Opinions on Doublestar AR's?

[GrayHawk]

Anyone have any experiences with the Double Star AR-15's by chance?

[RECIT]

I too have only seen the lower receivers. And never an entire rifle from them. I have not really seen any POOR quality AR products. Some are better than others in fit and finish, but all are good for the most part.

[BobCat]

I think J&T Distributing is a branch of Doublestar, or vice versa. Check http://jtdistributing.net/pdf/cat08.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for their catalog - it lists Doublestar rifles and receivers.

My "kitten gun" CAR-15 is built on an Oly receiver using a J&T CAR kit. I love it. If I had another lower and some money, I'd buy another upper kit from J&T.

Regards,
Andrew

[HankB]

I just completed a build on a Double Star lower. It was nicely finished, no visible flaws, and everything went together just fine.

[big 54r]

I have shot several doublestars and they seem to be well made and accurate.
I think they are made by cmt so they should be a quality item.

[dukalmighty]

I went in on a group buy to get 14 lowers from double star,they are great lowers and JT is the company that deals in them,The lowers are made by another manufacturer and the Doublestar name is put on them,IIRC that goes for most AR15 manufacturers most of them have their lowers produced by manufacturers

[flintknapper]

I have shot several doublestars and they seem to be well made and accurate.
I think they are made by cmt so they should be a quality item.

Here is the list:

Lewis Machine & Tool
LMT
Lauer
DS Arms
PWA
Eagle
Armalite
Knights Armament
Barrett

Continental Machine Tool
Stag
Rock River Arms
High Standard
Noveske
Century (New)
Global Tactical
CLE
S&W
MGI
Wilson Tactical
Grenadier Precision
Colt
LAR Manufacturing
LAR
Bushmaster
Ameetec
DPMS
CMMG
Double Star
Fulton Armory
Spike's Tactical

JVP
Double Star
LRB
Charles Daly

Mega Machine Shop
Mega
GSE
Dalphon
POF
Alexander Arms

Olympic
Olympic
SGW
Tromix
Palmetto
Dalphon
Frankford
Century (Old)

Sun Devil
Sun Devil forged billet receivers

Superior
Superior Arms
Lauer (New)
-------------------------------------
The above list contains the machine companies that machine the raw forgings into usable receivers. Each individual company applies their own finishing standards.

[Backslider]

Thanks for the list. I'd been curious about that for a while.

Where "a while" = 2-3 months.

[RECIT]

I bought a Double Star lower yesterday. I was happy with the fit and finish. I bought one assembled with lower parts kit but no buffer or stock assembly installed. I am building an AR pistol and they were all sold out of pistol buffer tubes and springs when i bought it. It all looked good though.

[quoheleth]

I'm new to the AR world, so take this for what its worth.

I bought one from centerfire systems - ordered it the week after election; arrived Christmas Eve. If looks were key, I would give this a solid B+/A- compared to higher-end ARs I've held. Fit seems good; finish isn't bad at all. Accuracy is very good. I bought the flat-top A4 model with take-off rear peep sight. Out of the box, no adjustments, open sights, it shot a 10-shot group that I could cover with the head of my Ford Taurus key (think 1" square). Backing out to 50 yards, the group opened up, but it was still easily within a CD-sized circle. At 100 yards, I kept everything on a standard rifle target - remember, this is open/peep sights. Trigger is a bit stiff, but it's NIB and to be expected. Mags insert & drop easily with no hangups. My one beef, so far, is the front sight is a large rectangular post. I will probably switch to a smaller front sight somewhere down the road, if I don't find an inexpensive optic. However, it is obviously a combat sight system and not for precision work.

When I received the gun, I broke it down and cleaned it. It cleaned up easily - no filings, no gunk, no nasty stuff at all. There was a little heavy oil, but it wasn't cosmoline or anything like that.

After 60 or 80 rounds (yes, that's all I could find of "range" ammo...not paying $20/20 rounds for premium stuff), there is a little wear on the charging handle.

I've gotten what I wanted: a (relatively) low cost entry into the AR world. I paid just a little over $725 for the gun, but it only came with a "package" of a tri-rail, light mount, and light which added $65 to my purchase price. Doublestar also makes good aftermarket mags.

IMHO, if you can find one, get it.

Q

[BobCat]

quoheleth,

The standard AR-15 front post is 0.072" wide, IIRC. Looks blocky and can be difficult to focus on.

You can get narrow front posts from people who build ARs for Highpower - White Oak Armament or Compass Lake, for instance. You may find a 0.052" suits you. I just put a 0.045" on mine, and am delighted.

You can get rear peeps in various sizes too, but those are more appropriate for match and range use than for self-defense, since they reduce your field of view while giving you excellent depth-of-field.

Enjoy your AR-15!

Regards,
Andrew

[quoheleth]

Andrew,

I know new front posts can be ordered. Didn't know of those suppliers. I've usually done my window shopping w/ Brownells, Midway, et. al.

The front post is on my list, but buried under things like ammo, components, a pocket pistol....

Thanks for the info...
Q

[BigRon]

They seem OK to me. Actually, very good for the price.