Advice on my first AR

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Terentius

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I want to purchase my first AR. I do not have any experience with one but want to expand my knowledge and fun with the shooting hobby. I occasionally shoot IPSC and target shoot often. Once again I have no experience with AR rifles so I am looking for advice on what I should buy for my first purchase.

I would like to keep my purchase under 3000$. I welcome all and any advice. Dealers, patrons anyone please help out a guy who want to make an educated, patient purchase.

TY all in advance for the help
 
I had a 10.5 and a 16 inch. If I was to get another one, I had get 14.5/16 inch in 1/9 twist since that shoots 55 grain well. My 10.5 was in 1/7 twist, you need to feed it 62-77 grain since will run your ammo cost a lot more than 55gr.

14.5 with a mid gas system. If I were you, I would find a dealer and get a made, like Saskatoon Gun Works, they have lots of Aero Precision parts.

I would avoid all the Cadillac models (BCM, Daniel Defense, etc). You're not going into combat and really don't need to spend that kind of money, as what will most likely be a bench/3 gun rifle. I have thousands of rounds through a 16 inch Aero and it's solid.

Saskatoon Gun Works sells Ballistic Advantage barrels, which are amazing. Watch any youtube review, I watch a lot of gunsandgear, solid reviews.

Just my 2 cents. Best of luck! You will love the AR!
 
What type of shooting do you want to do with your AR?
Long distance bench pure precision? 3Gun? CQB? TAC rifle? Or just want to make huge fireballs?

ARs can be set up in so many ways that, unless you want to buy a bunch of them ( like most guys here!), you really need to decide what your primary purpose for one is and buy with that in mind.

My ideal LEGO build would be a 16” Colt USA, Wyndham Weaponry to a Daniel Defense level rifle. Add a Raptor charging handle, a Geissele Match trigger, a weapons light (Surefire or Inforce), and a high end red dot sight, like a Micro T1/2, a Eotech or Trijicon. You can do this for under $2400 if you’re careful. That’s what the EE’s for!

Throw on a convertible single/2 point sling. Get good mags and that’s it!!

If you want to add an ambi safety and a muzzle device later on, then go for it.
 
Euro said:
I had a 10.5 and a 16 inch. If I was to get another one, I had get 14.5/16 inch in 1/9 twist since that shoots 55 grain well. My 10.5 was in 1/7 twist, you need to feed it 62-77 grain since will run your ammo cost a lot more than 55gr.

14.5 with a mid gas system. If I were you, I would find a dealer and get a made, like Saskatoon Gun Works, they have lots of Aero Precision parts.

I would avoid all the Cadillac models (BCM, Daniel Defense, etc). You're not going into combat and really don't need to spend that kind of money, as what will most likely be a bench/3 gun rifle. I have thousands of rounds through a 16 inch Aero and it's solid.

Saskatoon Gun Works sells Ballistic Advantage barrels, which are amazing. Watch any youtube review, I watch a lot of gunsandgear, solid reviews.

Just my 2 cents. Best of luck! You will love the AR!
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There is no need to run heavier projectiles in a 1:7 twist barrel. 55gr and up works in all twists at or above 1:7 and all lengths.

The questions the OP needs to answer are as follows.

Will you ever take your rifle to the USA? If yes you need a 16" barrel or a 14.5" with a welded flash hider to do so.
Will you ever shoot beyond 300 metres? If yes then a 14.5" or 16" barrel would serve you better than a shorter one.
Will you primarily shoot from the bench or will you shoot offhand/compete? If you shoot offhand you want a light rifle, don't hang sh*t off it that isn't necessary
Will you ever take a training class? If you plan to then you need a reliable rifle that is designed for hard use not plinking/gaming.


Your $3000 budget for a rifle with optic(I presume) is a healthy one and you should have no problems setting up a very capable rifle for your needs regardless of what they are. Buy a quality rifle a quality optic and lots of ammo and magazines.
 
I think, that if I was buying one, I don't think that you could go wrong with a Colt Canada product? They are well made and the barrels are cold hammered forged (CFH) which is a desirable feature IMO?
While we/I could get into the piston vs direct impingement debate, it would get far to messy here for anyone's good.Good Luck
 
You can't go wrong with a starter rifle for $699. Get a feel for it before you spend any further.
 
Some people might disagree with me. But the norinco rifles are alright. not as pretty as some but they run great and you can get one fairly cheap. I have 20” norinco and a DDmk18. I usually shoot the norinco. Might be a good place to start, you could always upgrade or sell it if ar15s arent your slice of pie.
 
Yari said:
Some people might disagree with me. But the norinco rifles are alright. not as pretty as some but they run great and you can get one fairly cheap. I have 20” norinco and a DDmk18. I usually shoot the norinco. Might be a good place to start, you could always upgrade or sell it if ar15s arent your slice of pie.
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While Norinco rifles used to be a good deal, with the lower priced American made rifles like the 700 dollar S&W make them obsolete.
No more fussing with not to spec parts, and hit or miss quality. There's just zero point to buy Chinese when you can get far better quality for about the same price.
 
Kidd X said:
There is no need to run heavier projectiles in a 1:7 twist barrel. 55gr and up works in all twists at or above 1:7 and all lengths.

The questions the OP needs to answer are as follows.

Will you ever take your rifle to the USA? If yes you need a 16" barrel or a 14.5" with a welded flash hider to do so.
Will you ever shoot beyond 300 metres? If yes then a 14.5" or 16" barrel would serve you better than a shorter one.
Will you primarily shoot from the bench or will you shoot offhand/compete? If you shoot offhand you want a light rifle, don't hang sh*t off it that isn't necessary
Will you ever take a training class? If you plan to then you need a reliable rifle that is designed for hard use not plinking/gaming.


Your $3000 budget for a rifle with optic(I presume) is a healthy one and you should have no problems setting up a very capable rifle for your needs regardless of what they are. Buy a quality rifle a quality optic and lots of ammo and magazines.
Click to expand...

I would like to start by saying TY all for any advice, I really do appreciate it.

I do not plan in taking any guns at this point in my life to the states. If/when that time comes I will do what needs to be done to do so.
I do not see the need at this moment to have to shoot beyond 300M. ( this may be due to my lack of knowledge/experience but I do not see why or when I would need to)
I would like to possibly get into 3 gun in the future (time and money) but that is not my goal at this moment. I would prefer to shoot "offhand" instead of always off a bench.
I would love to take training courses and increase all my shooting skills in anything I do.

Once again ty everyone for the help so far
 
There are essentially 5 tiers of AR's on the market right now:

  1. Bottom of the barrel: Norinco (Made in China, questionable quality).
  2. Low end: American-made guns selling for under $1,000 (some, like S&W, sell for as little as $700 these days, almost on par with Norinco, making the latter obsolete).
  3. Middle-of-the-road: $1,000-$2,000 (quality guns from reputable manufacturers like FN, Colt, Stag Arms, Sig, LMT, etc.)
  4. High end: $2,000 (Daniel Defense, KAC, Colt Canada, etc.) - fancier and more expensive than tier 3 guns; have features that some people want but others don't care for (i.e. the allegedly superior Colt Canada barrels).
  5. Super high end: $3,500+. The only gun I can think of that fits this tier is HK MR223, which is really in a category all by itself (made in Germany, piston-driven, used by special forces, etc., etc.) These guns are expensive but the quality and uniqueness make them worth it for those who can afford them.
 
Well, what little advice I can give is this, a wise man once told me that when it comes to rifles its about " bullets, barrels and bedding" and some of that does hold true for the AR platform. I really only have experience with Colt and HK guns, that said, I have enough experience with these guns to know that the chances of getting a barrel that doesn't group is low, if you did, I'm sure it would be dealt with via the warranty. While you may get lucky and get a lower price AR that "groups" that's fine, but what if you don't, change the barrel, try every bullet out there? It's up to you? At the end of the day, it's your money? buy what you want & can afford. Good Luck


Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, I shot this out of my HK416, 10.4" barrel @ 100yrd, this is after firing about 60rds before in rapid succession. Ignore the couple of "flyers" (for reference purposes the "white box" is 2")

oQqWptA.jpg
 
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My wife has a hard time with heavy rifles. She bought a Diamondback Db15 and loves the weight and ability to shoot standing up.
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Buy yourself a S&W MP-15, a decent optic and spend the rest of your $3000 budget on ammo. Learn the platform, figure out what works for you and what doesn't and then you'll be in a much better position to make an informed decision;--when the time comes to upgrade or completely replace it. Incidentally, the S&W is a fantastic deal and the low price doesn't reflect quality, but rather the so-called "Trump Slump" created when Hilary Clinton failed to win the election. The panic buying that started under Obama slowed and many manufacturers were forced to blow out prices to move excess inventory and free up capital. It wasn’t just S&W who guessed wrong. Best of luck with your purchase.
 
I just purchased my first AR and after reading post after post and review after review I decided to start with the S&W M&P 15 sport II instead of jumping into a build or a high end rifle. I went this route because I am not 100% sure what I would be using it for and I am not sure what features I want or don’t want. This way I start with a great quality US made AR and have money to try out different upgrades and see what works for me and after I know all that I can sell the starter package and upgrade to a Colt or a DD or a custom build. Just my two cents
 
Yes buy a Sport II while they are cheap.
I've owned and built several AR's but the S&W is hard to beat.
The trigger on my Sport 1 was even good.
Around 1 MOA out of the box? Think Ill skip the Norinco, thanks.

 
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Kidd X said:
There is no need to run heavier projectiles in a 1:7 twist barrel. 55gr and up works in all twists at or above 1:7 and all lengths.

The questions the OP needs to answer are as follows.

Will you ever take your rifle to the USA? If yes you need a 16" barrel or a 14.5" with a welded flash hider to do so.
Will you ever shoot beyond 300 metres? If yes then a 14.5" or 16" barrel would serve you better than a shorter one.
Will you primarily shoot from the bench or will you shoot offhand/compete? If you shoot offhand you want a light rifle, don't hang sh*t off it that isn't necessary
Will you ever take a training class? If you plan to then you need a reliable rifle that is designed for hard use not plinking/gaming.


Your $3000 budget for a rifle with optic(I presume) is a healthy one and you should have no problems setting up a very capable rifle for your needs regardless of what they are. Buy a quality rifle a quality optic and lots of ammo and magazines.
Click to expand...

Well this was off my ammo test that I ran when I used my 10.5 inch, 75 grain performed very well, where 55 was all over the place. Prehaps if you had a 16" in 1/7 things would be different.
 
What others have said.

My first was a 14.5" Norc. Great rifle. Never had an issue. Sold it so I could buy the Sport II. Wanted the US made, 16" barrel. If I had to buy my first today, the Norc would not be on the list simply because they cost as much as the US made ARs available to us now. Personally, I see no need in spending a ####e load of cash on a rifle that I can only shoot at the range....and 1 MOA accuracy or less I reserve for my bolt guns. The AR is for 3-gun fun and off-hand shooting.
 
You could easily get a Colt Canada mrr and a Bushnell 1-6.5 for ~3k . My CC with a 500$ trigger and raptor charging handle and scope came under 3k.
 
TY all so much for the advice so far. I am the type that would rather have 1 quality gun instead of 5 cheaper ones. My last pistol I purchased was the new Gold Cup Trophy from colt series 70 (5070XE). Since this was a really tough gun to find in Canada, after taxes and my first bullet purchase I was 3000$ into the gun. I could have easily bought several almost as good guns for this price but I can only shoot so many and I like what I like.

Saying that I am not against buying the S&W sports 2 for much less then what I can spend and I do like to save money. But my question is, Will I be looking to upgrade once I do get acquainted with the AR platform? I understand and truly appreciate why I would start cheap (I did the same thing with pistols) but if you had to do it all over again would you rather have spent you money on a nice AR right off the hop and saved your first purchase money to put towards a more expensive rifle or maybe even something nice for you lady?
 
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