A friend of a co-worker is contemplating a CMMG 18" bull barrel flattop for around $900.  Is the brand any good, compared to Colt?  Is that a fair price?

yes and yes

What hand guard is on it making it cost $900?
$900 should get you a top tier upper.

Check prices on a Bravo Company, Daniel Defense and Rainier.

Great uppers you won't have to question.
Dave N

CMMG is fine. On par with any other run-of-the-mill AR. As for Colt, are you trying to pick a fight?

Oh yeah, one more thing: 6 years and 16,000 posts and you haven't found the search function yet?

Probably a complete rifle.

 It is.  I did search - but did not find a relative quality comparison.

I would rate them right there with Stag or RRA - CMMG was a favorite here 5 years ago but their QC slipped during the first Obama panic and they fell from good grace - I own an early KISS rifle and a 14,5 pinned kit - Both have been great for weekend warrior duty - I pawed over their latest products at Black Rifle in Columbia, Mo this Week and was impressed, even bought a stripped lower - I would give them a GTG

One thing I've noticed on many forums, is that how one words their search determines the results they get. Change one word, and get vastly different results.

And while people posting the same question over and over may get old, so do the search comments. Besides, a new thread may elicit new or better responses, who knows.

CMMG makes a very nice rifle. I consider them to be a mid level brand which I also consider Colt to be. $900 sounds like a decent deal if its new or in very good condition.

BTW, $900 is manufactured suggested retail price for a 16" bull barreled CMMG . . . in other words, no discount whatsoever:

http://www.cmmginc.com/product_p/55abb89.htm

CMMG is just fine.

Thanks for the info.

Someday, I hope to get an AR15, too ...

I really like CMMG.

How are their magwells?  On the looser side, on the tighter side?

I have a CMMG lower and I like it. I also had a CMMG barrel and didn't like it. I suspect the chamber was too tight. I got a LOT of failures to extract both shooting brass ammo and steel ammo. I talked to CMMG about it and was told that since I had fired steel ammo in it, they weren't going to look into it. It annoyed me so I don't plan to buy any more CMMG stuff. Basically I think their lowers are good but I don't trust their barrels. I might have just gotten a bad one. Don't know but since they weren't interested in checking it out, then I'm not interested in buying more stuff from them.

Been using mostly Stag stuff and it has been great.

YMMV

CMMG makes a great rifle. I have a 16"CHF that's shoots 1.5" MOA. Quality machining top and bottom. LaRue mount and Leupold scope needed 2 clicks to sight in. Just as good as the others.

Right or wrong I think of CMMG as less of a quality supplier than I want to buy from.
ColtRifle’s issue does not help that feeling any.

I assumed he was referring to this:

+1
A couple lowers, LPKs and uppers, not a single issue here.  I would definitely buy from them again if the price was right.

Yes I was.

I may have just gotten an out of spec one but we'll never know because they told me that they would not look into it just because I had fired steel cased ammo through it.  I had probably fired about 200 rounds of steel and about 500 rounds of brass.  I had jams from both the steel and the brass (and yes I did clean the chamber religiously and never fired brass after steel without cleaning it).  Certain types of brass jammed worse than others.  

Basically their response was, "You shot steel ammo so it's your problem".  I wasn't wanting warranty work...I just wanted to know if the chamber was in spec.  I really don't think it was.  

Again, my experience might have been an isolated incident but we'll never know.  

Their fit and finish is really nice from what I have seen and my CMMG lower is made well and looks good.  

I just won't buy anything else from them.  I wouldn't have thought less of them if the barrel had been out of spec and they had taken care of it.  Every company puts out a lemon from time to time.  But, when they weren't interested in investigating what was causing the issue, that sealed the deal for me.  Unfortunate but oh well.  There are plenty of good manufacturers out there who care about their customers.  

Plenty of people are happy with their CMMG rifles though so they can't be all bad.

I own a cmmg 16" inch and I love it. I've put 2000 rounds through it without a problem. I paid $945 for it and it came with magpul moe pistol grip, stock and handguard so I'd say thats a fair price.

I don’t think CMMG is a bad supplier necessarily, I just think there are better for my purposes.
It is all about perception.
Life is too short to dink with the ones that I perceive are likely to be more of a hassle than others.
You should check the headspace and if good lightly polish the chamber.