Thread: buying my first ar15, seek for some advice

never had any experience with the ar platform, use ak47 all the time, now seeking to buying my first ar, can some one please give me some advice on

1 what brand i should get first? there are gun city ranger, bush master, rock river arms, satg arm. i'm not very good with diy so not going to do futher mod, which model would best suit me if budget under 5000, i want buy the best stock ar without any mod.

2 is it ture ar need lot more care than ak? i need keep lub it everytime i shoot? say if i shoot rapid 200 round, does it jam?

3 what sight i should mount on ar? is it possble to have an scope and holographic sight at the same time? i'm after some good brand, for tactical 3 gun shooting, any one can please give me some suggest brand and model i can get?

4 last how to customise my own ar? i not good with my hand, so have to pay someone do it, is there any good gunsmith around auckland area i can take it to?

any adivice be great thank you very much

Daniel Defense

Originally Posted by polarbear

never had any experience with the ar platform, use ak47 all the time, now seeking to buying my first ar, can some one please give me some advice on

1 what brand i should get first? there are gun city ranger, bush master, rock river arms, satg arm. i'm not very good with diy so not going to do futher mod, which model would best suit me if budget under 5000, i want buy the best stock ar without any mod. Don't buy ranger unless you like being ripped off with inferior products at a premium price. Bushmaster is a bit similar being a known brand that has gone down hill a lot. RRA and Stag have good reputations. So too do CMMG, Daniel Defense, DPMS, Sig and Colt. I like NEA as presenting good value for money, but some people don't rate them.

2 is it ture ar need lot more care than ak? i need keep lub it everytime i shoot? say if i shoot rapid 200 round, does it jam? No, it doesn't need more care. I will often go over 1,000 rounds between cleaning with my AR. Lube it properly, and it will keep on chugging. Tons of info online about how to lube an AR properly.

3 what sight i should mount on ar? is it possble to have an scope and holographic sight at the same time? Yes you can get them both fitted at the same time i'm after some good brand, for tactical 3 gun shooting, any one can please give me some suggest brand and model i can get? Maybe one of the 3 gun guys will chip in on what works for that particular sport. If we don't have any here, check out Jerry Miculek on youtube and look at what he runs on his open guns.

4 last how to customise my own ar? i not good with my hand, so have to pay someone do it, is there any good gunsmith around auckland area i can take it to? If you've got some vicegrips, a vice, and a barrel nut wrench you can build an AR from parts in an hour or two. I've put a few together now, and it is almost impossible to screw it up. Working on them, and swapping parts in and out is a complete doddle and does not require a gunsmith or expert to work on them.

any adivice be great thank you very much

See above, comments in bold. Pretty much anything you want to know about modifying ARs can be found on youtube. Check out the Brownells videos on their website for a whole raft of good guides to working on your AR.

For what brand to buy, all depends on your budget. I would say try and keep away from Ranger, I'm not saying they are bad but they are over price for something that was built in China by some 12 year old on 50 cents an hour. I own a Bushmaster Carbon and its never let me down (so far) but for someone like myself that only uses it a few times a year it does the job and its very light and that is what I was after. If your looking at spending 5K then yes go after the better brands that have most of the kit your wanting. Also at 5K you might go for an e-cat to get the most out of your AR. When I do get another AR one day for 3 guns then most likely get myself one of the better brands mention above like Daniel Defense, DPSM, Sig or Colt.

There are plenty of places to purchase AR's at good prices, prices much better than Guncity, sometimes half the price. I purchased mine from Target sport

Target Sports | Home

Get the CMMG MK4 from NZAR and save the extra money for all the accessories you need like scopes, mags. Definately get E cat and a safe as A cat stocks are crap

Daniel Defense M4 V1 LW [ddmv1lw] - $2,900.00 : NZAR15.COM, Home of the sporting Semi Auto

Polarbear

I'm currently looking for my first AR15 too.

$5k will get you a good brand with very good glass.

Check out these sites
New Zealand Importers of Rock River Arms, Bushmaster, Armalite, Stag Arms, POF, RRA NZ DPMS CMMG Importer Dealer Delta Sector NZ Buy Purchase

The Rock River Arms Elite Operator and Colt Competition Pro has taken my fancy here

NZAR15.COM, Home of the sporting Semi Auto
Plenty here to choose from too.

Cheers
Pete

Keep us inform of what you end up purchasing

Keep an eye on the weights of the rifles you are considering. If you intend to carry it all day, consider something around the 6lb bare. If you are range shooting then some of them are up over 8.5lb.

For that kind of coin you can get something pretty nice. Id definitely be heading Daniel Defense with that kind of budget.

Since when has DPMS been in the same league as Colt and Daniel Defense?

I don't know, maybe I am missing something obvious, but just don't get the point of ARs.

Why spend $2k minimum on something that is not significantly lighter than a modern bolt rifle ?

Then you get the thing, and almost immediately start taking bits off, accessorising with other trick bits, often it seems spending at least as much again as the bare rifle price...

Plus half the ones I see at the local NZDA range are jamming or suffering from issues.

What is the attraction ? Modularity ? Barrel swops - I mean a basic new upper is $1.5K, that's a bolt gun with medium glass for me...

Or is to the fact that it is a semi, and lighter/ better than mini14, m305 clones etc ? Or is it that you can customise it with a wide variety of aftermarket parts ?

they are awesome for killing Zombies... if there's ever a chance of that happening

I have one and I sometimes question why. They do seem pointless at times. For Goat removal, well perfect for the job. Mostly when mines made with the upper and lower in Carbon.
I also assume that those that have a AR also have other types of firearms as well.. myself I have a bolt 2 semi's and a Lever Action

With that budget you could probably get a JP with another upper landed.

Originally Posted by ebf

I don't know, maybe I am missing something obvious, but just don't get the point of ARs.

Why spend $2k minimum on something that is not significantly lighter than a modern bolt rifle ?

Then you get the thing, and almost immediately start taking bits off, accessorising with other trick bits, often it seems spending at least as much again as the bare rifle price...

Plus half the ones I see at the local NZDA range are jamming or suffering from issues.

What is the attraction ? Modularity ? Barrel swops - I mean a basic new upper is $1.5K, that's a bolt gun with medium glass for me...

Or is to the fact that it is a semi, and lighter/ better than mini14, m305 clones etc ? Or is it that you can customise it with a wide variety of aftermarket parts ?

I have been thinking of getting one for Service Rifle shooting so no trick bits just bog standard. The Service Rifle shooting looks pretty interesting so I really should investigate that a bit more ...