So you want to buy an AR-15, huh?

[chris falk]

Are you going to use it more as a patrol rifle or as an entry?

Who can predict the future, but I was assuming use between 25 and 175 yards.

After looking at velocity data for barrels from 10" to 24" and doing other reading, I committed to 16". It seemed to be the best balance between ease of handling and velocity. Shorter is lighter and easier to handle in confined areas, but suffers from lower velocity, louder report, usually a shorter iron sight radius and the NFA hassle (in short, tradeoffs that seem to make sense for people who need a dedicated entry type weapon). Longer has better velocity, quieter report and a usually a longer iron sight radius at the expense of weight, balance and handiness (tradeoffs that make sense for the wide open spaces). I don't know how much of the huge percentage of the market that the 16" barrel occupies is based on people blindly trying to copy the military without the NFA hassle and how much is because it makes sense, but it seems does seem to be a versatile choice.

Thanks for the info, Surf, jwise and beavo. I'll do the reading and think about what you've said, before wasting more of your time and bandwidth. Hopefully there are some other people who'll benefit from your above attempts to help me.

Thanks too to beavo for your recent Daniel Defense railed handguard product line breakdown. It may just be my pea brain, but I never could figure out the differences from the manufacturer's site.

[yaktamer]

Barrel break-in?

Sorry if this has already been discussed here, but is any kind of barrel "break-in" necessary and/or desirable on an AR? Hope I'm not opening a huge can of worms. I know how hot the debate gets on the subject of break in for hunting rifles.

[Surf]

No. The most I do is a simple break-down / overall inspection of the rifle and a dry patch down the bore.

[towncop]

Made the 2 hour trip to Kiesler's in Jeffersonville (IN) on Friday during the middle of my shift. Chief threw me a curve ball said, "Your new rifle is waiting for you if you want to go pick it up today. Or you can wait until Monday." Um, no, I'm leaving NOW!

We ended up getting the Colt AR15A3. I'll post some pics up later after I get it cleaned up all nice and pretty.

[yaktamer]

Trouble with new rifle

Picked up my DD XV last week and made my first trip to the range today. Two very frustrating problems. First, trouble getting the rifle to zero, specifically, getting groups to hit near same point of aim. The groups themselves weren't TOO bad, which makes me think it could be me (eyes getting old, long time since I've used iron sights, average marksman, etc). Also, is it normal for the point of impact for a .223 round out of a 16" barrel to be dramtically different at 100 yds vs. 25 yds?

Of greater concern at the moment is a failure to feed issue. First magazine worked fine. Halfway through the second magazine, the bolt only went about halfway forward, partially over-riding the next round, the point of which appeared to be wedged into the area of the feed ramp. In other words, about every fourth round the rifle starts to strip a round out of the magazine, but only "half feeds." Also, the bolt does not lock back on an empty mag.

My first thought was bad magazine, but it did the same thing with three different brand new pmags. I tried reinserting the mag, didn't help. A couple of times I "recharged" the rifle without dropping the mag first allowing the round to fully chamber (being careful not to double feed). When I pulled the trigger, the hammer fell, but the round didn't fire and there was no mark on the primer.

Ammo was Remington UMC 55 grain fmj (it's what I had on hand at the time, not my favorite). Al of the "problem" rounds eventually cycled through and fired.

Any ideas as to what may be wrong? Just got home so I haven't had a chance to field strip and inspect in good light yet.

[zeplin]

it's short stroking. Can be several things. When first reading I thought you were using Wolf until I saw you were using Rem. My experience with the Rem is is ain't very accurate. and yes if your off at 25 you can be off 4+times as much at 100. How bad were your groups? Iron sights aren't going to be that tight unless you have the eyesight and skill to do it. What is your twist rate?

Back to feeding problem. Could be some underpowered rds. Lube the snot out of it and try your Rem UMC again. If it still has problems try a different ammo.

Bushmaster has an ammo advisory listing these mfrs with no malfunctions or problems. PMC, SPEER, REMINGTON, WINCHESTER, WOLF, SELLIER & BELLOT, AMERICAN EAGLE(Federal MFRd), M.E.N. (Kraut mfr)

..or you can call DD for help. I doubt it's the gun, but it could be.

[yaktamer]

Yeah, I thought it sounded like short stroking, although it's ejecting without any problem. I'm thinking maybe I should have done a little better job of an initial clean and lube. I've got a 1/7 twist, so I'm planning on using a heavier bullet. I'll probably handload something in the 69-70 grain range for coyotes. I expect I'll lay in a case or two of 5.56 62 gr, M855 for dafense against zombies. Found a pretty good deal on some Prvi Partizan. There's also a Lithuanian manufactured NATO round floating around out there. Anybody have any experience with it?

[zeplin]

Prvi Partizan is ok. Their match ammo that I got for my 308 suffered some tip damage before I got them. I'll inspect before I buy any more of it.

[zeplin]

Im not going to read through all the pages to see if there was a posting about

CMMGs piston uppers. Reasonably priced at 675.

I looked their new piston uppers at the last gun show. Wasn't able to tear into it, but on the surface appeared to be ok. CMMG seems to be on everyones ****list around here so noone has bought one that I know of.

[zeplin]

cmmg was one of the particuliars at the beggining of this thread...where did it go south?

It's like any company that expands quickly. Some are able to maintain QC and some aren't. I hope they find their way back.

[Drum Roast]

Also, their wait times are less than spectacular to say the least. I ordered a 16" M4 middy upper (no upgrades) on 29 August, 09. Still waiting.

October qualifications came and went. I fear the same will happen with qualifications in May, and maybe again for qualifications in October 2010.

For now I'm stuck with a lower and this thing http://www.innovativetactical.com/ca.../7r96e5m03.jpg to patrol with.

[fencipede]

Also, their wait times are less than spectacular to say the least. I ordered a 16" M4 middy upper (no upgrades) on 29 August, 09. Still waiting.

That sucks. I ordered both a lower and 16" middy upper in March 09. Got the lower in May, and the upper in July.

Quality is great, no problems.

[zeplin]

That's a leeetle better.

[Drum Roast]

Ok Bill, find SKU/PNO: U-1605M for $595 or less. Thanks for the wake up.

[jwise]

Carry on...