Bushmaster AR-15

A Review of my bushmaster AR-15. Before you Colt,Noveske and LMT fans get all upset about "milspec" i've upgraded the bolt carrier group for increased reliability as well as to make the rifle more in spec with G.I. rifles, thus giving me a few more check marks on the "chart" lol. Bushmaster bolt carrier groups and barrels are not individually mpi tested nor are they competent enough to properly stake the gas key. At the very least grab a punch and a hammer and restake them yourself.

Nikon777 does a good video overview of what is milspec: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNNx-ntoJjg

The infamous M4 comparison chart: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pwswheghNQsEuEhjFwPrgTA&single=tru...

Excellent site for AR parts and accessories: http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Bushmaster
• AR15
• XM15e2s
• assaul weapons ban
• Mil Spec
• M4
• Colt
• M16
• LMT
• DPMS
• RRA
• ammo
• guns

[admiralbell1]

bushmaster makes a damn fine weapon. Ive owned one for close to a decade now, and have probably put close to 30,000 round through it without incident. And this "milspec" talk, im sure youre not crawling through sand and dumping 400 rds a min full auto with minimum lube battling through the mean streets of new jersey or wherever. Not to be that guy or anything and I apologize for coming off as such, but in a test between a de badged colt and a bushmaster, i challenge you to tell the diff.

[TheMatt1911]

@admiralbell1 The differeance is in the details, if you pull the bolt carrier groups you can tell which is of better quality between the colt and the bm I think its asinine that a company portrays itself as a true milspec rifle when it cant even properly stake its gas key, nor do they shot peen or mpi test their parts. Does any of that matter? probably not, will a dpms/stag/ect serve us with out failure? Probably, but if you want it to last, and run it hard why not go for xtra reliabiity?

[eatont9999]

Not a bad rife for everyday Joe but like you said, an enthusiast will not be satisfied. Not saying you should but I would get me an adjustable stock and say fuck the commies. I am lucky I don't have to worry about that crap anymore. I think after hearing what you have said of the weeks, if I buy a AR-15 it will probably be an LMT. I had the chance a while ago for $1200 but I was tight on cash.

[TheMatt1911]

@eatont9999 LMT makes a damn good rifle. At the same time I feel that a "non" milspec ar will do anyone just fine under most circumstances. Milspec for the most part just means a part has to meet a certain standard to garuntee its reliabilty under combat situations. Funny thing is alot of the milspec ar crowd will bet their life on a glock 17 over a milspec beretta M9 any day of the week.

[TheMatt1911]

@eatont9999 For the most part I just wanted to upgrade my rifle to put it more inline with the top ar's, and for the bragging rights hell why not? lol. I know what I have and what I dont have with this rifle even though the snobs will still shit on it, I feel as though I now have a solid platform to do serious hard running work with. Its asinine to think bushmaster cant properly stake their own bcg, when its something a trained chimp could do with a regular screwdriver and a hammer.

[jcwoodstl]

Good call on upgrading the BCG. Nice blaster

[Patriot1790]

Also, most companies get their parts from the same place.

[Patriot1790]

One thing to know about Bushmaster. Bushmaster has been in the game for a while, longer than most. However, they sold out to Remington who is owned by Freedom Works. They are not what they used to be. I have an older e2s. The rifle is mil spec. However, like many other manufactures. They do not stake the gas key correctly. Infact, today one of my gas key bolts just sheered off. Now I have to replace my gas key. That's the only thing that was not correct. I'll take my AK if the SHTF anyways.

[kuglebugle]

I think all this talk of non magnetic tested bolts, the chart, etc, is mostly just elitist bullshit. It's merely bragging rights. You go to M4 carbine.com and those fuckers will talk mad shit if you mention you got a RRA/Bushmaster. If it ain't BCM, Noveske, or Colt, you have a piece of shit that will catastrophically fail the second you need it in a defensive scenario. While yeah, sure they're awesome rifles, I truly dont think they are leaps and bounds better than a RRA etc. Just a bunch of b

[shananagans5]

@TheMatt1911 That said, there are companies out there making junk but Bushmaster isn't one of them. I own mostly Colt. The resale value is higher because of this general perception of vastly higher quality. Yes, I admit I am a gun snob but with everything CNC machined nowadays there is little diff in the base rifle.My fav rifle is an old Bushy thats battered & banged up that I use for plinking & crawling around in the dirt. It is an older one and I have still never had a prob with it.

[shananagans5]

@TheMatt1911 What I am getting at is you pay a great deal for very little. I have never had a failure in a Bushy and if you happen to be the person that gets a bolt that slips through with a crack they will replace it. Yrs ago there were some differences but the newer stuff is machined to the same specs out of the same material. I have a really old Bushy bolt. It is a running joke about when it's going to fail but it hasn't yet and it really is an older substandard part.

[shananagans5]

@TheMatt1911 Kinda sounds to me like you are falling for this BS of mine is better than your because..........

I have had Bushmasters & Colts for many yrs and there is very little diff nowadays. When they test every single part they may stop a bad part from going out the door which could be important in a war zone but how many do they really throw out? Not many. If you are not going to war, is that extra $400 or more really worth a very small guarantee that no parts are bad?

[404040c]

I heard DPMS was combined with bushmaster that they both make AR'S heard anything good about them

[rsxtypes06usdm]

How much was it?