Quoted: Ok, I love the way this gun looks and feels to the touch. I am new to law enforcement and I want an ar15, for looks but also for sport shooting and home protection. The local sports store has the following Armalites, if you guys could tell me the difference please, because i have no idea:
m15a2 .223 $900 (barrell longer than other 2) Armalite A4 w/ Carhydl Carbine .223 $1100 M15a2 Carbine 1113 (guessing its a .223 also) $1300
Other than these, what is a good gun around the prices above that not only functions well, but looks like a military/futuristic AR15 (meaning, with fancy attachments, nice lines... you guys know what i mean, a gun that looks really mean..... such as the non-tan gun of FX345's post on the top of page 10 of the AR15 gallery page.
thanks!!! i figured you guys/gals would be the ones to ask! |
ref'd thread:
ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=336159&page=10i want to mention a few things:
above, you wrote "fancy attachments." a couple of comments on that.
one, a lot of those "fancy attachments" cost a lot of money. in your quoted text above, you refer to the pricing on a bare-bones AR15. this is the first sign of impending sticker shock on the Lego set that we all know and love -- called the AR15. weapon lights, optics, and so on are not inexpensive. or rather, i should say, GOOD weapon lights and optics are not inexpensive. please don't get an Aimpoint clone off of Ebay and expect that it does exactly what you'd expect a real Aimpoint to do.
two, those "fancy attachments" are not a substitute for safe firearm handling, situational awareness, and tactical training. adding an Aimpoint or EoTech sight does not make you an "operator" -- knowledge and training does. maybe you already know this, and i'm preaching to the choir. but maybe you don't, so my advice is to learn the AR15 with a set of iron sights first -- get that down and get it right.
three, a lot of those "fancy attachments" are designed to hang off a rail system which takes the place of the handguards normally equipped on an AR15. there are two basic approaches to the rail system: the first one is such that the railed parts simply take the place of the handguards, and the second wherein the railed parts are "free-floated" away from the barrel and are only physically attached to the upper receiver. the latter method is arguably superior BUT costs more and requires removal of the front site post to install.
you can get a great idea of what is involved with the installation of a freefloat handguard by watching the following video:
216.23.214.70/pics/handguard_video_0001.wmvi tell you this because if you want to hang "fancy attachments" off of your rifle in the future, you should start by thinking about how you are going to do that -- BEFORE you purchase a rifle.
four, all those "fancy attachments" add weight. for this reason, there is an entire thread on "KISS" (keep it simple, stupid) rifles...
ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=118&t=304444ar-jedi
ps:
i want to reinforce what was suggested by another poster above: get Denny at GTS to build you an LMT upper with a Larue free floating railed forearm substituted in place of the OEM plastic handguard.
ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=7&f=22&t=255392then, order a complete LMT lower from Denny/GTS or Jason/JTAC and have that delivered to your local FFL for pick up.
on your kitchen table, slide the upper and lower together, push two pins in, and you have one of the best AR15's available. plus, you saved the 11% federal excise tax on complete firearms, so in the end it will have cost less than if you had bought it as a complete rifle.
ar-jedi