buying an AR, what's important?

Kampfhamster

Kampfhamster

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Recently I applied for a weapons purchase permit. Since it's the same paperwork for one firearm or for two or three, I might as well get more then the originally planned rifle.

So now I'm considering getting an AR15, after years of avoiding it, just to learn more about the AR15.

I don't know too much about this type of rifle, since so far I was more of an AK and Swissarms-guy.

The brands available in Canada are not available over here so I need advice about what details I have to check out before buying a rifle.

Most likely I'll get a Sabre Defence M4gery, is this brand even available in Canada?

Thank's in advance.
 
There are a few very nice AR being made in Eroupe, HK, Astra in Switzerland, Proarms Armory in Czech and of course Sabre Defense in UK. nearly all of them have been producing firearms for ever, so the quality will be way better any "Mil Spec" that is so commonly mistakenly taken as a sign of quality.
 
Yes we did have Sabre Defence, unfortunately the company is no more due to an ITAR scandal. But other than that, they make good products as they were one of the few vendors that were awarded to produce US military M16s.

What configuration are you looking for? The shorter the gun, the more finicky they become. I recommend staying no shorter than 11.5" if you care about muzzle velocity. 14.5" is a good compromise for the size. For a 16" try to locate a mid-length gas system as things will be smoother.
Things to look for are proper staking of the BCG, M4 feed ramps, correct size gas ports and matching the optimal buffer weights. Milspec size buffer tube is also important if you plan to swap around milspec stocks. Skip the fad of piston based guns unless its a HK.
The nice thing about AR15s are the myriad of things you can swap out to your own tastes, so fixing them up is not a hard task if you can locate quality components.

You will not go wrong with a Sabre as they have very good build quality from my experience, their barrels are considered some of the best.
 
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16.75" barrel? There's an strange number. 16.1" seems more common over here.

If you want a more direct comparison to your Swiss Arms rifle, you should at least evaluate a 20" Hbar. I think you'll be surprised how well it performs compared to the PE90.
 
I will not even consider a 20"-rifle.

16,75" is due to the german gun laws. We get some leftover's from them, because the german market is bigger then ours. Our laws are quite liberal, but the market is just too small.

And no, I will not compare an AR with a PE90, I know how well it performed at the Stgw90-test.
 
First off what are your goals for this rifle?

The AR can be anything you want. Want a precision shooter 1/2 moa 100 yards. No problem. Want a police carbine, short carbine, M4 copy etc. All good. Or a mix of the two. Decide what's important to you. There are tradeoffs.

You were saying a 16" barrel. Ok, now you need to figure out what is important to you and what is available. First do you want the M4 profile barrel? Do you want the regular front sight with plastic handguards, or do you want to go free floated rails (I would recommend free floated). Then there is the case of the Monolithic uppers. All one piece and free floated. LMT offers this with their MRP line.

Now one other thing to be careful of. Look what the rifle comes with. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the more expensive rifle if it comes with the pieces you already want, than the cheaper one and having to add on later.

Stock choices. Magpul, CTR for patrol carbine, PRS or UBR for more DM rifles. Also the SOPMOD stock by LMT while expensive on it's own works very well. Others have found Magpul comparable. The FAB defence stock I have on a patrol carbine is decent too.

Pistol grips: Magpul MIAD, or MOE. Now that being said the Ergo grip that came with my LMT won't be replaced. I actually really like it, although my others all have Magpul.

Triggers. The triggers on AR rifles vary. Some are great out of the box others are complete garbage. Again another thing to consider in the overall price.

Sabre is supposed to be good. LMT MRP if you want to go up a level is also excellent if available in your area. The new Armalite rifles are decent but not considered tier 1. Stag is good, especially if bought like ours here at Colt specs. Lots of choices out there.
 
Epoxy7 said:
First off what are your goals for this rifle?

The AR can be anything you want. Want a precision shooter 1/2 moa 100 yards. No problem. Want a police carbine, short carbine, M4 copy etc. All good. Or a mix of the two. Decide what's important to you. There are tradeoffs.

You were saying a 16" barrel. Ok, now you need to figure out what is important to you and what is available. First do you want the M4 profile barrel? Do you want the regular front sight with plastic handguards, or do you want to go free floated rails (I would recommend free floated). Then there is the case of the Monolithic uppers. All one piece and free floated. LMT offers this with their MRP line.

Now one other thing to be careful of. Look what the rifle comes with. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the more expensive rifle if it comes with the pieces you already want, than the cheaper one and having to add on later.

Stock choices. Magpul, CTR for patrol carbine, PRS or UBR for more DM rifles. Also the SOPMOD stock by LMT while expensive on it's own works very well. Others have found Magpul comparable. The FAB defence stock I have on a patrol carbine is decent too.

Pistol grips: Magpul MIAD, or MOE. Now that being said the Ergo grip that came with my LMT won't be replaced. I actually really like it, although my others all have Magpul.

Triggers. The triggers on AR rifles vary. Some are great out of the box others are complete garbage. Again another thing to consider in the overall price.

Sabre is supposed to be good. LMT MRP if you want to go up a level is also excellent if available in your area. The new Armalite rifles are decent but not considered tier 1. Stag is good, especially if bought like ours here at Colt specs. Lots of choices out there.
Click to expand...

Excellent post. The most important question that ones need to ask themselves is the highlighted portion above. Sadly, most never do.

TDC
 
for me, what is really important is how cool it will make me look.

When fully dressed, wearing a tactical vest with all pouches full, holding my gun, and looking at myself in the mirror, I have to be thinking: watch out guys, we got a badass over here.
If I am not, I must return the gun
 
Kampfhamster said:
Recently I applied for a weapons purchase permit. Since it's the same paperwork for one firearm or for two or three, I might as well get more then the originally planned rifle.

So now I'm considering getting an AR15, after years of avoiding it, just to learn more about the AR15.

I don't know too much about this type of rifle, since so far I was more of an AK and Swissarms-guy.

The brands available in Canada are not available over here so I need advice about what details I have to check out before buying a rifle.

Most likely I'll get a Sabre Defence M4gery, is this brand even available in Canada?

Thank's in advance.
Click to expand...


We have sold quite a few of our AR type rifles in Switzerland.
We can build you pretty much any configuration you want and in Swiss like quality.
 
chemo said:
for me, what is really important is how cool it will make me look.

When fully dressed, wearing a tactical vest with all pouches full, holding my gun, and looking at myself in the mirror, I have to be thinking: watch out guys, we got a badass over here.
If I am not, I must return the gun
Click to expand...

No doubt! :D
 
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