AR15 Quality comparison
- Thread starter Casperpan68
- Start date
I put Armalite on the list.
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
out of curiosity where would Alberta Tactical's AR fall into the list at?
ive been tossing around the idea of picking up one or a Colt Canada offering.
this list has me wondering where AT would be placed....
ive been tossing around the idea of picking up one or a Colt Canada offering.
this list has me wondering where AT would be placed....
wayupnorth
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Northern Alberta
also, im pretty sure i know the answer to this but what abouts Ruger's SR556?
about the same as the S&W sport II?
about the same as the S&W sport II?
smokeater40
CGN Regular
- Location
- Southern, Ontario
The Ruger has some proprietary parts, other than that yes about the same, maybe a tad better, but only just.
Here is the old Rob_S chart. It is obviously missing loads of the newer companies, and would need some updates here and there. As a general guideline for quality controls and materials it is an interesting chart.
Note the Smith and Wessen would not be the current sport model.
Note the Smith and Wessen would not be the current sport model.
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Pretty recenctly (last fall) I was in the market for my first AR, read a lot about the sport 2 and Ruger as both were available at decent price with good rep. Sadly, I found quite a good deal of negative reviews for Ruger regarding some parts and malfunctions. Can't remember which exactly but it's worth looking Up.
For the record I ended up with a smoking deal on a bushmaster. Everything is nice, tight and works. Only down side I found is the proprietary gaz block(super small OD).
r34skyline
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Right from the bottom all the way to the top. Well done my man.
You are completely correct. But iirc fns commercial rifles except for their mil collector series are an unknown and not on par with the colt 69xx series. It has been established for a while in m4c.
I read the fn15 receiver extension nut is not staked. Which is a mil spec procedure. Someone with a fn15 wanna chime in and confirm or disprove this please?
You are right, the FN commercial series is further off the TDP. The Military Collector series would be closer, so I shoved it in the TDP area.
Now granted ANY civilian AR is not precisely Mil Spec/ TDP. We don't get the fun selector etc.
The Colt 6920 also has the 16" non sbr barrel length, but other than that, the 6920/6921/6933 are all the same as issued carbines. Same with Colt Canada / Diemaco. The SA15.7/SA20 are identical to issued weapons but for markings, select fire and a slight different upper profile.
Race guns, and fancy coloured AR's are an entire different story.
- Location
- The Orion Arm
Would Spike’s be similar to the S&W, or better/worse?
Better. Barrels are usually hammer forged, and receivers are pretty clean with good anodizing. As far as I know Spikes use mil spec parts.
It is 2018. The way we made stuff is different from how colt made stuff in 1967, or even 1999.
The TDP of M4 is not supposed to be floating around but it has been leaked. And since Colt has been using many sub-contractors to fulfill the military contracts, especially during the height of the GWOT, everyone has at least a few pieces of the TDP puzzle. People just don't sit down and magically create drawings out of no-where to make AR15s that are interchangeable with each other. The M16 TDP was floating around long before the M4, guess how bushmaster, DPMS and Eagle Arms pieced their stuff together 20 years ago.
What is it important in that TDP to you as a consumer? It is basically being used as an "open sourced" but legally grey spec so all the manufacturers can claim their stuff is interchangeable with other AR15. But really, in 2018 pretty much everyone in the AR15 industry has gotten hold or can contract out to someone who has that TDP stashed away somewhere on his hard drive.
So before everyone is too hung up on whether my AR is more mil spec or TDP correct than yours, in reality everyone AR15 comes from that TDP that you have not seen but people in the industry have it in their drawers semi-secretly. Until someone openly pulls out his semi legally grey copy of TDP ( and admit they have something that belongs to Colt ), all the charts and stuff are superficial observation. Putting a "F" on the FSB doesn't mean that it is done according to whatever TDP, unless you measure it and figure out the tolerance permitted.
My take is that as long as the gun works, and you pay the price you want, that is all important. This is not 2000, the industry has figured out how to make AR15 (after the spread of M4 TDP)
The TDP of M4 is not supposed to be floating around but it has been leaked. And since Colt has been using many sub-contractors to fulfill the military contracts, especially during the height of the GWOT, everyone has at least a few pieces of the TDP puzzle. People just don't sit down and magically create drawings out of no-where to make AR15s that are interchangeable with each other. The M16 TDP was floating around long before the M4, guess how bushmaster, DPMS and Eagle Arms pieced their stuff together 20 years ago.
What is it important in that TDP to you as a consumer? It is basically being used as an "open sourced" but legally grey spec so all the manufacturers can claim their stuff is interchangeable with other AR15. But really, in 2018 pretty much everyone in the AR15 industry has gotten hold or can contract out to someone who has that TDP stashed away somewhere on his hard drive.
So before everyone is too hung up on whether my AR is more mil spec or TDP correct than yours, in reality everyone AR15 comes from that TDP that you have not seen but people in the industry have it in their drawers semi-secretly. Until someone openly pulls out his semi legally grey copy of TDP ( and admit they have something that belongs to Colt ), all the charts and stuff are superficial observation. Putting a "F" on the FSB doesn't mean that it is done according to whatever TDP, unless you measure it and figure out the tolerance permitted.
My take is that as long as the gun works, and you pay the price you want, that is all important. This is not 2000, the industry has figured out how to make AR15 (after the spread of M4 TDP)
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Yup, all true. But some are still better quality than others. The Baseline for quality is the (leaked) TDP and so called MilSpec. For what its worth most hobby shooters are fine with any name brand AR. Security/PMC guys who work for a living need something that they will be able to count on. I won't carry a S&W Sport if my life depends on it. Colt, yes. Diemaco, yes. BCM? sure.
r34skyline
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Couldn't have put it better myself. Not all ars are created equal. And yes the base spec is just that the base.
GoodDoomguy
CGN Regular
Good to know my first and only AR at the moment is on top of the list!
Top quality TDP or (+) AR's ( Colt, Colt Canada, BCM, LMT, FN, DD, Sabre ) $$$
Decent TDP "pattern" AR's ( Armalite, Bushmaster, Windam Weaponry, DPMS, Palmetto, S&W, Stag, Aero, Core 15, CMMG, Troy, Spikes) $$
High end, Piston OR Stoner rifles ( Knights, SIG, Barrett, H&K Cobalt, Larue, POF, Noveske, ATRS ) $$$$$
Bargain basement ( anything chinese) $
Crap (NEA)
It means said department is poor and has an even worse procurement team/process.
