Which AR?

[Abraham]

Not everyone has the necessary mechanical aptitude or desire to build one.

I'm in that camp. Frankly, I'm rather a klutz when it comes to almost anything mechanical. Yeah, few men will admit to this, but I will. Homer Simpson has more mechanical ability than me. A man's gotta know his limitations.

In addition, I've repeatedly read on another site dedicated to AR's, where some guy built his AR and then asked for the members to review his efforts and was torn to shreds because he built some sort of Frankenstein of an AR.

It was not the various guy's fault. He bought a variety of parts, put them together not realizing he bought inferior stuff because he didn't have the experience or knowledge of what he was doing. But hey, he built one by golly.

And yet, I continue to read where people with no experience or knowledge whatsoever are strenuously urged to BUILD ONE, like every schmuck in the world is a good amateur gunsmith.

Not so.

There's gotta be a whole bunch of home built AR's that would make a gunsmith cringe, but hey, the guy built one didn't he...

Now, get off my lawn! (I know how to mow)

[rotor]

How can you go wrong with a Colt? LE6920 or the one with Magpul add ons. Some people build their own cars too but except for ARs and AKs who builds their own firearm? Please no hate mail.

[RJGold]

I'm definitely not in the mode of building one right now. I doubt I will be anytime soon either.

I appreciate all the input I've seen so far. Gonna start shopping this afternoon.

Thanks.

[RJGold]

I finally pulled the trigger (well, not yet but will soon)...

I bought a Smith and Wesson M&P15 yesterday. It has a 1 / 8 barrel twist and Magpul stock, pistol grip, and forearm.

Couldn't make it to the range yesterday or today so it will probably be this coming Saturday before I actually get to pull the trigger.

Thanks for all the advice on this topic.

[hpcatx]

Congrats on the purchase! I hope you thoroughly enjoy the M&P15! My buddy has one and it's a mighty fine gun. With the 1/8 twist you'll be able to stabilize some of the heavier rounds and Magpul furniture is always nice. Post a photo, please.

I was a bit late to this thread, but to preserve some recommendations on the record for future readers...

Very happy with my Daniel Defense and Aimpoint Pro.

+1 for Daniel Defense

If you're a bit more budget minded, you may want to check out CMMG, too. Back when I was pricing them, they seemed to strike a nice balance between cost and quality.

[RJGold]

I'm traveling this week so it's home tucked away in the gun safe.

I hope to get it to the range this Saturday so I'll snap a photo then and post it...

In the mean time, it looks like this one (the pistol grip on the forearm is removeable)...

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/ ... rrorView_Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Not sure if this link will work from this posting but here's hoping)...

[RJGold]

Took it to the range yesterday and put 100 rounds through it. Had to buy some Fiocchi 5.56 from the range as the Federal I took with me were "penetrator" rounds. The range is indoors and apparently penetrator rounds are bad for their backstop.

I went ahead and bought the 100 rounds as I could not bear the thought of taking it all the way to the range and not shooting.

No problems at all. It grouped well and fired every round with no issues.

My only concern is the way the Magpul magazines accept the ammo. They seem to jam up as I am putting rounds in and the top of the magazine looks like it's swelling as the round goes in. I tried several different ways to load them and it always seemed like it was struggling to accept the round and get it stacked up with the one already in there.

I have some military surplus mags around here somewhere. Going in search of today to see if I can find them and if they will work.

Also need to do some reading on zeroing and sighting distances. Can't remember if zero'd at 25 yards = also zero'd at 250 yards.

Sorry but no pictures again as I was by myself at the range.

[C-dub]

My only concern is the way the Magpul magazines accept the ammo. They seem to jam up as I am putting rounds in and the top of the magazine looks like it's swelling as the round goes in. I tried several different ways to load them and it always seemed like it was struggling to accept the round and get it stacked up with the one already in there.

I have several PMAGs and have not experienced this issue at all on any of them. How many of your mags have you seen this in?

[Pawpaw]

My only concern is the way the Magpul magazines accept the ammo. They seem to jam up as I am putting rounds in and the top of the magazine looks like it's swelling as the round goes in. I tried several different ways to load them and it always seemed like it was struggling to accept the round and get it stacked up with the one already in there.

I have several PMAGs and have not experienced this issue at all on any of them. How many of your mags have you seen this in?

I have quite a few PMags and have never seen that.

FWIW, the easiest way I've found to load any AR magazine is with a StripLULA.

[youtube][/youtube]

It looks like MidwayUSA has them on sale for $21.99: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/135799 ... 556mm-nato

[RJGold]

My only concern is the way the Magpul magazines accept the ammo. They seem to jam up as I am putting rounds in and the top of the magazine looks like it's swelling as the round goes in. I tried several different ways to load them and it always seemed like it was struggling to accept the round and get it stacked up with the one already in there.

I have several PMAGs and have not experienced this issue at all on any of them. How many of your mags have you seen this in?

Two. One came with the AR and one I ordered. I have two more that I ordered but haven't opened yet.

Both are MagPull MOE 30 round mags with windows...

[RJGold]

FWIW, the easiest way I've found to load any AR magazine is with a StripLULA.

I did use the simple strip loader I have but it's nothing like this one. I noticed he didn't load the PMag he had but just test fit the device to it. I assume it would load as easily as the others did...

Thanks for the tip!!!

[Pawpaw]

FWIW, the easiest way I've found to load any AR magazine is with a StripLULA.

I did use the simple strip loader I have but it's nothing like this one. I noticed he didn't load the PMag he had but just test fit the device to it. I assume it would load as easily as the others did...

Thanks for the tip!!!

Yep, just as easy. The video would've been even more boring if he had fully loaded all of those mags.

[C-dub]

My only concern is the way the Magpul magazines accept the ammo. They seem to jam up as I am putting rounds in and the top of the magazine looks like it's swelling as the round goes in. I tried several different ways to load them and it always seemed like it was struggling to accept the round and get it stacked up with the one already in there.

I have several PMAGs and have not experienced this issue at all on any of them. How many of your mags have you seen this in?

Two. One came with the AR and one I ordered. I have two more that I ordered but haven't opened yet.

Both are MagPull MOE 30 round mags with windows...

I only have one or two with the window and have only loaded mine by hand one round at a time so far. The stores around here seem to be full of these mags. It's a shame you had to order yours. If this happened to me I would return the mag to the store where I bought it and show them the defect, try to get them to exchange for one that didn't have the defect, and let them deal with returning it to the manufacturer. If it were less than 30 days from purchase, of course. If longer, I would return them to Magpul for investigation and refund or replacement. I bet they would do that as long as it wasn't due to being dropped or damaged in some way.

[Pawpaw]

RJGold,

This may seem like a dumb question, but you're not sliding the rounds into the PMAG like you do in a pistol mag are you?

AR mags are loaded by laying the round on top of the follower or the top round & just pushing it down into the mag.

I just thought I would ask because everyone might not know this when starting out. I can see where trying to slide each round in could put lots of stress on the feed lips.

[RJGold]

RJGold,

This may seem like a dumb question, but you're not sliding the rounds into the PMAG like you do in a pistol mag are you?

AR mags are loaded by laying the round on top of the follower or the top round & just pushing it down into the mag.

I just thought I would ask because everyone might not know this when starting out. I can see where trying to slide each round in could put lots of stress on the feed lips.

I'm loading them from the top like you describe (although I must admit when I had some trouble I did try a few in the slide method you mention and that didn't improve things).

Thanks for asking though. I appreciate the help.