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Posted: 5/27/2008 4:49:46 PM EDT
| i haven't been to this site that regularly in a few years. but i'm seeing something in some of the post especially from the defense training community that seem to indicate that bushmasters are no longer "first tier" weapons. that has certainly changed from a few years ago when the response to what ar-15 to buy? was to get one of the "ABCs". which were armalite,bushmaster and colt. did bushmaster quality slip? i keep reading about bolt probs. i guess they don't test their bolts like colt does. but didn't bushmaster at least make their barrels and bolt from milspec steel? i believe the barrels were tested if i remember right. and the uppers and lowers are forged. i have both a older preban colt hbar and a ban flattop 16" (counting the ak brake) bushmaster. they are both reliable firearms. Thanks! |
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My own personal experience with Busmaster has been good. I own a POI Carbon 15 and had problems with the proprietary bolt and barrel extension. I sent it to Bushmaster to be re-barrelled with one of their ultralight fluted SS barrels and MIL SPEC bolt. That gun is now a tack driver and I had outstanding experience (then and since) with the Lake Havassu AZ (Carbon 15) customer service and gunsmith guys. It is also very reliable and feeds both factory and handload ammo. The factory proof shots were two sets of shooters shooting Wolf 55 grain at 100 yards, all 5 rounds inside 1". I paid for the parts, they assembled it and test fired it at no charge. They even installed a customer-supplied FH (Phanton 2) at no charge and indexed it for me. BTW I do better than 1 MOA with 69 gr SMK handloads. (This is similar to the current Carbon 15 Type 97 rifle) I had a 16" HBAR A2 type Dissipator that was a used "rack gun". It worked great from the first day I owned it, couldn't kill it with a hammer, and it, too, is a very nice carbine. When I decided I wanted to upgrade it, I got in touch with the customer service guys up in Maine. They were just as good as the AZ guys! They suggested the 2 piece Hogue FF for the Dissy, which I purchased from them. gue FF, Hogue grip and a "stubby" stock on it. Rather than ship my upper to them (they would mount the new parts and test fire at no cost) I chose to just have them ship me the parts. They advised me on the process, and I did the work myself. Again, GREAT customer service and customer support. I ended up putting a stubby stock on it, and now it is a wonderfully short (still legal) A2 carbine with full length sight radius. I love it! I recently assembled a Bushmaster Carbon 15 M4 lower using a stripped lower receiver and a bag of Bushy parts except for the FC. I'm using a CMC Supermatch trigger instead. What a great lower! It takes all of my small-pin ARs without any problems, and iwith its ultra light Ace Skeleton Stock it's a nice package. Very high quality components, although I did the assembly myself... I saw a market report recently which indicates Bushmaster builds and sells as many AR-15s to the consumer and LEOs as all other makers combined. If that stat is true, then you are going to hear many complaints, simply because so many shooters buy and use their Bushmasters. No company, or product, is perfect, so you are going to hear some complaints.. When you read what's on the Internet, make sure you try to differentiate between genuine experience, and internet wannabees repeating what they've read online. THe problem with the "maker X has a problem" statement, whether it's about Bushmaster or Colt or SIG or Olly or any other maker, is that you should only listen to factual information derived either from personal experience, or a formal (and citable) industry study. Otherwise, you are only getting an opinion. One thing we used to say in the Army. Opinions are like a**holes - everybody has one. Another was - with opinions, you get what you pay for...  |
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