Hi,
    I'm new to the forum and to AR's. I've been looking in to buying a M4/A3 but I'm unsure about what brand. I know there are a few good makers, but I was wanting to get some opinions on which would ones would be a better choice.

Stop asking questions and start reading.  There is a world on information in these threads, and by reading them, you will learn information that you wouldn't have thought to even ask about.  You will be doing yourself a service, and will be able to make a more informed decision.

For a first AR look at the ABCs.
ArmaLite
Bushmaster
Colt

Also Rock River Arms AR's are rock solid rifles.

Quoted: For a first AR look at the ABCs. ArmaLite Bushmaster Colt Also Rock River Arms AR's are rock solid rifles.

My prefrence is Colt but you canot go wrong with any of these rifles.

Quoted: Stop asking questions and start reading.  There is a world on information in these threads, and by reading them, you will learn information that you wouldn't have thought to even ask about.  You will be doing yourself a service, and will be able to make a more informed decision.

+1

There are other quality manufacturers.  Some new to selling there own manufacture, and still others such as Stag, CMT, DPMS, etc...  Read and take brand favoritism with a grain (sometimes a pound) of salt...  Good luck on whatever you choose and welcome to the disease...

TS

Quoted: For a first AR look at the ABCs. ArmaLite Bushmaster Colt Also Rock River Arms AR's are rock solid rifles.

Don't forget Stag/CMT and others. It's really a matter of avoiding the really crappy ones like Hesse and Vulcan.

The basic "ABC" rule is no longer valid. There are other brands available now that are proving to be just as good as the "ABC" brands.

I like Bushmaster. You can't go wrong with one. RRA is also good. If I didn't like Bushy, it would be my second pic.

Quoted: I like Bushmaster.

No offense to the poster, but it's "opinions" like this that are misleading and, for the most part, worthless. Making a statement like "I like brand X" with no empirical data is hollow.

Most of us have no experience with every brand of AR out there so we are not in the position to give a valid opinion. I never ever post my opinion in threads like this for that very reason. Besides, my ARs are all mutts with parts from a variety of manufacturers.

What one person likes another person dislikes and each person is basing their opinion on shooting very few (1 or2) rifles from that particular brand.

As others have stated, if you're not sure which brand of AR to buy then you should be reading as many posts as possible. Don't start asking questions until you can ask specific questions about specific brands.

BTW, welcome to the boards. Please understand that someone posts this type of question almost every single day and invariably, the thread turns into a pissing match in which everyone tries to defend their brand of choice as being the best. Once you've been here a while, you'll see a lot of these posts and you'll understand why they always end up being a waste of bandwidth and time.

I don't see how it's misleading at all. Is Bushmaster not a good brand? Your right, it is an opinion, but if you read his post he's looking for OPINIONS.  I believe Bushmaster to be a Top Notch maker of rifles, so I gave my opinion. I could see if I told him to go out and get a Vulcan or something, and told him they were industry leaders, that would be misleading.

Here we go again.

Quoted: I don't see how it's misleading at all. Is Bushmaster not a good brand? Your right, it is an opinion, but if you read his post he's looking for OPINIONS.

What do you base your opinion on? What is your experience with ARs?  Who are you? Your opinion is misleading because you provided nothing to backup your opinion. It points the OP in a direction with nothing to substantiate that course.

If you made a statement like "I'm new to ARs and just bought a Bushmaster. So far, I've put 3K rounds through it without a problem." then you opinion could be taken in context. The OP would know the value fo your opinion. Please understand taht I know nothing about you. I'm just providing an example.

I believe Bushmaster to be a Top Notch maker of rifles, so I gave my opinion. I could see if I told him to go out and get a Vulcan or something, and told him they were industry leaders, that would be misleading.

Based upon popular opinion, Bushmaster does make a good ARs but so do a lot of other manufacturers, some for substantially less money and to say Vulcan made good ARs would not be misleading, it would be a bold faced lie.

The fact is that the OP should not be looking for opinions, especially opinions without any substantiation. The OP should read hundreds if not thousands of posts to gather a large pool of opinions upon which they can formulate their own opinions and eventually buy an AR that will best serve their needs. I know you are only trying to help but we've seen hundreds of these threads and they are pointless.

I agree with you 100% that the original poster needs to read, read, and read. The reason I only gave my opinon and nothing behind it was because it was all that was asked for. I'm not trying to argue with you at all because I agree with what you are saying. I will be the first to point out that I am in no way an AR-15 guru, but I  have used a lot of different ARs. I have shot Colt M-16s, and M4s, along with their AR-15 counter parts, RRA, Armalite, Vulcan and a couple others. The only ones That didn't give me any problems where the Bushmaster and RRA, the Armalites problems where mag related, and as far as the Colts problems, I have no idea. Vulcan was just bieng a Vulcan. When it came time for me to buy my own, I did a lot of research. For me it was between Bushmaster and RRA, The Armalites where a little more expensive, and I didn't see the point in paying more for an Armalite when either of these two would do the trick. The reason I picked the Bushmaster was because they use better steele ( I know it 4140 to 4150 isn't all that big a deal) and that it came with a single stage trigger. The reason I like the RRA is the same reason I didn't get it. The N.M two stage trigger. I really do like the trigger, but I hear there are issues with it after hard prolonged use. Not that I will ever need better steele, or that I will go so hard on my trigger that it will mess up, but I like knowing that if I did, I wouldn't have any problems. This is why I choose the Bushmaster.

Thank you for posting that excist_and_reflect. That is 100% more useful to everyone.

You can learn a lot on this website. Pay close attention to the tacked threads at the top of the forum pages, there's a wealth of info there as well as links to other sources of info. I have worn my printer out printing all this stuff out. Also pay close attention to what Troy says. The guy knows his stuff. Welcome aboard!

Quoted: Thank you for posting that excist_and_reflect. That is 100% more useful to everyone.

Not a problem.