I am new to firearms and the AR platform and I was wondering what you guys think about these two rifles.

Back in December when all of this ban non-sence started, I was looking for a Stag Model 8 and could not find one.

There was only one gun shop that had them in stock, and they were going for almost 2,500 bucks. Besides that shop, there was one other shop that only had one AR left, which was a S&W M&P 15 Optics Ready (NY compliant model, no flash hider), and out of impulse and not knowing what was going to happen with all of this gun control crap, I settled for the M&P 15. Oh, and it was marked up to $1,300... 1.400 after tax

After being sort of content that I got my rifle, last week I walked into a local shop looking for a Sig handgun, and in conversation the owner told me that they were expecting a shipment of Stag Model 8's in any minute. I was excited and sick at the same time. Sick because the price was identical to what I payed for the M&P, but excited because this guy wasn't being a thief and marking up his prices (he actually said Stag raised the price on him slightly, and he still wanted to be fair). I couldn't pass it up, so I bought the Model 8.

With that said, I only planned on getting one AR, because after waiting 13 weeks for my Pistol Permit... I am itching to get my first handgun... (Sig P226 Enhanced Elite) Now that I learned my lesson with settling, I wont settle for anything less than the Sig I've had my heart set on.. I can see how ARs are hard to come buy with this buying frenzy, but the Sig P226 is just as hard to get right now and sold out everywhere.

Sorry for the long winded rant, but back to the topic. What do you guys think about these two rifles, one is DI and the other is Piston, and without getting into the whole debate between the two systems can anyone who may have had experience with either of the two offer me any advise.

I was thinking I would just sell the M&P and try to get back as much money as I can for it and try to break even. In terms of use, I probably wont be putting thousands and thousands of rounds through them any time soon since ammo is hard to come by and crazy expensive. And in terms of the piston, I don't plan on suppressing it, at least not any time soon, but its nice to know that it runs cleaner and doesn't burn off oil like the DI.

If you were faced with this dilemma, what would you go with if you had to pick between the Stag and the S&W at this price range? Keep both or sell the M&P and try to get the money back?

Thanks in advance

BTW, unfortunately the Stag M8 doesn't have the Plus Package. Hopefully down the line I can possibly send it back to stag and have it refitted with the Plus Package components, or at least most of them. I called stag and they said it could not be done right now since they are so busy, but possibly in the future when things start getting back to normal. They couldn't give me a price to have this done after market at this time.

I own the M8 and did not fall in love  until I added an evolution rail and a S3G trigger.  Now I am having trouble parting with it but if I do not sell it soon, I fear the republic of Connectiscan may ban it and force me to sell it at a loss to an FFl.  That's right , the fucking state that I live in has gone full on Marxist.

I hear ya. Hopefully all of this BS won't pass and everything will go back to normal in time. Or at the absolute least hope we will be grandfathered in. If your YouTube name is the same, I was actually watching a few of your stag videos last night, what a coinicidence. How does the added weight from the rail feel on the rifle? My cousin actually has a M8 with a Daniel Defence rail (not sure which one) and his feels significantly heavier, but that may in part be due to his eotech with the magnifier.