looking into an AR-15, but know nothing

[Ben86]

p.s- i misspoke when i said HD, i meant to say property defense as i have a fully functional shotgun servign the HD role. i realize the longer barrel would get in the way of that, this is mostly just for plinking, having fun with and for defense in SHTF (god forbid) situation.

An AR carbine shouldn't be any more unwieldy (especially with an adjustable stock) than a shotgun, usually less so due to the light weight nature of the AR. I prefer my AR for HD because of my ability to surgically hit targets with it, as opposed to my shotgun's wider pattern. Aks are fine and 7.62x39 is a great caliber, but I think you will be happier with an AR. I'll have both one day just because.

 

[Patriotme]

The moment someone mentions the chart, ignore the rest of what they have to say. It's out of date, and assigns unbalanced weight to questionable details. The intentions were good, but some people use it as the end-all, be all reference to AR's. It's not.

I assembled my rifle. Rock River Arms stripped lower, CMMG upper. It's been flawless for several thousand rounds. No complaints. If I were to buy a factory assembled battle rifle, I'd look at Spikes. Good parts, good product, excellent factory support. But this is true of most of the major AR players these days.

For a varmint gun, RRA. BCM is/was the flavor of the month a while ago. It's also pretty good gear. Colt is also good. Best advice I could probably give is head over to AR15.com. There's good information there, but also a lot of trolls.

"The Chart" is being updated now and Rob S expects to release it soon. Only 8 manufacturers had responded as of a week or so ago. Go to www.m4carbine.net for more details.
I don't believe that "The Chart" is a deal breaker when picking an AR but it is nice to know what you are paying for. If it's only $50 or $100 difference between two brands and one has the M16 BCG, MPI testing, etc then it's nice to know which brand has the higher quality. It could also help when haggling.

 

[TonyAngel]

Be sure to consider Spike's Tactical as well. They have some nice stuff at very competitive prices.