Hello everybody, new guy here, the name's Russ. I just have a few comments and questions then I'll go back to lurking around some more. I'm not totally unfamiliar with the AR15 having slept, ate, and basically lived with an M16 from 1970 to 1976 compliments of the US government. I gave her back in 1976 and never looked back till a few months ago.
The world's changed a lot since then, needless to say, and after reading a few horror stories about the Katrina aftermath, I'm beginning to feel like a little more firepower might not be a bad idea. I have a couple of six shooters and an 870 but nothing that can reach out to a crowd like the 15 can.
You can imagine my amazement when I went shopping. In 1976 you could have any model AR15 you wanted as long as it was a Colt. Now, thirty years later it seems like anybody with a set of prints and a lathe is making these things! Now it's different twists, heavy tubes, short tubes, fluted tubes, and chrome tubes; picatinny rails, folding stocks, pistol stocks, a dozen different sighting systems, and the list goes on!
I know better than to ask who makes the best out of the box 15 so I won't. I'm partial to Colt simply because I carried a Colt for six years and it never let me down, but I'd like to ask you guys if there are any books you could suggest that could bring me up to the 21st century. I need to educate myself about all those new barrel types and such. Of course I wouldn't mind any off hand comments either. I'll go back to minding my own business now.
Russ