Decide for yourself what you want.
Ive looked at, handled, shot, maintained, compared, and carried, colt, DPMS, bushmaster, olympic arms, Remington, etc.
I can tell you from experience that if you were to rate them by quality colt ARs would be a benchmark, among the others I would rate colt as medium or average quality.
The Smith and Wesson just like all of their firearms are low to medium quality, and very overpriced. S&W products (from anyone who has ever owned them, or shot many of them) have obvious machining mistakes, faults, and in general look like a high school metal shop class machined them. This translates to accuracy loss in the end.
Bushmaster are of obvious better quality than either of the 2 listed above, it takes a simple look at them, and to compare how the parts fit, function, and the general finish of the protective coating.
DPMS are good quality, I personally chose them after comparing the others in person. The first thing you notice is the finish of the protective coating it is better. Next when field stripping them, the DPMS parts fit better than colt and some of the others, tighter, better tolerances, and less movement between the upper and lower reciever.
Firing the DPMS, it has not jammed or had one malfunction with thousands of rounds through it (but then again ARs in general are alot more reliable and durable than they are given credit for, the claims of a few malfunctions always get blown out of proportion by people who have never even seen one yet claim alot of crap about them).
Ive seen DPMS firearms that were in military service (yes they supplied M-16s in quanities just like some of the others), the finish and coating seems to hold up longer, they seem to feel new and shoot like new longer than colt.
Its personal choice which brand you pick, all are more than good enough for the average person to own, shoot, and depend on. And dont listen to those who will tell you that price is everything. Compare them first hand for yourself. My DPMS is far more accurate than any AR from any other manufacturer Ive ever compared, but then again accuracy is what they are famous for.
Accuracy comes from a combination of closer tolerances, higher quality, better fit and finish, the parts matching better.
About colt ARs and M-16s, that nifty product called an accuwedge, it was created to get rid of the slop between a colt ar-15 upper and lower reciever and make it more accurate for match shooting, also for those who mix and match upper and lowers that are not matching so well.
Olympic arms are alot better quality than some people give them credit for, in fact most claims about them are from one complaint, from one person. The other people who cry about them have probably never even seen one, let alone shot one.
Its your choice, look them over in shops, strip them apart, compare fit and finish, function of parts, how they work together, and how smooth they operate, if you get the chance shoot a few of each.
Firing thousands of rounds a day without cleaning them is a decent test, but very few people will ever do that. Personally Ive done that with a few manufacturers. Colt and DPMS, Ive seen durability tests done on DPMS with 1,000-10,000 rounds fired non-stop through them, the weapon never once hesitated, this is not a true test of high quality, but a standard of what they should be able to endure, I dont think I would try that with Smith and Wesson, my personal experience with many of their weapons shows low quality and way overpriced.
Colt simply put their prices up years ago to make people think that their rifles are better in comparison. Also they have an incestuous relationship with the DOD, and unfortunately it keeps them going with endless contracts. Not complaining about their weapons, but Id definitely say that the M-16A2 was far better in quality than the M-16A1, the A1 was made here in the US, the A2 was made by Fabrique National in Belgium, this prevented M-16 parts from being more frequently distribuited without the proper permits, also took advantage of the quality control offered by FN, which colt has owned for many years.
but thats because its mine.. Id expect him to like his more too, as he quite obviously does.
