re: AR 15 for beginner

You might spend a little more on a similarly speced S&W over a PSA or something similar. But that extra cost is for S&W's great customer service in case anything ever actually goes wrong with it which is highly unlikely.

There are so many little things that can be different from rifle to rifle even though from afar they could all look the same. Places where you see the differences:

Barrel. Lots of different options with respect to gas tube length, material, finish, etc.

Cheapest being a plain parkerized finish. Then you have chrome lined barrels. Those will give you better longevity and gives you a slick surface easy to clean but chrome lined barrels aren't known for accuracy as the chrome lining is never 100% even. Then you have Nitride/Melonite, etc which are all the same thing using different names as melonite is a brand name. This gives you chrome like slick hard surface without the uneven surface of chrome lining. You get a glossier finish compared to the matt finish on Milspec rifles. The S&W MP15's come with their in house version of Melonite finish which is one of the reasons the S&W ARs built such a good reputation. The other reason is older M&P sports used a melonite treated barrels with 1:8 twist 5R rifling which is a boutique rifling normally only seen on higher end rifles. Heck I almost forgot about stainless barrels which aren't good for mag dumps as the stainless will burn out quicker but or often the choice for extreme accuracy.

What rifling do you want: 1:8? 1:9? 1:7? Cheap steel ammo you are more than fine with 1:8 or 1:9. What if you want to shoot some 77gr MK 262 Mod1? Might be iffy on a 1:9 twist.

Then there is the gas tube length. Carbine, midlength, or rifle. Midlength or Rifle tends to be a lot smoother than Carbine as carbine length gas on 16"+ barrels tend to be over gassed and will have a sharper kick to it. Not something that will change without changing the barrel so research the differences and figure out which on you would rather have.

Then what type of gas block do you want? Standard pinned on A2 front sight? Railed gas block? Low profile gas block because you plan on getting a free float rail? How do you want your sighting system set up? Different types of gas blocks can effect how you can set up optics and back up iron sights (BUIS).

Then you see some costs cut with the buffer tube. Cheaper rifles having 6061 buffer tubes instead of 7075. You want the rifle to be able to handle extreme abuse? Want to be able to hang from the end of your rifle without it bending get 7075. Range toy 6061 would be more than sufficient. Then you have milspec and commercial diameter tubes which can effect what stocks you can put on it.

Ejection port covers and forward assists are parts you see missing from low cost ARs quite a bit. Personally I like the forward assist in helping me ride the charging handle home if I'm trying to charge the rifle and keep noise down.

S&W MP Sports will come with a flip up Magpul rear sight, many of the low cost build kits won't have a rear sight so if you plan on using irons take that into account when comparing costs.

I would say figure out what you want your rifle to be in the end and start off with a rifle or kit more closely matching how you want it to be. Things like handguards and grips are relativlyeasy to change but your initial decisions on the rifle could effect the cost, selection, and easy of getting the rifle set up the way you want it to in the end. I would say the most important decision in your initial rifle purchase would be the barrel that is on it because that is one of the more difficult and costly components of your rifle to change.

quote:

---

Ejection port covers and forward assists are parts you see missing from low cost ARs quite a bit. Personally I like the forward assist in helping me ride the charging handle home if I'm trying to charge the rifle and keep noise down.

---

The 2nd gen m&p 15 sports do have the forward assist and dust cover unlike the 1st gens. And still for the great price.

DPMS has long been a supplier to the military as well as other major manufacturers of AR15's. Good idea not to be too snobby when it comes to the civilian AR market because pretty much everyone shares parts and suppliers. That goes double for the Colt AR snobs.

quote:

---

Cdnn sports online has colt 6920's on sale around 800. They have great ar prices. Buy the colt and don't look back Quality , nostalgia , resale ^

---

This and then some. A $800 Colt 6920 is a much better value than any $800 Dpms, S&W or Ruger. Sure one can buy cheaper and scrounge franken parts into a cheaper gun but it may not be of the same quality nor will it have anywhere near the value should one have to sell it. A 6920 can easily do anything the OP would want to do. Under a grand you can't beat a 6920 in performance and quality.

I have 3 AR-15s and 1 AR-10. All have DPMS lowers.

Everyone of them have matched perfectly with the uppers that I put on them.

And I'm with ICS. My DPMS lower with LMT upper shoots tighter groups than my FILs Colt 6920

I was at the show too and those "extras" that came on the guns were Chinese garbage. I would not buy from one of those guys.

quote:

---

Buy online or from a small mom and pop shop. You will either save money buying online, or support a local family. Either way, you will save 100s over a "gun show".

---

This is especially true with gun show "black rifles" (AR's, AK's, etc...)

You could probably buy most of those gun show put-together rifles, piece by piece, and pay 2/3's the cost or even less.

Grabagun often has Colt LE6920's on sale for holiday sales at $799.

They're a fine rifle but don't act like its so much greater than so many other rifles out there.

BCM, DD, Noveske, etc are some of the best.