Fatelvis
Member
Im thinking about buying a NM version AR, and was wondering which manufacturer offers the best complete rifle, in your opinion. Thanx-
Best stock NM AR?
- Thread starter Fatelvis
- Start date
- Status
goalie
Member
I would suggest the competition forum. Mr. Smith there helped me out a lot with choosing equipment. 
Swampy
Member
fatelvis,
If you are talking about CMP-NRA Service Rifle... the best bang for the buck in a box-stock NM rifle is the Rock River. It will stand you in good stead all the way up to Master class or better.
If you really wanna' go "Cadillac", contact Jon Holliger of White Oak Precision. He will take your Rock River and tune it to the "nth" degree. Many High Masters use Mr. Holligers rifles to get their high X counts.
Best regards,
swampy
If you are talking about CMP-NRA Service Rifle... the best bang for the buck in a box-stock NM rifle is the Rock River. It will stand you in good stead all the way up to Master class or better.
If you really wanna' go "Cadillac", contact Jon Holliger of White Oak Precision. He will take your Rock River and tune it to the "nth" degree. Many High Masters use Mr. Holligers rifles to get their high X counts.
Best regards,
swampy
Steve Smith
Moderator Emeritus
Actually, there's new news.
First of all, I do think that the RRA probably produces the highest quality Service Rifle match gun, when considering production houses. That said, John Holliger stopped using them for his "low end upgrade" model due to RRA lowering some standards. He complained of poorly made bolts and rear sight machining. Now, one must keep in mind that a problem that John sees most of us would not even notice. He is PICKY to the extreme...but when you buy a custom upper from im you know that a really picky SOB went over it with a fine toothed comb.
Now, if you want a GOOD gun, but still don't want to put $925 into his ful custom upper, what you should do is call him about his new "production" level upper. You can be assured that it is correctly made and will only lack a few of the "nice" things (like a pinned rear sight and the prettiest handgards he has) that he adds to the more expensive one.
First of all, I do think that the RRA probably produces the highest quality Service Rifle match gun, when considering production houses. That said, John Holliger stopped using them for his "low end upgrade" model due to RRA lowering some standards. He complained of poorly made bolts and rear sight machining. Now, one must keep in mind that a problem that John sees most of us would not even notice. He is PICKY to the extreme...but when you buy a custom upper from im you know that a really picky SOB went over it with a fine toothed comb.
Now, if you want a GOOD gun, but still don't want to put $925 into his ful custom upper, what you should do is call him about his new "production" level upper. You can be assured that it is correctly made and will only lack a few of the "nice" things (like a pinned rear sight and the prettiest handgards he has) that he adds to the more expensive one.
goalie
Member
John's company that will be making the "production" upper that Steve mentioned is here:
http://www.whiteoakarmament.com/
They are very quick at returning e-mailed questions, at least they were with me.
http://www.whiteoakarmament.com/
They are very quick at returning e-mailed questions, at least they were with me.
There's a large number of folks you can build a high quality NM AR (good enough to shoot all X's all day, if you can hold hard enough). Mike Bykowski (sp?), Compass Lake Engineering, Accuracy Speaks, Lew Tippie, etc. and a bunch of others. If you're looking for an off-the-shelf rifle I'd stay away from Bushmaster/CMP only because the trigger they use is not very good even for a beginner IMHO (or at least figure in the cost of a good replacement trigger if you get a Bushy). If you're just starting out don't get caught up in the equipment race. The national service rifle championship was won a few years ago using a plain old inexpensive Wilson barrel on a basic run-of-the-mill Armalite. Its the shooter that makes all the difference. Especially on an AR which is a very easy rifle to get to shoot well.
Steve Smith
Moderator Emeritus
Actually it was won this year with a stock RRA (Wilson barrel).
I cannot say it loudly enough, there simply isn't an equipment race in Service Rifle. We all have the same gun. However, you can pay more and have something that last longer with fewer tune-ups and less chance of a malfunction at a bad time. That is what going to a custom builder does for you. There is nothing that one of the builders can do that will make the AR actually shoot better...as long as the barrel is good they all shoot well.
I cannot say it loudly enough, there simply isn't an equipment race in Service Rifle. We all have the same gun. However, you can pay more and have something that last longer with fewer tune-ups and less chance of a malfunction at a bad time. That is what going to a custom builder does for you. There is nothing that one of the builders can do that will make the AR actually shoot better...as long as the barrel is good they all shoot well.
Last edited:
- Status