Back up rifle?

[tomylee0123]

I second that. Colt is just the name nowaday, but quality is not there

 

[LPMan59]

I'd be in the camp saying the Colt is NOT worth the extra $200. So I'd say go with the PSA.


However, the S&W M&P 15 Sport II is another excellent option. MSRP is $739, but they list on Bud's gun shop for around $669 (Cash price $649)

I will respectfully disagree.

I don't think I'd compare a 6920 for $850-900 to a s&w sport II for $670. The colt is very much worth it depending on what you do with it. Gonna shoot 100 rounds once or twice a year? Buy the smith. My neighbor has one and it is a nice shooting, accurate rifle.

gonna run it hard? Use it for home defense? Colt all the way. The smith 1/9 won't do well with something like hornady 75gr TAP.

dont get me wrong, I like smith. They've definitely upped their game in the last 8 years. And for the price, it's a bang for your buck. I think it just depends on intended use.

If nothing else, the colt will hold its value. Granted, if FHRC gets elected all EBRs will command big dollars.

 

[tomylee0123]

You can get a complete Aero precision without furniture for around $500 on Primary Arms. I haved owned PSA premium, Troy carbine, and rock river arms, but I like the Aero precision best. It was a grest shooter for me until I traded it away

 

[OneBadV8]

I will respectfully disagree.

I don't think I'd compare a 6920 for $850-900 to a s&w sport II for $670. The colt is very much worth it depending on what you do with it. Gonna shoot 100 rounds once or twice a year? Buy the smith. My neighbor has one and it is a nice shooting, accurate rifle.

gonna run it hard? Use it for home defense? Colt all the way. The smith 1/9 won't do well with something like hornady 75gr TAP.

dont get me wrong, I like smith. They've definitely upped their game in the last 8 years. And for the price, it's a bang for your buck. I think it just depends on intended use.

If nothing else, the colt will hold its value. Granted, if FHRC gets elected all EBRs will command big dollars.

The Colt of yester-year? I totally agree with you. The Colt of today? Not a chance. I had a buddy that bought a brand new 6940 a few years ago and the finish on the rifle was spotty and the upper and lower didn't even look like they matched. When he called them about the finish issues, they pretty much just said you get what you get and if you want something else you'll have to return to the dealer and buy another one. Horrible customer service, they're just banking on the Colt name these days. The quality is not what it used to be at all.

 

[sig1473]

Do you want a rifle that will actually work or are people more concerned about looks?!? Get out and actually use it and you will pick up scratches and scrapes. Take a couple legit AR classes where you fire 800-1,000rds and see how many scratches/scrapes you get. There is no comparison in quality between a Colt and PSA(I own a PSA FWIW). Get out there and shoot the darn thing!! YMMV

 

[OneBadV8]

Do you want a rifle that will actually work or are people more concerned about looks?!? Get out and actually use it and you will pick up scratches and scrapes. Take a couple legit AR classes where you fire 800-1,000rds and see how many scratches/scrapes you get. There is no comparison in quality between a Colt and PSA(I own a PSA FWIW). Get out there and shoot the darn thing!! YMMV

I wish I had a pic of it though. There is no way there is any quality control at all. It was that bad. If they let something that big out the door for the price they ask for them, what else are they letting through the quality checks (if they have any)?

 

[TheJoker]

At the risk of being accused of having a one track mind...Back up rifle??? Yeah, I got a few back up rifles.

 

[indygunguy]

At the risk of being accused of having a one track mind...Back up rifle??? Yeah, I got a few back up rifles.

 

[LPMan59]

The Colt of yester-year? I totally agree with you. The Colt of today? Not a chance. I had a buddy that bought a brand new 6940 a few years ago and the finish on the rifle was spotty and the upper and lower didn't even look like they matched. When he called them about the finish issues, they pretty much just said you get what you get and if you want something else you'll have to return to the dealer and buy another one. Horrible customer service, they're just banking on the Colt name these days. The quality is not what it used to be at all.

I stepped into the AR game back in 2009ish. Joined up at arf. Even back then, colt was making rough looking rifles- tooling marks and the infamous swirls were common. And yes , there are the non matching (even purple) receivers.

Im not saying it's right. I'm just saying it's been that way for at least 8 years. I can't speak to every colt model and every colt rifle ever made, but the issues that people complain about when it comes to colt over at arf are usually cosmetic. Yeah, they let the lemon out. Everyone does. But seemingly not with the frequency of some other companies.

 

[OneBadV8]

Yeah, they let the lemon out. Everyone does. But seemingly not with the frequency of some other companies.

But at the same time, way way more frequent than others that are same price point as a Colt. (LMT, Noveske, BCM, etc)

 

[LPMan59]

But at the same time, way way more frequent than others that are same price point as a Colt. (LMT, Noveske, BCM, etc)

1) I don't have any hard numbers, but how many rifles does colt make vs the other ones you named?
2) I haven't seen a whole lot of functional complaints about colt. Yes I've seen them, but not like I've seen with companies like dpms for example. Again, anecdotal but just what I've seen.
3) with the exception of bcm, are those others in the same price category? I've never seen a noveske for $850. I've seen colt 6920s for that price though
4) colt has always been a recommended name by the guys who run the fancy training programs.... A lot of mid level guns do not. Again, colt isn't the only name of the "best" but they seem to work.
5) I agree that for $900, your new rifle should look new. It's simply not acceptable. You wouldn't buy a car with a dent in the hood.

fwiw I have one colt. The others are cheap PSA.

 

[teddy12b]

I think people get too wrapped around the axle on what name brand the rifle is instead of being able to say I've got X,XXX rounds through that rifle without a hiccup give or take a 500 rounds.

The whole conversation always goes back to colt and is some how tied to the hip with the terms "mil-spec". I'll admit it, I have a colt 6920. I really don't know how many thousands of rounds I've put through it. It's been dropped in the mud, ground into the dirt while sliding, fired from weird positions over the tops of logs or other obstacles, and otherwise just treated like an AR-15 was actually designed to be treated. My guns aren't show pieces unless I'm bragging about their scratches.

I'm not saying all of that to come off as an all knowing kind of guy, just saying where I'm coming from. For me, I don't really care as much about how the upper and lower finish match, but I can understand for guys who like a showpiece or a range queen how that'd be important to them. As far as name brand bashing goes, there's a lot of companies out there putting out exceptionally quality guns and some times they deviate from the mil-spec and put out a just as good, or better product because of it. For example, yes a 1 in 9 twist barrel will stabilize 77gr bullets just fine. I've done it with a delton, and I've done with a savage bolt gun.

Whatever gun you decide to buy, if you are planning on using it for a "back-up" gun, just make sure you put it to the test and you're comfortable that it works. To each their own, but one the tests I'll do with an AR before considering it for serious use is take 10 mags and get on a 300 yard plate. Run through those mags as fast as you can get back on target and squeeze another shot off. Let that rifle and all the working parts get hot and see how or if your point of impact changes at a little ways out there. Do that a couple of times. Better yet, develop your own test on how you make a rifle prove to you it's worthy of being your backup and let us know how it goes.

Whatever you do, just make sure you actually use the gun and don't just trust the brand name.

 

[OneBadV8]

I think people get too wrapped around the axle on what name brand the rifle is instead of being able to say I've got X,XXX rounds through that rifle without a hiccup give or take a 500 rounds.

I agree, but certain brands have a reputation based on this premise. And some brands used to have that reputation, but have decided to solely depend on it instead of living up to it.


When I bought my first AR I weighed all the options, compared based on price etc. I went with an LMT. I've taken it to many many carbine courses. I didn't clean it at all for a good 4 years. And you can ask people who had seen it, it was pretty gross. But I kept it lubed well, and it's ran without a hiccup since day one. I have since cleaned it, but not because anything happened.

 

[lovemachine]

I'd take OneBadV8's info with a grain of salt. He IS a brand snob, after all.

 

[OneBadV8]

I'd take OneBadV8's info with a grain of salt. He IS a brand snob, after all.

I'm not a snob, I just like to spend my money on things that are going to last and perform as advertised. I fully expect my TVs to last a good 10 - 15 years.

 

[teddy12b]

I agree, but certain brands have a reputation based on this premise. And some brands used to have that reputation, but have decided to solely depend on it instead of living up to it.

I agree completely. Colt has been around long enough to have its ups and downs, but one thing I'll give them credit for is that they've made a solid rifle pretty much the whole time. We can gripe about what they had to do with pin sizes, or bolt carrier group cuts, or whatever. They're the big name out there and have a big target on their back because of it with the Feds.

If I were to take PSA for example, I don't argue with people when they gripe about their lower end rifles having this or that spec instead of what they wanted, but ultimately the rifles shoot and run well. I've got several PSA's and I stick with their premium stuff and it's all ran very well. I've got a Del-Ton dissy that by all accounts on the internet should be complete junk, but I'd bet my life on it without question. Even having said that, the rifle in the closet intended to protect my family should the need ever arise in the middle of the night is my only colt.

 

[OneBadV8]

I agree completely. Colt has been around long enough to have its ups and downs, but one thing I'll give them credit for is that they've made a solid rifle pretty much the whole time. We can gripe about what they had to do with pin sizes, or bolt carrier group cuts, or whatever. They're the big name out there and have a big target on their back because of it with the Feds.

If I were to take PSA for example, I don't argue with people when they gripe about their lower end rifles having this or that spec instead of what they wanted, but ultimately the rifles shoot and run well. I've got several PSA's and I stick with their premium stuff and it's all ran very well. I've got a Del-Ton dissy that by all accounts on the internet should be complete junk, but I'd bet my life on it without question. Even having said that, the rifle in the closet intended to protect my family should the need ever arise in the middle of the night is my only colt.

I'm not saying they make a bad rifle. I'm saying for the price they command, they should pay more attention to quality control like all the others do and nit pick where it's needed. Because once you get above that $800 mark, there are expectations beyond just the name stamped on it. If you want to make an ugly rifle that performs very well, it should be priced accordingly for the processes you decided not to fix and the extra checks you decided to forego.

 

[teddy12b]

I agree completely.

I don't really look for or at Colt rifles because of all the other great options available. However, I have enough take off parts laying around I've kicked around the idea of a Colt OEM rifle if I ever came across one at a reasonable price.

 

[sig1473]

FWIW, my last 2x Colt BCGs and 1x Colt Socom Upper have been completely flawless in appearance and perform just as well. If people want to roll the dice on some other brand that will have a questionable port size on the barrel, crap staking on the BCG(yes it matters), cheap lower part quality, etc. go with something besides Colt. I just got done tearing down a lower built with CMMG parts. Complete garbage is all I can say. Parts were replaced with Colt. I own LMT, Noveske, Colt, PSA, etc. I just think the best bang right now is a Colt 6920 if you want boring reliability. YMMV

 

[LPMan59]

We need "the chart". Lolz