Which is better?  By better: more reliable, most accurate, fire the most rounds without breaking.

Depends on if you like Coke or Pepsi better.

Coke right here......

Amsgms, whatever floats your boat - or sinks it.

So there is no appreciable difference in the two?

[b] I don't think you'll find much of a difference between the 2 manufactures in quality. What you should do is check them both out (in hand) you can get a lemon with anything you buy . I don't think you would go wrong with buying either manufactures  weapon.

Check your HomeTown Forum to see if there's a shoot going on. Stop in I'm sure the guys would have no problem letting you check out their weapons.  Good Luck

SaFe ShOoTiNg
Jerry [):)] [/b]

Thanks! I am going to purchase an Ar15, had heard Bush Master and RRA were both good weapons for the money. DOn't know a lot about AR's. I want to put a scope on whatever I get, but will not leave it the scope on all the time.
What about Olympic Arms? WHat is the best AR out there for under a $1000?

[red][size=6][b]Colt[/b][/size=6][/red]

Why is Colt better?

It isn't, necessarily. There are a lot of people who own one brand of ARs [Bushy, Colt, whatever] and then become diehard supporters of that one brand.. It's like the stereotypical "My Ford is way better than your Chevy.. ever.. no matter what.. even my Focus" person. They're just hooked on a brand.

Just depends on what you want.  If you want a great value for your money, go with RRA.

If you want something that will hold it's value better (arguably), go with the Bushmaster or Colt.

The Colt is "better" because it has better name recognition.  In other words, just about everyone has heard of them vs RRA or even Bushmaster.  You'd probably get a higher resale price for it from a person that wasn't as knowledgeable about AR's.

I've owned both Colt and RRA.  I'd go with RRA hands down over a Colt.  You'd be hard pressed to find a new Colt for less than $900 or so.  You can get an RRA for at least $200 less.  I built my last RRA for about $600.

Just depends on what you want.  If you want a great value for your money, go with RRA.

If you want something that will hold it's value better (arguably), go with the Bushmaster or Colt.

The Colt is "better" because it has better name recognition.  In other words, just about everyone has heard of them vs RRA or even Bushmaster.  You'd probably get a higher resale price for it from a person that wasn't as knowledgeable about AR's.

I've owned both Colt and RRA.  I'd go with RRA hands down over a Colt.  You'd be hard pressed to find a new Colt for less than $900 or so.  You can get an RRA for at least $200 less.  I built my last RRA for about $600.

Thanks. I very rarely sell a firearm. Read some good things about RRA and Bushmaster. Seems the RRA is the prefered choice of most at this time. Will other manufacturers uppers fit a RRA? Who makes 45ACP uppers?

I have Colts, Bushmaster and Rock River AR's.

I'd say stick with a Bushy or a Colt.
These have never had a problem with me.
The RR has had a few feeding problems.
But it still is a good gun.

I just built a "Bush-River / Rock-Master"!
It consists of a pre-ban Bushmaster lower,
Rock River upper w/ RR Bolt & carrier and a
Bushmaster M4 Dissipator barrel assembly.
It all went together beautifully, and gets it's
first workout tomorrow!

Hello,

I personally went with RRA when I bought my AR.  I love it!  Fit and finish and quality are top notch.  Plus the life-time warranty.  I looked at Colts and Bushys as well when I was deciding.  The Bushys I saw lacked a little in fit and finish, these are the ones I SAW in the gun shop.  The Colt really looked nice.  After holding the three brands and pricing, I went RRA all the way.  Now, I think you would be happy with either of the three, Bushy Colt or RRA.  It is nice though when you can hold all three brands and really compare and see what you like.  Good luck to you....

I have a pre and post bushy,colt I hate not only because they changed lower receiver parts dimensions but they dont support the second amendment,an RRA will definately be my next AR the quality is excellent but only colt and bushmaster make 4150 steel barrels RRA is 4140 wich is not bad but I like to go with mil-spec so I would collect the colt,fight with the bushy,and with the RRA after I changed the barrel.

Bushmaster !!!! [bounce]

If you stick to Colt, Bushmaster, or RRA it won't matter. They are all high quality ARs. If you have money to burn and name brand is the most important factor then buy Colt. I have a Bushmaster and a Bushmaster lower w/ RRA upper receiver with Bushmaster barrel and I feel like I have 2 high quality rifles.

I have Knights, Colt, Bushmaster, and RRA.  I'd take any of them anytime.  All are quality rifles.  No problems with any of them.  If you decide to go with RRA, you can do so with confidence.  Their fit and finish is excellent.

Rocky Horrors Rule.

BUSHMASTER and COKE!

Oh my did I make a big mistake!

I flew with this really cool Captain named Ed.  Ed has two Colt ARs and convinced me that I really needed to consider purchasing an AR.

So I made the mistake of mentioning this to my friend Mike Nordel of EGUNZ here in Fort Worth.  Turns out he gets great deals on Rock River ARs.  Uh oh.  So I go look at one, a CAR A2M4 with a muzzle brake.  Fit and finish are fantastic.  Feels terrific in my hands.  Then I made the mistake of trying the trigger.

Like grease on glass.  I mean it is, out of the box, one of the finest triggers that I've ever tried.  Spoke with my extremely significant other (begged??) and lo and behold it followed me home.  

I put a Hogue rubber grip and a rubber gapper on it, and also installed some Trijicon sights.

I have about 250 rounds through it (Black Hills 55 grain soft point purchased from Georgia Precision; great prices especially for the AR15 board members and terrific customer support) and not so much as a coke/pepsi burp in feeding.  It's way more accurate than I am.    

Problem is now I'm HOOKED!!

I've called Rock River a couple of times to ask some questions (spoke with Steve; really nice guy) and found their support excellent.  In my never to be humble opinion, you can't go wrong with a Rock River.

BTW, I think you'll find the support and advice that you get from this website to be some of the best out there.

Mike Sigman
[email protected]

Ditto.

However, everybody has their own opinion and many have fierce brand name loyalty regardless of quality/value. Check these suggestions out for yourself. Bushmaster has top quality features like a chrome-lined barrel -standard. You may decide however, that a RRA suits you better since it is cheaper & your kind of shooting doesn't require all the bells & whistles. DO YOUR RESEARCH ACCORDING TO YOUR NEEDS. We're just too biased to give you an objective opinion as a whole. The good news is that the common suggestions are a good buy so at least the majority isn't steering you wrong.

Man, i'm new to ARs too, but not to guns in general. The thing to remember about guns is that you can ask 20 different people what the best gun on the market is and get twenty different opinions. The thing to do is research a little and the go check out the actual gun yourself. Whatever you like the best is what you should buy. Remember, it's your money, and as long as you've narrowed it down to the top few best makers, you probably won't go wrong

I also narrowed my parameters down to Bushmaster and RRA, as you have, when I was looking for my first AR.  Researched and asked around for quite a while.  As previously mentioned, pretty hard to go wrong with either one.  I decided on the RRA.  For no real particular reason other than I thought I found a good buy on one, out of the box.  All the Bushy's I had eyeballed seemed a little overpriced at the shops and even the gunshows.  I was looking for a CQB/urban type carbine.  YMMV.
I settled on a RRA M4 Entry Tactical.  As far as bells and whistles go, it came well equiped.  Out of the box with a front side sling adapter, factory installed Hogue grips, flat-top with detatchable tactial carry handle, Chromed M4 barrel, two stage trigger, and M4 handgaurds.  Got it for $799/shipped.  I am sure there are better deals to be found, but I was satisfied.  The Bushy's I looked at that were similar were at least another hundred or so, and all had a fixed tele-stock, which I did not want.  I am 5'9" so the short stock on the RRA suits me very well.  If you much taller than I, you may need an alternative.
The "tactical" carry handle it came with is kind of sexy, but not much more.  From what I have read, it is worthless for optic mounting.  Can't speak from experience, added trijicons and stayed with the irons for now.  Optic yet to come, but will probably go on the flattop.
A couple of guys on my patrol team are also on SWAT.  They checked out my Rock and were very impressed.(they have Colt M4's)  Fit and finish are outstanding.
I have a multitude of mags including USGI, the English steel ones, and Thermolds.  All fit and perform without problem.
The only accessories I have added were a three point sling, the Trijicon sights, and a Surefire M500 light, and it is now exactly what I want, minus a good optic.
Like has been mentioned, can't go wrong with either.  Just my little push for RRA.

Hope this helped and enjoy what ever you decide on.
The Man in Tan

ditto what manintan said.  Not saying others aren't good, but i sure hear a lot of complaints about colt quality.  Must sell all the good ones to the military.

Armalite

There is always one!!!

I have 1 Colt, 2 Bushys,1 RRA and an Armalite. The Armalite is by far the highest in quality. but for the money RRA is the best. The fit and finnish is unsurpassed. Do the RRA thing, you will not be disappointed. You don't see many for sale here.

COLTA COLA!!!!  

Actually, I do not believe Colt sells to the US Military actively now. Their ARs have a few very slight variances from MilSpec. Fabrique Nationale is making the lion's share of the M4s and A4s now,I believe. You can't ask for better quality than FN, although you could argue the pros and cons of having a foreign supplier(FN is a Belgian company). I know Bushy and DPMS have been called upon to produce contract weapons for the military also in the last few years. My service M16A1, when I was on active duty, was actually manufactured by the GM Hydra-matic transmission division, it was stamped right on the receiver. Had no problems with it.

When serving in the military, one must always remember that the equipment and weapons issued by the US gov't were made by the lowest contract bidder!

i picke up my 1st AR yesterday and it was a RRA.  it was between the Bushy Varminter and the RRA 24" varmint.  based on fit, price and trigger quality, the RRA won me over.  actually the RRA was always my 1st pick over the Bushy ever since i saw the 1st one.

Colt makes the M4's for the military and FN makes the M16's.

I stand corrected. I wish I could find an FN AR15 stripped lower receiver - I don't know if they sell them in the US. I have seen FN complete pre-ban style and post ban uppers for sale, jt-distributing.com, but no lowers.

I was exclusively a Bushmaster guy (well, I do have a Fulton upper come to think of it) but picked up an RRA NM Lower from Pete.  What a fine piece of work!  Is a bit snug with my BM uppers but a light tap with a plastic hammer seats them nicely.  EXCELLENT trigger, nearly the match of my Jewell and mechanically simpler.  Took it out yesterday and fed a couple of hundred rounds through it and a 20" HBAR upper and it worked like a charm.  Good stuff!

I was asking myself the same question several months ago when I was purchasing my first AR.  I could not find much of a difference in quality, reliability or user recommendations.  The only reason I purchased a Bushmaster is because of the chrome lined barrel.  The only barrel I could get from RRA that was chromed was the M4, and it was a significant price increase.  

Same guns from Bushy and RRA with the same options (both with chrome) - flip a quarter, or by both!

Sarge

Yep - M15A4 (Carbine)

No, sometimes there's two - or more !

You'd be hard pressed to destroy a 4140 barrel from overheating/deformation on semi-auto. I wouldn't demand a 4150 barrel unless I had a full auto weapon. I'm not saying the 4150 isn't better steel, b/c it is, but 4140 is fine for an AR, even after sustaining rapid fire.  My vote goes to RRA unless you are really set on buying a Milspec AR (an oxymoron, we should call them ARs that want to be M16s/M4s), in which case you's probably want a Bushy or a Colt. Other great manufacturers, such as Armalite, also use 4140, so there's no inherent problem with that particular grade of steel.
My 2,
B9

P.S. Everyone go out and buy an RRA, just don't order it from the factory expecting a timely turnaround!

Thanks 5!

I went with Bushmaster a couple of years ago, primarily because it was closer to Mil-Spec. (Colt's non-standard triggers ruled them out for me.) It held its value well, and I sold it yesterday for what I had in it.

I think any of the top brands will perform well enough for you, and how can you know until you get there what (mods, type shooting, etc.) you'll want to do? Buy the one you like the best, for whatever reason you have, including the sound of the name or the feel of the rifle. If you change your mind next year, so what? It likely won't cost you much of anything to change your mind.

Why did I sell mine? I really don't like the heavy barrels, and without a flashhider, I think I want 20-inches of tube. How could I have known that two years ago?

Jaywalker

Has BM always used 4150 or did they use 4140 at one time as well?

4140 used to be Mil-Spec, so I presume they used it when it was.

Jaywalker

I prefer the bushmaster due to the fact they use 4150 steel compared to 4140 in the rra. Colt is the only other mfg. that uses 4150 but They are more money.

i was in your shoes last month. i went with the RRA. IT WAS 130.00 CHEAPER. that was the only thing i could see different than the bushmaster. if you are the type of person who likes to do a lot of gun trading and you think you would want to trade or sell it later the bushmaster might be the one for you just because of resale value. but for me as a hunter and plinker it is great. first 100 shots my group is 1 1/4 with cheap ass ammo, on 16 inch barrel with scope. it was a no brainer. plus i am only 2 hours from factory.  marty

As big chef say ,MMM you pailface goum to the river ,, HOW


i got a ROCKYCOLT

A rock lower (by far the best trigger in the world out of the box)

and a colt m4 upper

way bling bling with chips , made to run not got a lot of crap all lover it just a virt forgrip and a bag of mags

mongo