What is the best AR-15?  I don't mean best quality.  What is the best combination price and quality?  I am considering buying an AR-15.  I went to the local store and a bushmaster was $800.00 is that a good price?  They only carried bushmaster.  What do I need to look for?  In general what are the differences?  There are so many manufacturers, what do I look for?

Thanks

Lots of choices. What do you plan on using it for? We need a little more info in order to give you our opinions.


Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

Chevy -vs- Ford.

Basically, you will do well with a Armalite, Bushmaster, Colt, or Rock River Arms.

Colt's have some non-standard parts, but are typically worth more on resale.

Armalite has great quality, and higher price.

Bushmaster has a chromelined barrel and chamber, good for a SHTF gun.

Rock River Arms was the gun of choice for the Limited Edition Group Purchase Rifle.  $660 delievered to your FFL (you will need to buy a carry handle or optical sight).  Special edition M4 configuration.

I've got 3 Bushmasters and 1 LEGP Rock River Arms.  All great rifles.

I'd check out the LEGP first ([url]http://www.ar15.com/forums/announcement.html?id=15[/url], and consider going that as your first rifle, but it really depends on what configuration you are looking for.

Read these articles:

[url]http://old.ar15.com/docs/primer/[/url]

[url]http://old.ar15.com/docs/idealRifle/[/url]

don't take it wrong if you don't get a lot of response on this.  It is such acommon question that it rarley get answerd anymore by more than 2 or 3.  Maybe I will be proved wrong.  By enlarge I would say read the general discussions for a few days and you will get the gist in regard to this question.

But, I remember being new and wanting one and not really knowing what the hell I was buying, so here is MHO (my humble opinion).

Brands to look for:

Bushmaster, Rock River and DPMS (my personal choice).  Look in the industry forums here @ ar15.com for info and discussions on manufacturers

800 bucks for a Bushmaster A2 16" or 20" model is not bad, but there are certainly better prices.  The LEGP M4 type rifle(limited edition group purchase) i think went of 660.00.  Nice one.  not sure if you can still get one.  It also has it's own thread.

links to check out:

www.bushmaster.com
www.dpmsinc.com
www.rockriverarms.com
www.gunfinder.net
www.gunbroker.net
www.auctionarms.com

Hope this helps and welcome aboard.

zaz

I have bought three brand new Armalites all three are my babies. My Congressman and Senators know I like them too. Some say they cost a little more,I don't think so,but if they do I still would pay the money. I demand quality,performance,customer service after the sale, I get all three with Armalite. My latest is a AR-10A2 Camo,it is magnificent. If they were bad or I had any trouble with them, I would not have bought three of them. I have seen the Armalite.  

First AR??? Go for the LEGP by Rock River Arms. That's what I did am I'm not sorry I did. My other choice was the Bushmaster M4.

I'm going to be an oddball but also check out Cav Arms. They make a really unique Cav15 rifle and Shawn Nealon (the owner) is a great guy to deal with....[url]www.cavalryarms.com[/url]

Guardian, don't listen to those guys... you want a Professional Ordnance Carbon-15!  They rock!  Just ask anyone who owns one!

They're the most reliable thing going!

They just got the Army contract to supply soldiers with the latest in ultralight weapons technology!

"They're AR-15 Perfection!"... that's a direct quote from Guns and Weapons for Law Enforcement magazine! You can't beat it!

For the love of God, listen to me!
I really hope most of you get this.[;D]

Oh God, here we go again...let the great AR opinion fight of the Summer of 2001 begin!

last week I bought my second AR and my second bushmaster,I bought a 16" shorty,Got It home cleaned it out,(threw the frankenmag on my bench,never even considered using it)Next day I went to the range,loaded up a 20 round mag,sighted it in,(that took 6rounds) and started shooting,200rnds later,I packed up,I had NO failures to feed, faliures to fire,failures to eject, Nothing went wrong or broke, rifle shoots much better than expected,Bought it on sale for $699.00 only problems I've had with my other bushmaster were when I was using the frankenmag,Once I got some GI mags and quit using the frankenmag, the problems stopped, Best AR? Bushmaster, At least in my opinion,I'm real happy with mine!!!

I have to agree- Bushmaster rocks.  I put an M4 upper with a pinned-on phantom on it on my Colt lower, and it fit and functioned perfectly.  Better quality than the Colt upper that I took off the lower.  DPMS also makes great parts, didn't go with one of their uppers 'cause I prefer chrome lined barrels.

Armalite, Bushmaster, and Colt (ABC!) are all about equal IMO. I really like my LEGP (#73)rifle a lot - but I won't shoot it (gonna collect em' all!!!).

The Best AR is the one that you get for free [:)]

Tyler