Long time gun owner, first time AR purchase

[Dilligas]

With so many opinions on here, I'm looking for someone in the Richmond area willing to spend a little time explaining whats worth looking at, what I should ignore. I'd like to keep my purchase under 1500. I'm hearing stay away from Olympic, Stag is "ok", build your own.... but a colt! Ok, that all makes sense to all the "experts" out there, but hey, I'm a pistol guy! AR's are just too BA to not have one! So, I'm sure I'll need one that will allow me to upgrade/swap out parts as I learn more and can afford it. Anyone willing to lead a noob around a little?

[grumpyMSG]

With your proposed budget of $1500, you can own a very nice AR. Some of the top quality manufacturers of them are Colt, Bravo Company (also referred to as BCM), Lewis Machine and Tool (LMT) and Daniel Defense. Any one of those four will give you a rifle very close to Military specifications and in some cases exceeding them. I would refer you the M4Carbine.net comparison chart, but it is currently being revised.

Welcome to the Forum!

[Jakeiscrazy]

Welcome! I'm far from an AR expert so I'll wait for others to chime in.

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[Dilligas]

Might as well toss in the Sig 516, where does that fit in? I'm actually looking at one now.

[rinkus]

I'm no expert but I have owned a few over the last 20 years. My latest purchase was a Stag model 3 about a month ago and I love it. I paid $875.00 with a set of flip up sights. For the money these are hard to beat. I know a few other guys that have Stags and they are very satisfied with the performance.

[gunderwood]

With your proposed budget of $1500, you can own a very nice AR. Some of the top quality manufacturers of them are Colt, Bravo Company (also referred to as BCM), Lewis Machine and Tool (LMT) and Daniel Defense. Any one of those four will give you a rifle very close to Military specifications and in some cases exceeding them. I would refer you the M4Carbine.net comparison chart, but it is currently being revised.

Welcome to the Forum!

+1

I'm partial to DD for AR15s, but LWT would be my second choice. A Colt is fantastic if you just want mostly a plain Jane AR. The reason I prefer DD is I like their Omega rails over the competition. That and they come with Magpul accessories which I like. Other than that they are basically milspec just like a Colt. I like the LWT switch barrel concept, but don't know anyone who owns one so I can play with it. I have quick barrel/caliber swap bolt action rifle so I know it can be done well and knowing LWTs reputation I bet it is.

$1500 will buy a very nice AR. Realize that most come with milspec triggers which can be improved upon easily. I added the Wilson Combat TTU single stage to my DD and love it! There are a lot of AR triggers, but they sometimes get sloppy after many rounds. From what I hear the WC doesn't do that.

I'm a fan of the mid-length gas system on 16" carbines. It's not needed, but it does smooth up the operation a bit and reduce back pressure if you ever suppress it. Mid-length/16" barrel is my choice over a carbine gas system/14.5" simply because you have to "permanently" attach the brake/flash hider to bring it to 16" or fill out NFA forms to make it a SBR. Too much trouble for 1.5" IMHO. I prefer the fixed front sight not a rail/folder sight.

A muzzle brake/compensator isn't needed on a 5.56mm unless it's for competition. A good comp can help your times. The best flash hiders around are the Smith Vortex and AACs Blackout. I do like AACs combo brake/hider called the Brakeout because I plan to suppress mine soon and that first brake surface helps lengthen the life of the can. It's not needed on a 16" or even a 14.5", but around 12.5" barrels or less the baffle erosion gets bad very quickly. I plan on getting the AAC Mini4 can which is awesome for a carbine IMHO.

For a carbine I prefer a 1x Aimpoint T1. Practically it is more than enough for "combat/home defense" ranges that you want to use an AR for. If you want to shoot really tiny groups, its not that great, but mine is setup as a practical/shtf gun. To each his own.

Magpul mags are the best, period. The only thing with polymer mags it that if you store them loaded and without the dust cover the mag lips can swell over several years. Put the included dust cover on or don't keep them loaded and you have no worries. The polymer mag will take much more abuse than any milspec mag will. I really like their range floor plates too, they help get the mag out of a carrier much easier.

[gunderwood]

The SIG 550 and derivatives were awesome guns. SIGs similar, but different in important ways 556 is an overpriced piston rifle IMHO. They could have just build an exact copy of the 550 to the exact same standards, but that would have made it cost too much so they cut corners IMHO. Like all the piston guns they are less accurate than a DI AR15. The piston ARs have some quirks about them unless there was a lot of proprietary design (e.g. Barrett and LWT).

I wanted a SIG 550 a decade ago...I still want one am waiting for the likely never to occur event when they sell the real deal instead of a lower quality knock off. I use to be a huge SIG fan, but the last 5 years or so things have dropped off QC IMHO. They are still very good guns, but not great. Just my 2 cents.

[wbtrunx]

The best under $1000 deal is the Spike's Tactical Midlength. Its quality rivals that of the over $1000 rifles but at a cost of less than a Stag. Also, if you're a member of ARF you can get 5% off bringing the total under $780 before shipping and fees.
If I were in the market for a 5.56 AR15, this would be my pick without hesitation. With the left over money you could buy a free float rail, a good optic, and some ammo or whatever you wanted to throw on it. While owners are constantly praising the 1-1.5 MOA or less, it probably won't be a match winning rifle out of the box. Although, it will serve any other reasonable purpose (hunt/defense) you give it. If you aren't looking for a LT Stealth type hole puncher, I would heavily consider this manufacturer before all else.

[grumpyMSG]

The SIG 550 and derivatives were awesome guns. SIGs similar, but different in important ways 556 is an overpriced piston rifle IMHO. They could have just build an exact copy of the 550 to the exact same standards, but that would have made it cost too much so they cut corners IMHO. Like all the piston guns they are less accurate than a DI AR15. The piston ARs have some quirks about them unless there was a lot of proprietary design (e.g. Barrett and LWT).

I wanted a SIG 550 a decade ago...I still want one am waiting for the likely never to occur event when they sell the real deal instead of a lower quality knock off. I use to be a huge SIG fan, but the last 5 years or so things have dropped off QC IMHO. They are still very good guns, but not great. Just my 2 cents.

I believe Dilligas was talking about the Sig 516 not the 550 family, the 516 is a piston type AR and like all the piston rifles, and the .308 ARs, have some proprietary parts. The 516 was just released in the last year and I personally would shy away from it because it is early in it's release, so some bugs and quirks may pop up, and the AR manufacturer is LMT (Lewis Machine and Tool), they have an upper referred to as the MRP in which the handguard/rails are part of the upper (a one piece machining). LMT is the manufacturer closest to the NWSC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Crane, so when the SEALs have an idea that needs to be built, these are the guys they go to.
If this is your first AR I would stay away from the really high end rifles (Larue, Novieski, Knight's Armament and the LMT MRP) and stick with a good quality rifle. If it is home defense weapon I'd stick with a 16 inch barrel, mid-length gas system (to tell the difference, the distance from the front of the upper receiver to the front sight block/gas block is about 7 inches on the carbine, 9 on the mid-length and 12 on the rifle length). I wouldn't hesitate to buy just a basic rifle with no rails on it for now, learn it and decide later which handguard/ rail system you like. I am sure you will be at the range at some point and see some accessory or doodad on a rifle, most folks I know will let you look at/ fondle their firearm and see if it is something you like. I wouldn't be in a rush to pimp out the rifle...

[gunderwood]

@grumpy Ah, yes...the 516 which is basically a AR with the 556 gas system tacked on. Still won't buy it. The old 550 series were basically a Swiss AK-47 and they were great.