Strangely enough, Joe Bob's Bait, Beer, and Barrels might actually be a better AR with more "milspec" parts. The problem is that the American marketplace is where IMAGE is managed more than getting 100% milspec parts into the product.
If milspec requires every single item be tested, then that expense elevates the total cost of the rifle, and you have to pay for it. But - the reality is that it will only eliminate a small handful of parts. It's an exponential increase in cost to arrive at a very small incremental increase in quality.
Most companies don't test, hire Customer Service staff and just ship you a new part. It's cheaper. But, in the AR world, the gold standard is that not following the milspec means the gun will malfunction and you will die. A bit extreme, but apparently all those millions of guns we have used over the years in combat keep it from happening.
Think about that.
Nope, what milspec does is protect the taxpayer that they are at least getting what they pay for under the contract. That became necessary because people have been lining up to cheat the government - you - for centuries. And when they do, bad things happen, like sending spoiled meat to troops in the field, or certifying "milspec" O-rings for jet fighters that cause them to fall out of the sky when they fail.
When Colt developed the TDP, it was just an internal document listing how they did things. Consider that meant listing a button rifled chrome lined barrel, which keeps them from investing in a hammer forge and nitriding, which most of the European battle rifle makers have been doing for 30 years. Our spec is 2MOA, their results are 1MOA.
We really don't need no stinkin milspec guns. It's an arbitrary minimum government standard documented to prove it happened, so that government inspectors don't have to do it all over again with a lot shipment of 10,000 rifles. If the paperwork required to accompany the shipment looks in order, they sign off, it's accepted as milspec and placed on the government property books.
If it's not accepted, it's specified exactly what isn't milspec, and then the wrangling starts to resolve whatever interpretation will prevail. In reality, not meeting milspec could mean that the part was functionally superior, just not done the way Colt or the government locked into specification years ago as the current production method in use and agreed on at that time.
Specs change, barrel cuts come and go, anti friction treatments are added to the interior of uppers, what was milspec in 1965 has changed to what is required today. It's a slowly moving target, and when a design is approved, it takes a lot of bureaucracy to change it for the better.
While some maker, like Noveske, can just decide to buy a better part with the next shipment and continuously improve things over the course of months or even weeks. Not decades.
Be very careful about restricting yourself to the government mandated minimum standard when buying or building an AR. If you intend to do something like build the better deer rifle, you quickly resolve that maybe stepping outside the boundaries of the milspec 5.56 and moving to legally allowed alternate caliber for your state is the better choice.
That is just one example of how rigid adherence to milspec has actual legal consequences. In some states, it's against the law. You simply decide the costs aren't worth it and move on.
Since even the caliber can be thrown into question, it also goes to all the other aspects can, too. And if the rifle doesn't come with a signed package documenting that each and every part is exactly the same as issue, then, it's not milspec.
The Colt 6920 isn't - it's semi auto. Not government spec burst or full auto. Therefore, the lower and some trigger parts are missing. Not milspec. Don't know why some keep insisting it is, much less any documentation to say otherwise, which isn't provided.
It's always an interesting conversation.
If milspec requires every single item be tested, then that expense elevates the total cost of the rifle, and you have to pay for it. But - the reality is that it will only eliminate a small handful of parts. It's an exponential increase in cost to arrive at a very small incremental increase in quality.
Most companies don't test, hire Customer Service staff and just ship you a new part. It's cheaper. But, in the AR world, the gold standard is that not following the milspec means the gun will malfunction and you will die. A bit extreme, but apparently all those millions of guns we have used over the years in combat keep it from happening.
Think about that.
Nope, what milspec does is protect the taxpayer that they are at least getting what they pay for under the contract. That became necessary because people have been lining up to cheat the government - you - for centuries. And when they do, bad things happen, like sending spoiled meat to troops in the field, or certifying "milspec" O-rings for jet fighters that cause them to fall out of the sky when they fail.
When Colt developed the TDP, it was just an internal document listing how they did things. Consider that meant listing a button rifled chrome lined barrel, which keeps them from investing in a hammer forge and nitriding, which most of the European battle rifle makers have been doing for 30 years. Our spec is 2MOA, their results are 1MOA.
We really don't need no stinkin milspec guns. It's an arbitrary minimum government standard documented to prove it happened, so that government inspectors don't have to do it all over again with a lot shipment of 10,000 rifles. If the paperwork required to accompany the shipment looks in order, they sign off, it's accepted as milspec and placed on the government property books.
If it's not accepted, it's specified exactly what isn't milspec, and then the wrangling starts to resolve whatever interpretation will prevail. In reality, not meeting milspec could mean that the part was functionally superior, just not done the way Colt or the government locked into specification years ago as the current production method in use and agreed on at that time.
Specs change, barrel cuts come and go, anti friction treatments are added to the interior of uppers, what was milspec in 1965 has changed to what is required today. It's a slowly moving target, and when a design is approved, it takes a lot of bureaucracy to change it for the better.
While some maker, like Noveske, can just decide to buy a better part with the next shipment and continuously improve things over the course of months or even weeks. Not decades.
Be very careful about restricting yourself to the government mandated minimum standard when buying or building an AR. If you intend to do something like build the better deer rifle, you quickly resolve that maybe stepping outside the boundaries of the milspec 5.56 and moving to legally allowed alternate caliber for your state is the better choice.
That is just one example of how rigid adherence to milspec has actual legal consequences. In some states, it's against the law. You simply decide the costs aren't worth it and move on.
Since even the caliber can be thrown into question, it also goes to all the other aspects can, too. And if the rifle doesn't come with a signed package documenting that each and every part is exactly the same as issue, then, it's not milspec.
The Colt 6920 isn't - it's semi auto. Not government spec burst or full auto. Therefore, the lower and some trigger parts are missing. Not milspec. Don't know why some keep insisting it is, much less any documentation to say otherwise, which isn't provided.
It's always an interesting conversation.
