AR...What company...?

If you want something a little different, take a look at the Bushmaster Carbon 15's. I haven't had any problems with it and the few pounds you save make it super comfy. You're also guaranteed to get a few questions at the range.
 
Now that a new Colt can't be had in Kanada, the only other choice for my money would be Stag - PM Dangertree; he'll set you up. If you go with the Stag, just ensure you get the MP'd bolt, etc - I believe it's an option.

Despite what others say, there are differences - gas keys not properly staked on (or not at all), non-MP'd bolts, non mil-spec buffer tubes, etc, etc.
 
jaycee said:
Now that a new Colt can't be had in Kanada, the only other choice for my money would be Stag - PM Dangertree; he'll set you up. If you go with the Stag, just ensure you get the MP'd bolt, etc - I believe it's an option.

Despite what others say, there are differences - gas keys not properly staked on (or not at all), non-MP'd bolts, non mil-spec buffer tubes, etc, etc.
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EDIT: I snipped out some info that may not be 100% accurate -sorry for the gaff!

FWIW, ANY major maker (RRA, Armalite, Stag, DPMS, etc.) will have staked gas keys decent buffer tubes. Unless you built your carrier yourself from parts and didn't stake them, that is.

My Armalite bolt is staked and stamped with proofs all over. I doubt it is milspec though since to be milspec a mfgr. has to throw out an entire run of parts if even ONE part fails QA/QC inspection. [SNIP]

Norinco AR's use different metric threads on their buffer tubes - definitely NOT milspec either. [SNIP]

Another consideration is the type of bolt carrier. Colt commercial bolts all started life as M16 bolts with the FA bridge milled off. I personally don't like this as the C-cut carriers are harder on the buffer plunger. Most commercial bolts are not C-cut but hafe the FA contact surface milled away which, IMHO, is better - assuming a quality mfgr. Real FA M16 bolts are best, but hard to come by. Best of all is a chromed carrier, but most are not set up for forward assist if that matters to you. FWIW, I use a stock Armalite carrier - works fine.

Get a chrome lined bore. Longer life and easier to clean - worth the small increase in cost.
 
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Claven2 said:
FWIW, ANY major maker (RRA, Armalite, Stag, DPMS, etc.) will have staked gas keys and milspec buffer tubes. Unless you built your carrier yourself from parts and didn;t stake them, that is.
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RRA, Armalite, and DPMS do not have mil spec sized buffer tubes. Most of them sake their gas keys, but some actually do it right.
 
Mike K said:
RRA, Armalite, and DPMS do not have mil spec sized buffer tubes. Most of them sake their gas keys, but some actually do it right.
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Only gas key I've ever seen loosen was a DPMS unit (big surprise). DPMS seems very odd - sometimes they have awesome stuff, other times it seems like it was made late on a Friday in China. I read somewhere that they aren't a real manufacturing company and that they source all their parts from small outfits here and there. that's not based on any hard fact though, so please don't place any weight on this statement ;) I do know that at one time they sold CAST receivers that rather sucked (haven't sold Cast stuff in YEARS - you can tell it's cast by raised, instead of stamped, lettering). I do have a lower parts kit of theirs installed in a bitser and aside from a cosmetically misaligned safety lever that still works fine, the kit's been very good.

RRA has made at least one run of milspec buffer tubes for the DEA contract they won a couple years ago. The over-runs were sold stateside last year. I picked one of those up too and it was quite nice. Not CMT/Colt nice, but way better than their usual tubes are/were.

FWIW, as Dangertree PM'd me, unless you want to swap a magpull butt onto your buffer tube b/c you didn't buy a tube with your magpull or something, whether it's milspec or not doesn't matter one bit. He was deft enough to point out milspec tubes are slightly different outer diameter (larger) and are milled, while commercially tubes are generally forged (or drawn I imagine). Milspec is probably slightly sturdier, but either tube is strong enough.

[SNIP]Either way, and MPI'd bolt is an MPI'd bolt and you can be assured it's perfect without internal faults. That's what you're paying for, right? In fact, even a non-MPI'd bolt is most certainly fine - but some people won't own anything that wouldn't qualify for NATO issue, so...

I still believe anything by a reputable major brand will be more than adequate for any civilian AR user in Canada. Take your pick, or even mix and match the parts. Have at 'er! They all work great and if you get a lemon, chances are the CGN dealer you should have bought it from will make it right ;)
 
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PS: I'm sure Dangertree will correct me here if I have said anything incorrect or if I misrepresented what he said - if so, it was unintentional! :) <<<--- Disclaimer!!
 
:)

My main point, for useability, debating mil-spec vs non-milspec buffer tubes is akin to picking fly#### from pepper. Unless you need one for a specific buttstock you want to use, I don't see it mattering either way. I've heard (<- dangerous start) that the milled tubes are stronger, but how many of us have broken buffer tubes?

As for the bolts, yeah, I PM'ed to say that I didn't think the culling comment was based on fact, but assumption.

PS: Claven, I PMd that because I didn't want to get into posting this. Oh well.
 
Sorry man :( I posted it because as you pointed out, some earlier info I posted was clearly wrong (oops!) and I didn't want anyone to read it and act on it in error...

I'll edit some of my posts to take that other topic about bolts offline again and to clear up my mistakes.
 
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^Does LMT makes their own buffer tube? Is Stag buffer tube forged?

It doesn't really make a difference though, since I'm just an armchair commando.

IMO I don't think you NEED to have a mill-spec tube, unless you decide to change your factory stock to soemthing else. Vltor/LMT/Magpul they all make their stocks for mill-spec tubes.
 
Thank you all for your opinions. Finally, after talking a reading a LOT, i went for a Defender (LMT) 2 stages trg. lower with sopmod stock and, for the upper, I bought a LMT 16" with their enhanced bolt/carrier assembly. I guess Questar convinced me that LMT is very good. Now, i will have to spend on sights, rail ...etc
 
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