User Panel
Posted: 1/1/2007 4:43:48 PM EDT
A recent thread about Colt got a few negative comments about Bushmaster QC. Not wanting to hijack the thread, I am curious about the current consensus on Bushmaster. I have three AR's which utilize Bushy uppers, lowers, and guts. I have always been very pleased, but haven't bought a new AR in about three years. What say you about current Bushmaster rifles and parts? I've always respected Armalite, BM, Colt, DPMS, Oly, and RRA. Is anyone making the "best" stuff right now? And if so, who? Thanks.
Blake |
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I have had great luck using their 1/7 A2 barrel's. They are usually under 1 moa if free floated.
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4 Bushys and 1 colt in the stable and no problems with any of them.
all purchased within 3 years. None used, all new |
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IMO Best to worst I have personally owned and played with.
Colt RRA Bushmaster I will not buy, OLY or DPMS. ETA: And to be clear I currently own a couple of OLY and have purchased DPMS parts. I have seen DPMS go down in several classes. |
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I plan on getting an A3 upper for one of my Bushmasters, so I hope this thread provides some good intel.
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Where would Armalite fall? |
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Colt ArmaLite - Bushmaster LMT |
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I have not, yet owned nor played with Aramlalite or the new S&W AR's, nor seen one show up in a class so I don't know about those models. |
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I bought my new Bushmaster 20in A2 HBAR about five months ago and I think it's fit, finish, and overall quality is excellent. I have seen quite a few Bushys at the range and plus my dad has one that was bought used back in '94 and I have never had any problem with his or mine. The finish on dads rifle is slightly lighter in color than mine though.
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For me: Armalite (2 rifles) Bushmaster (1 rifle) Colt (1 rifle) And like you said, I will not buy Oly or DPMS. |
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I have a Crapmaster..er..Bushmaster M4 Carbine. Canted front sight from the factory, so bad I could not even zero it. When I called Bushmaster to send it back in, they would not even authorize it for return.
Not my first, but it will be my last Bushmaster. I put a PRI Folding front FSB on it, I figured that if I was going to fix the POS, I might as well fix the way I would like to have it. It accurate and reiable, but everytime I look at it, I get pissed at the way I was treated by BM.. In fact, I'm thinking of either selling it or trading it...I'll take any brand over BM.. |
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My Bushy runs 100% with any ammo I feed it, never an issue with specs or anything else. I actually prefer my own carbine to the Colt M4 the Army had issued me.
The Texas DPS (Highway Patrol) awarded Bushy their patrol rifle contract. |
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Not to knock Bushmaster, as I have "more than one," but they don't use an "F" type front sight base on their flat top uppers. I once heard that they have a different carry handle (lower in height) to compensate for this, but I could be mistaken. That being said, I plan on building an A4 clone, and I don't intend to use a Bushmaster barrel or upper receiver. |
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i love bushmasters. i bought my carbine new about a year ago. it jammed one or two rounds out of every mag. the gas port was very small compared to others i have seen. we enlarged the port slightly and it runs like a singer sewing machine. a buddy of mine with a dissapater had the same issue. no big deal we new what to do. but it would have been frustrating to someone who didn't.
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I have a bushy that I got right after the ban lifted and I think it slipped throught the cracks. It was jamming and getting stuck casings every other mag. I trouble shot it for about a year with about 1-2k rds through it somtimes it would run 500rds no prolem then stuck every 2-3 rnd Finally contacted Bushmaster. They paid for shipping both ways did some polishing and reaming still now fix. Called them back again they paid shipping both ways no questions asked. Within a week I had a brand new barrel. There customer service was A+ and I will buy more from Bushmaster in the future.
Edit I think since they got bought they have really entered a new world of exelence. |
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Snakes and horses live in my barn. I had an out of spec ejection port door cover once. I emailed Bushy about it and got a brand new one in three days. I have emailed their customer support several times and got answers within a few days. I would not hesitate to drop another grand on a Bushy rifle. |
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I sell a far # of bushmasters and they are excellent rifles , but
in 99-2000 for some reason from what i saw in the limited numbers i came in contact with the lemon factor went way up and i was not the only person to see increases problems The fixed all the rifles quickly with little questions asked though , but the problems at that time seem to stick in a lot of peoples minds My theory is that they were running full bore getting rifles out for Y2K and the cali AW registration and let QC slip a bit Since then though no real problems Every one makes a Ok rifle but rember ya get what ya pay for and there is a reason DPMS and Oly are cheaper |
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Not to hijack but what is wrong with the Olympic AR? Mine works great and is pretty danged accurate for a 16" barrel. Is there something I should look for to malfunction in the future? It's been throught several thousand rounds. Should I be expecting something bad to happen soon?
Thanks. |
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Last Bushmaster I bought, circa 2001, was an excellent, well fitted, accurate and reliable rifle. I'm now shooting an RRA that's just as good if not better.
Bushmaster needs some help with their 2 stage match trigger though. |
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Bought my first AR 20 inch postban Bushmaster about 7 years ago, never had a problem with it. I have since bought a carbon 15 pistol(no problems), carbon 15 9mm carbine(no problems), a 11.5 inch upper with perm 5.5 suppressor and a Bushy lower(again no problems). I have recently purchased a 14.5 w/perm Phantom upper from them but haven't had a chance to shoot it yet. I don't expect any problems with it either though. I'll be getting another lower, more than likely from Bushmaster soon.
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If it works you are fine This always becomes a shitfest but basiclly it comes down tyo this of the other brands you probably have a 98% chance your rifle will work fine with a Oly or DPMS your chances of your rifle working correctly is about 85% I used to sell Olys the lemon rate is 10x higher than the other brands of what I saw |
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My 2 year old Bushmaster Varmiter outshoots my .223 bolt gun ( 1/2 MOA). My BM A3M4 shoots great and is tight as a drum. No complains here.
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Personally, I think Bushy is over priced. Why are their lowers are twice the price of most everyone else. I certainly don't think I am getting twice the lower. I think I am buying a name brand like NIKE which is also overrated. I build all my own guns. And I have not looked back.
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The QC is hit or miss. Many rifles work just fine out of the box. A significant number, however, have basic QC problems like canted front sight bases, improperly staked carrier keys, etc.
As far as stuff available to civilians...: Colt's stuff is subject to the .mil QC and is thus a better shot at an out of the box good to go weapon. Bravo Company USA is also making some very good rifles as they try to follow the military TID as closely as possible. LMT makes some excellent stuff as well. To be clear: You can get a good rifle with anyone's name on it. My personal go-to rifle is a Bushmaster. My Bushmaster, however, was done properly. Everything was assembled right and has worked reliably for years. I have put 10,000 rounds through the weapon in training courses alone. |
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Friends have sent me pictures of entire shipments of Bushy's going to PDs with canted front sight bases and improperly staked carrier keys. I have been in training courses and typically the Bushmasters have run as good as Colts. It took a lot of convincing for me to believe that Bushmaster had problems because of my experience training with Bushy rifles and training along side Bushy rifles... But you can't argue with the pictures I saw. There was no excuse for it. |
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From what I understand Stag and CMT make top quality stuff. I believe BravoCompany uses Stag/CMT stuff to build their rifles. |
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I still don't understand why BM does not stake their carrier keys. It's a known problem and yet they still don't do it. |
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Assuming there was no pun intended......IMHO, there's no such animal as hit-or-miss QC, and, "Quality Control" is a misnomer in almost every instance it's generically applied. I think it's more accurate to say that Company-X's Quality Control is such that it allows for hit-or-miss functionality. People almost universally accept that good Quality Control results in a high-quality product when to me, this isn't true. QC just means to me that there are policies and procedures in place to reasonably ensure that Manufacturing produces the parts and assemblied that Engineering intends to be produced. |
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It's a known problem that un-staked keys cause failures to function, or is it more simply: BM doesn't stake the key? Both? Pardon my ignorance: "Staking of the key" is evidenced by the edge the key being hammered into the screw heads? |
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I have been told they make, RRA, S&W, Wilson, High Std.. My Stag is my favorite lower now. |
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They stake them....but they don't stake them properly. Carrier keys are staked to prevent them from coming loose and causing the weapon to malfunction. When they are improperly staked, they can come loose. My carrier key is staked properly, but I have seen lots of BM carrier keys that are not staked right.
The dimples you see around the screw heads of the carrier key are the result of the staking. The idea is to flow the metal of the carrier key into the screw heads so they cannot move. |
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+1 My Stag left-hander with a 16" barrel shoots as good as my 20" Colt HBAR. |
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My carrier was not staked right either...I re-staked mine.. I'm still going to get rid of it in the future... |
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My 3.5 year old varminter double fires about 3 times ever 25 rounds. It's really pissing me off. You ever have this problem with yours? |
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My suggestion would be that if you are going to buy a Bushmaster, don't do it sight unseen. Inspect it carefully for problems like canted FSBs or improperly staked carrier keys before purchase. If you find one of the good ones that has no factory defect, it will probably serve you very well. The best bet for purchasing an AR these days, in my opinion, is to have a competent builder actually build one for you using top quality parts. This is the service that BravoCompany tries to provide with their packages. I have never purchased anything from them, but their reputation among people who know what they are doing is superb. |
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Where do they sell 1-7 uppers? I've only seen 1-9. |
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I am assuming by "double fire" you mean that the weapon discharges when you pull and when you release the trigger, correct? If so, it sounds like you need to look at replacing some parts in the fire control system. Start looking at the disconnector.... |
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I'll never buy another Bushmaster, even if I can look at it. After being brushed aside by their Customer Service, I have zero desire to own another Crapmaster. I have built many in the past, and I will build another for me once I get rid of the Shitmaster. None of mine that I have built has ever failed... |
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i washed my hands of bushmaster when they pretty much refused to fix a NEW carbon 22 upper that consistantly fired out of battery and destroyed mags at 25.00 per shot.
this was before they were sold, so i don't know what the new ownship is like. It also bugs the living shit out of me that they put plastic trigger guards in their parts kits and guns. I know, not an issue but for the same cost everyone else uses alluminum. |
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That's the suck ass 2 stage Bushmaster trigger. I forgot which came first, the Bushmaster or CLE, but they're both the same design - I believe to cut costs, Bushmaster started using a different hammer than CLE did, but they both get pretty spooky if not kept cleaned and lubed. I have to scrub and shine mine spotless every 2-300 rounds and lube with Neco Moly Slide to keep it consistent. I still get doubles every now and then. |
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I too have heard that BM two stage triggers do that. When you can, I say just pull it out and find something better. |
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I've Had Both Bushmaster and Colt... I had no problems with either... well atleast till I got the Colt fixed. But there is a long story to that, it's not Colt's Fault and it wasn't caused by me either. |
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thanks for the info! I don't really like the trigger that much, either. It's not the smoothest on the take up stage, and let off from the factory is still stiff enough. |
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Colt
CMMG Armalite The best rifles out there. I rate them all the same, excellent. |
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