What is wrong with "X" AR-15 manufacturer?

[Coronach]

It depends on how you intend to use the gun.

Is this gun a plinker or a range toy? If not, then the advantages of the higher-end guns are fairly meaningless. Darn, your bolt cracked. Buy another bolt. Big deal.

Is this a game gun? Matters a bit more. A failure can cost you a stage. Still not exactly the end of the world.

Is this gun a defensive gun? Then it matters more. At what point does the (admittedly small, given light use) risk of using a non-MPI'ed bolt justify the extra cost? That's for you to decide.

Is this a defensive gun that you plan to take to lots of classes and shoot a lot? It suddenly starts to matter quite a bit. Shooting a high volume of rounds will cause parts failures, period. The better the parts you have (read: generally, the more expensive the gun), the longer each critical part will last, and the less likely you are to experience a failure at any given point, be that in the middle of a carbine class or while trying to save your own life, or the life of your family. You WILL eventually break parts, even good parts, even in the Snob Guns, if you shoot a lot. The only question is how often.

Believe in gun bans or TEOTWAWKI? Might be a good idea to have guns that last longer, no?

I'm not a raving Colt Snob (don't own a pony), or even an AR freak. I just note that the people who teach carbine classes (and see more rounds go downrange than most of us ever dream about) have certain preferences, and those preferences are developed by watching their students and seeing, first hand, what works and what doesn't. On the other side of the scale you have JimBob who bought his AR used back in 1998 and has put 200 rounds through it since then, and he says it's just as good as anything else and cost half as much.

I dunno. For his use? He's absolutely right.

Mike

 

[Zak Smith]

Tacked at the top of the rifle forum is this thread:
THR Rifle Forum Reading Library _ Useful Links

There are numerous AR-15 topics that discuss this very subject, namely,
34 Ways to Cut Corners on Manufacturing an AR15

Read it.

This thread is basically a dup of that one.

 

[Browning]

I've only ever shot and/or owned a few different brands, but I can tell you about those.

PWA - That was the manufacturer of the 1st AR I owned and I had nothing but problems with it from the day I bought it in the form of repeated malfunctions. I changed mags, ammo and almost all of the key bolt, gas and trigger parts by the time I was through and I still had malfunctions (less of them, but still regularly enough to worry about). I eventually sold it to someone who thought they could fix it and I celebrated the fact that I had gotten rid of it.

Colt - Never owned one, but I've shot several Colt AR's on a regular basis since a few friends own them and they seem like they're well made, reliable and accurate. I don't really think that they deserve their rabid following since their quality control seems like it's slipped a little bit (plastic instead of steel), but the ones I've fired have been pretty good in every way that counted (if a little over priced). To me it never seemed like I got anything more with shooting a Colt AR than I did over shooting a Bushmaster or a RRA, so they never seemed like they were worth the added expense to me. They shot well though and if one fell into my lap for a good price I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.

Bushmaster - I've shot alot of these, owned one for a short time (a friend sold me his and then after his divorce was finalized I sold it back to him) and they they seemed worth the price tag to me. About the same as RRA's except that the finish on Bushmaster's have always seemed like they had a slightly grey finish to them (I prefer a darker finish, but that's still pretty good since that's the only negative thing that I can possibly think of to say about them). With decent ammo (on a good day) I've managed to shoot quarter sized 5 round groups with them and I've never had a single malfunction with one.

Rock River Arms - My personal favorite just because I've had good luck with them (I own two) and because I personally like the finish on Rock Rivers just a little bit better than Bushmaster or DPMS. Bushmaster, DPMS and RRA are the most common and plentiful around here and they seem like they're what most people buy. In my mind those three brands are what I've always mentally termed the "Good Old Regular AR Brands". They're not made by DSA, POF or Wilson Combat, they don't have the latest gas piston system and you're not likely to see many SEALs sporting them in SOF magazines, but they work well enough for working stiffs like me who just want something cool to maybe pop a few coyotes, go target shooting with or to have "just in case" (meaning anything from a break in at the house to TEOTWAWKI depending on who's using the term). Accuracy and reliability on the Rock Rivers I've shot and owned were exactly the same as the Bushmaster AR's I've shot (meaning I never had a problem reliability wise EVER and if I missed my target it was because it was my fault, not the gun).

Those are really the only brands that I can comment on as to why I prefer one brand of AR over another personally and those are my thought processes behind that preference. Mostly it's just a matter if they went 'bang' or not when I squeezed the trigger and whether I could hit anything with it if I did my part with decent ammo combined with how much they wanted for them.