you. The .223/5.56 are definitely high-power. Look up "NRA High Power Rifle match ".

http://www.nrahq.org/compete/highpower.asp

 

[Art Eatman]

Semantics, Creature, word games. For those of us reloaders who grew up with the .30-06 and the .220 Swift, the .223 lives in Pipsqueak Land.

 

[Avenger29]

Home defense and fun at the range... I do, however, have a G23 and a Ruger sp101 for home defense, not to mention my model 11 12 gauge. Budget's no more than 12 hundred large..

The AR-15 is an excellent choice for HD and fun at the range.

Since it's a defensive rifle, I usually recommend a rifle made by Colt, Daniel Defense, Bravo Company, LMT, Charles Daly Defense, or Smith and Wesson due to their quality construction and components. No specific order in that, just buy what is available in your area and fits your budget.

The only problem you face is what is restricted in NJ- in some states such as yours specific brands are restricted, in other states it is only specific features and magazine capacities.

The good news is that you are in an excellent market for ARs.

 

[kwelz]

Avenger hit most of the high points. If you want to shake loose a bit more money you can also consider Noveske and Knights.

However I know you said 1200 so Colt 6920 is great. Of if you are feeling adventurous build a BCM mid length for about 900.

 

[BushyGuy]

get a Bushmaster Ar15 they are the best for under 1 grand. For the price of a Colt you can get a Bushmaster and 1k rounds of FMJ bullets!

Get a Bushmaster trust me i fired many AR15's and i know Bushy is the best for its money !

 

[Avenger29]

get a Bushmaster Ar15 they are the best for under 1 grand. For the price of a Colt you can get a Bushmaster and 1k rounds of FMJ bullets!

Get a Bushmaster trust me i fired many AR15's and i know Bushy is the best for its money !

Yes, we all know you are a Bushmaster fan.


Bushmaster has very good marketing. I always get asked if my AR-15 is a "Bushmaster" at the range...sometimes, getting your name out is what makes the sales...bushmaster rifles have some deficiencies and are on the lower end of the quality scale...

But how about we not get into this argument? It serves no purpose on this board.

 

[BushyGuy]

Avenger- me or my buddies never had any problems with Bushmaster and we have over 1k rounds thru our Bushmasters, i have mine for over a year and No AR15 maker makes the "perfect" AR every gun has its flaws thats why they come with warranties. even Colts jam from time to time and they do have cosmetic flaws.

Bushmaster makes the best barrels

 

[Avenger29]

1) 1K is nothing on round count.
2) Bushmaster does NOT have the best barrels. That honor goes to somebody like Noveske.
3) Why do people automatically pick out Colt to argue about? That has always been curious to me.
4) Cosmetic flaws don't matter. reliability and dependability do.

 

[inherentical]

I'd take a look at an LMT 16" carbine if I were you. You could put one together for under a grand before all this recent foolishness, but I'm not sure where the pricing is at now. I am sure that it would be considered higher quality than the many other offerings within a couple hundred dollars of it.

 

[wishin]

The Ruger mini-30, Chambered in 7.62 x 39mm, might fill the bill, with the right cartridge.

 

[mljdeckard]

An SKS is a lot cheaper. Just sayin'. If you aren't being specific about what you want to use it for, it's hard to make recommendations.

 

[W.E.G.]

"Assault Weapon" Law for people's republik of New Jersey.

http://www.nraila.org/media/misc/nj.htm

New Jersey law restricts the ownership of certain semi-automatic and other firearms based upon their military appearance. The list includes:

Algimec AGM1 type
Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder such as the "Street Sweeper" or "Striker 12"
Armalite AR-180 type
Australian Automatic Arms SAR
Avtomat Kalashnikov type semi-automatic firearms
Beretta AR-70 and BM59 semi-automatic firearms
Bushmaster Assault rifle
Calico M-900 Assault carbine and M-900
CETME G3
Chartered Industries of Singapore
SR88 type
Colt AR-15 and CAR-15 series
Daewoo K-1, K-2, Max 1 and Max 2,
AR 100 types
Demro TAC-1 carbine type
Encom MP-9 and MP-45 carbine types
FAMAS MAS 223 types
FN-FAL, FN- AR, or FN-FNC type semi-automatic firearms
Franchi SPAS 12 and LAW 12 Shotguns
G3SA type
Galil type
Heckler and Koch HK91, HK93, HK94, MP5, PSG-1
Intratec TEC-9 and 22 semi-automatic firearms
M1 carbine type
M1 4S type, MAC10, MAC11, MAC11 9mm carbine type firearms
PJK M-68 carbine type
Plainfield Machine Co. Carbine
Ruger K-Mini-14/5F and Mini-1 4/5RF
SIG AMT, SIG 550SP, SIG 551SP, SIG-PE-57 types
SKS with detachable magazine type
Spectre Auto carbine type
Springfield Armory BM59 and
SAR-48 type
Sterling MK-6, MK-7, and SAR types
Steyr AUG semi-automatic firearms
USAS 12 semi-automatic type shotgun
Uzi type semi-automatic firearms
Valmet M62, M71S, M76, or M78 type semi-automatic firearms
Weaver Arms Nighthawk

The legislation also prohibits any firearms which are substantially identical to any of the above firearms; any semiautomatic shotgun with either a magazine capacity exceeding six rounds, a conspicuous pistol grip, or a folding stock; a semi-automatic rifle with a fixed magazine capacity exceeding 15 rounds. Any magazine with a capacity greater than fifteen rounds is prohibited, even if there is no semi-automatic firearm to accompany the magazine.

A part or combination of parts to convert or assemble a firearm into an "assault firearm" is also forbidden.

Any "assault firearm" not registered, licensed, or rendered inoperable pursuant to a state police certificate by May 1, 1991, is considered contraband.

Any "assault firearm" which was not owned prior to May 1, 1990, must be licensed. Application is made to the Superior Court for the county in which the person lives or conducts business. The fee is $75. The court must find that the public safety and welfare require the issuance of the license and the person must be qualified to obtain a handgun carrying license. For practical purposes, no one will be issued such a license.

 

[memphisjim]

wow m1 carbine banned but m14/m1a not

 

[Tim the student]

Budget's no more than 12 hundred large..

So, um, what's 12 hundred small? Just askin'.

Lots of good suggestions it looks like. You could get an SKS, or a mini 30 and have money left over for ammo, accessories, or whatever.

Or, you could get a decent AR and put good optics on it later and buy some ammo; get a decent AR and put some decent optics on it, no ammo etc etc.

FWIW, I have an RRA AR with more than a thousand rounds through it with no malfunctions. (They should all do that, IMO - especially if you take care of it.) I personally think if you get an AR from Colt, RRA, Bushmaster, DPMS, S&W, Stag etc etc you will be satisfied with it.

ETA:

wow m1 carbine banned but m14/m1a not

Well, no one accused them of having sense.