MR1 is heavy as a tank, has a difficult mag release and optic mounting gives you a super high cheek rest UNLESS you remove the rear irons. That being said, its piston system is the largest and most overbuilt for a .223 rifle I've ever seen and I'm willing to bet you would be able to shoot countless thousands of rounds before even thinking of needing to clean it. Reliability is the tradeoff for its weight regarding the piston system they use. Its a benelli, so it has the somewhat questionable esthetics of the italians having to put strange, sleek curves on everything. The MR1 does shoot extremely well however. The controls and ergo's of the MR1 are different enough that I would recommend you pick one up and shoulder it, if not fire it before buying. It shoulders fast, the stock setup is just like their shotguns, it is designed to be shouldered quickly like a shotgun. Whether you find that advantageous is personal preference, it feels however, quite different than typical straight stocked AR type platforms. Also to note, there are about 0 aftermarket accessories for an MR1 except the tri-rail, which I did manage to get ahold of and mount although finding them can be difficult.
The SU16 is light as a feather, has AR style controls and ergo's and can fold. I got rid of the folding option and put the AR style stock on it. The foldout bipod was flimsy and ridiculous imo and jsut a novelty. Fit and finish on an SU16 is what you pay for....crappy. Just folding out the bipod a few times will take the finish off the barrel, and the rest is polymer which makes it feel like a glorified nerf gun. The piston system is reliable, it feeds fine, its not a magical supersystem like the MR1 but it works. They shoot decent, nothing to write home about, but I don't think anyone bought an su16 for precision rifle shooting. One thing to note, is if you want the SU16 to somewhat look and feel liek a rifle, your adding hudnreds of dollars for the quad raile forend and the AR stock adapter. This makes it price skyrocket way above its original $900 to the neighborhood of 1200-$1300. Now you're only saving a few hundred for AR ergos but much ####tier fit and finish.
Between the 2, the MR1 is hands down better built overall, but its just that much different that its hard to compare without having you actually try one first. Its not an AR style rifle at all. THe SU16 is an ar style rifle after adding a bunch of stuff but its so much cheaper in build quality that it's almost like going from tier 1 fit and finish to tier 4 just for AR ergo's.
To be fair I've owned these 2 and no longer own either for various reasons. Neither stood out as a long term keeper to me and I moved on.
Lastly, how is the AR-180 even an option? where are you guys finding these readily available at a moments notice to put it in this group? I see maybe one on the EE every 6-12 months and its being sold at 50% more than new because they are so rare. In this price range I wouldn't hesitate to throw the T97 in there, I've held one and they are actually very well built and well worth $1000 for a non-restricted in my opinion.
Then again you can factor in the money cost of said rifle versus quality of the rifle as well in your opinion. Is paying approximately 900$ for a SU16 better then paying 1800$ for a MR1? I just would like so see some debate.
