Need Advice on AR Type Rifle please

ted_dent,

WRONG!

Your information regarding Colt using large pins is out of date by a couple of years. They stopped producing the large pin size ARs in 2009. See below:

http://geissele.com/pdfs/GuideForColtRifleUsersVer3.pdf

They build all their current rifles to "Mil-spec". They are the current standard by which all others are measured. See the new 'Chart':

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AqmgMm61Ok7WdExwaG16OENzOEZ1akp2a3Y2NjMxTEE&single=true&gid=2&output=html

They are now also very competitively priced (in the US) with prices ranging from $1000 to $1050. Compared to DPMS rifles that run at just over $900, they are not that expensive.

Colt
BCM
DD
LMT
Noveske
KAC

All of the above are GTG, according to people who know more than I do.

Regards.

Mark

If a fellow wanted to buy a new Colt in Canada who should they talk to?

Graydog
 
Colts in Canada

Actually Questar had a couple for auction, and they are still showing one available on the banner of their home page, and CRAFM were selling them a while ago.

I also seem to remember seeing one at the Army/Navy store in Halifax last time I was down there.

They are available, they are just scarce. In Canada, you are probably better off looking at DD and LMT if you want something good, and Noveske if you want something good and don't mind paying a little more.

Regards.

Mark
 
If a fellow wanted to buy a new Colt in Canada who should they talk to?

Graydog

You probably won't get a new Colt in that price range, but you could definitely pick up an older rifle from the EE.

Are you looking for a carbine or a rifle? Red dot or magnified scope or just irons? Don't forget that a quality optic may be more than half the cost of the basic gun.

For red dots I'd definitely recommend Aimpoints such as the Micro series based on reliability, size and battery life.

Lots of choices in carbines as mentioned. LMT from Questar and Stag from armseast are good choices in your pricerange. DD are also excellent as are KAC and Noveske, but these last two run a bit more $$ than your budget. Stag makes some interesting rifle length offerings as well.

Cruising through those offerings and considering what you want this rifle to do (e.g. quick handling or long range precision?) is a good place to start.
 
013-1.jpg

010-4.jpg


I have always had good luck with the LMT carbines, and I have an NEA carbine on the way, in the long run the carbines are cheap it is all the accessories that bankrupt you.

gadget
 
Now that the buying frenzy is over prices may have come down a bit too. When I bought my Bushmaster it was $1685 2 years ago just after the US elections and finding an AR was next to impossible.

With your budget I would try a custom or Semi custom rig. If you buy a factory rifle and start swapping parts, rails, triggers etc you'll end up with a semi custom rig anyway. Remember to add a hefty chunk for quality optics too.

I just ordered a new scope and rail... $1100, you could spend 3 times that on optics alone if you wanted too.

Crazy fun hobby!!
 
Gonna echo a vote for LMT. Great product for decent money. Love mine. Always reliable and accurate.


Budget, go Stag. I have a lower and another upper are Stag. No complaints at all and the fit and finish are right up there... Best part is you can deal with Walt at ArmsEast. I love that guy. Brothers from the rock are great to chat with!
 
013-1.jpg

010-4.jpg


I have always had good luck with the LMT carbines, and I have an NEA carbine on the way, in the long run the carbines are cheap it is all the accessories that bankrupt you.

gadget

What is your opinion of that troy stock? I've been considering one.
 
It is really, really easy to spend too much money on this sport. My scholarly advice is that they're all good, even the cheapy Norinco's. In fact, if I had it all to do again I would buy the Norc because I am just a gun club duffer and don't need anything special. I shoot gongs and paper for fun and that's it.

Having said that, I shoot a chit house Bushmaster with no mods and it is a sweetheart. But I get accosted all the time by my fellow AR geeks at the range and they start chittering about all the boutique components they put in their guns. It's like it's some kind of status symbol or something. Far as I can tell it doesn't do anything for them when you start shooting off hand or from the positions. For me the stock flat top AR is all that I need and it takes a dedicated competition shooter to ace me out on the range.

The AR is good right out of the box regardless of the flavour you pick, spend your money on ammo and practice rather than the goofy accessories. Nothing replaces good marksmanship and the fire control computer between your ears. Once you have those optimized, then you look at accessories and mods and boutique rifles. Chances are you won't need them if you have done your homework.
 
Sorry if my response was a little harsh, but with the number of people reading this thread, I wanted to be certain that there was as little misinformation being posted as possible.

You are in fact correct, in that anyone buying a used Colt made between 1991 and 2009 would end up with a large pin lower.

I don't own any Colts, and like you, I have built all of my ARs.

Regards.

Mark

Hey, no problem. I didn't know Colt had finally seen the light & come back to mil-spec. They probably could get away with no mil-spec in 1991 when there were only a few AR companies but now with virtually dozens of competitors I suspect their share of the market has shrunk considerably.
 
Last edited:
What is your opinion of that troy stock? I've been considering one.

Its not for everyone but I have come to appreciate the features and design that went into it, I also like and the Magpul stocks and the LMT offering.

gadget
 
Thanks for all the great info guys I sure appreciate it. I was at my local gunshop the other day and they are trying to sell me one of the Norinco guns. Are these things any good or worth taking home?


Graydog
 
Hehe. You'll start a flame war over that question. I think they are junk (and I don't support the country of origin), but others will say otherwise.
 
I would say they will probably run OK, but if you are leaning towards something other than Colt/DD/the big buck options, then I would say absolutely look at the NEA rifle.

The Norincos are built to their own, seemingly random spec and while in most cases they run all right, if you want to start swapping bits out you're lacking the drop-in modularity of the AR series.

Further to that, they don't all run as flawlessly as some people claim. I can think of a couple of guys who I have personally witnessed having malfunctions on their norinco ARs that I have seen in here claiming they've never had a single issue.

My experience with Norinco (and I do own some Norinco stuff...at one point I had 8 Norincos) is that the big parts are usually pretty on. Frame/receiver/lower/upper/barrel, that sort of stuff is generally all right.

The small parts range from "I guess this is going to be okay" to "wow, I didn't know anyone could afford to get drunk on a bowl of rice a day, but this guy managed it".
 
Back
Top Bottom