Not after the cheapest, but value
Ideally a 16" mid length gas. Mlok float tube would be nice
Asking for a friend as I prefer to roll my own. Also the reason I have no idea what to buy as a complete gun.
Industry partner would be great too.
I'll go a different route with this. If you can find a Cold 6920 SOCOM, they're MD legal and for what you're getting they're a pretty solid value at the price most IP's have sold them for.
Go Windham if you want a bare-bones MD compliant M4 clone.
Their stuff isn't the cheapest, but it's certainly cheap enough and the build quality is miles beyond the cheap Rugers, etc.
I'll go a different route with this. If you can find a Cold 6920 SOCOM, they're MD legal and for what you're getting they're a pretty solid value at the price most IP's have sold them for.
Colts are mil spec which many, if not most others are not. They also work. It all comes down to how it will be used...if only sparingly it really doesn't matter what brand you buy. If you want one to hold up under harsh treatment and a lot of use...get one you know will take it. I own a number of AR-based rifles...Colt, Olympic Arms and Armalite. They all work, are wonderfully accurate and all have proven perfectly reliable for years.
I understand dollars and value are important but I'll stick with what I know works and fits my needs and that's just as important. If you're patient and do some research you can buy what you need without spending any extra money over arguably lesser makes.
I get the buying the colts because of liking the colt brand, but is that the only reason why so many are willing to spend the extra money?
Are you saying colts use parts that are twice as good as windham weaponry, or delton etc?
ive seen tons of other makes put through hell and back and function just fine.
Colt ar-15s usually sell for between 1,000 - like 1,200 ish, right?
what exactly is the love for these things? for what these things cost, and most other colt ar-15's for that matter, I just don't see the value other than saying, look its a colt.
to me most colts are base model ar-15's for twice the price.
seriously curious.
Nowhere did I say Colt uses parts that are "twice as good" as anyone else's. I'm saying the parts Colt uses have gone through and passed all mil spec standards. That's a level of quality other's parts may or may not meet. One reason Colts are generally more expensive is that those tests their parts go through are in and of themselves expensive and the added costs have to be recovered by passing them on in the wholesale cost to distributors and retailers who also have to recover those costs.
Like most, if not all gun companies, Colt buys parts from vendors...and those vendors may sell parts to other companies as well. Those parts maybe just as good or even better...they simply haven't been run through the mil spec testing so no one knows their end quality. They might even be parts that were rejected for various reasons...quality control, cosmetic, dimensional...who knows. These rejected or blemished parts can be bought up for much less by discount makers.
Other makes can be put through hell and back and still function. It means they've put in the time and effort in build quality. I don't know if all could say that. When the big panic buying was going on prior to the 2016 election I saw many AR-rifles with brand names I'd never heard of and seem to have disappeared since. I wonder how good the quality was in some of them...makers were taking advantage of a market where anything could be sold and they took quick advantage and then jumped out when it was over.
I've seen and bought new Colts for less than $1k...as low as $800 depending on the model. Some go for more. It depends on who you buy it from much of the time. The same with other makes. Whatever you want to buy...have at it. If it makes you happy I won't criticize you. The AR-platform is very modular and you can make one the way you want it or even buy it that way.
There are many good makes out there...Colt is just one of them. I just feel better knowing the quality control behind the product...you simply can't know that about some others than their advertising hype and that they're available. As I said before...I have Colts, Olympic Arms and Armalite AR-pattern rifles and carbines...none has ever disappointed me.
The price is due to the quality control measures they have in place throughout production. Basically, others MAY work out of the box but the colts WILL work out of the box. They also have great resale value, so you won't be losing money if you sell it off later on.
Besides some cheap guns come in cardboard boxes with no packing.
Here's my thoughts on your question, for what they're worth, and from perhaps a different angle.
The AR isn't personally my favorite firearms platform. I am well aware that because of that, I probably don't have sufficient knowledge to build a truly convincing argument
regarding why an $1100 Colt may be worth twice the asking price, over a $550 Ruger, if in fact it is.
That said, I do indeed respect and own the platform. So what I've chosen to do is to gear my choices toward the recommendations of someone like Clandestine, who comparatively speaking eats, drinks and breathes AR.
Why should that matter? Because he is a smith, and I'm not. Smiths aren't on every street corner, and are a lot more highly trained than parts swappers. And perhaps more and most importantly, he and others of similar credentials have absolutely zero vested interest in what I may or may not buy. Kinda like the factory trained mechanic who works on cars every day for a living, and who also happens to be your neighbor, who says to steer clear of brand X. Or like the doctor or dentist I go see, because they have the training and the capability to fix things I can't. And because while I might have a problem, their leg and their tooth feels just fine.
The brand I hear most of the time from those I believe to be most knowledgable for guys like me, who want primarily to buy and shoot rather than build, and wish furthermore to increase my odds of being able to actually rely on an AR platform rifle? That's Colt. Wanna go less expensive, and probably still not regret your choice? That's Windham.
The only answers? Nope. But all things considered, that I know I'm likely to personally consider in meticulous detail, given my own personal comparative interest level in the platform? I've pretty much seen fit to defer my choices to others more keenly attuned to this platform. They're the 2 answers I've accepted as being best for me.