Timbonez

One of my 1911s is a Taurus (duo-tone). The features you want you'll only find on the Taurus in that price range. It's a good gun and I've had no problems with it. However, if you have a little more money to spend, I would buy a Colt (personally), Kimber, Springfield Armory, or Smith & Wesson.

Sweet. BCM and Spike's both make some high quality stuff. The BCM middy I showed on the CavArms lower wears CavArms M4 handguards for midlengths. They work well. And to piggy back off of BigFreddie, DD also makes great stuff. You can't go wrong with a lot of manufacturers: Colt, KAC, BCM, Spike's, DD, Larue, Noveske, LMT, and there are others that I'm not really thinking of right now. Jarhead, even though it's not in the budget, if you are considering a CavArms lower I would get it. My experience as well as many others has been very positive.

I built one of my ARs with a CavArms lower. They're great and it makes for a light carbine. I thought it would throw off the balance and put all the weight forward on the weapon, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. The only issue I had was that you will need to sand some of the lower. For example, the magwell needed to be sanded to allow magazines to drop free. It wasn't a show stopper, but it did take a little work. Here's a picture of mine. I've since removed the carry handle and replaced it with an ARMS low profile, same plane aperture sight and a CavArms two point sling. I'm saving my pennies to buy an Aimpoint Micro T-1. The build is a CavArms lower with Rock River Arms LPK and 2-stage trigger, BCM 16" midlength upper with BCM full auto BCG. If you're looking to build an AR-15 with a CavArms lower, I recommend it.

I see you said you already looked at the famous chart. Some of it can be misleading, and not all manufacturers are on there. I'm assuming you are going to use this as a plinking rifle and SHTF kind of weapon when the zombie apocalypse arrives. There are several things you're going to want to look at and decide on. The first is the barrel. You're going to find three basic types. 4140 steel, 4150 steel, and stainless steel. The military uses Mil-Spec 11595E, which is a type of 4150. Stainless steel will provide you greater accuracy if you're looking for consistent half-MOA groups (with match grade ammo), but won't last as long as 4150. 4140 is a cost cutting measure used by several companies and a lot of people don't like that. However, that being said, I doubt an normal person is going to wear out a 4140 barrel any quicker than a 4150 under normal use. In any case, if you get a weapon with either 4140 or 4150 barrels they should be chromelined. This is a milspec standard and allows the barrel to be cleaned easier and more importantly won't wear out as fast. There are some manufacturers that use their own lining to preserve the barrel instead of CL. Spike's uses melonite (the same finish you find S&W M&P pistols) on/in some of their barrels. CMMG uses their proprietary WASP coating on/in some of their barrels. I haven't heard anything really on the WASP coating, but I've heard good things about the melonite. When looking at a complete rifle, upper, or barrel it should say if it's CL, melonite, or WASP. Finally is the barrel twist rate. Common flavors are 1:9 and 1:7. The military uses 1:7, and it's what you should use too. This will allow you to stabilize heavier (i.e. longer) bullets. A 1:7 barrel will stabilize about 55-77gr+, whereas a 1:9 will stabilize less than 55 to 69gr. Some people with 1:9 barrels have been lucky and have been able to fire heavier bullets with good accuracy, but most 1:9 barrels will cause heavier ammo to keyhole. My recommendation: 1:7 4150 w/CL, second would be with melonite. Next is the bolt carrier group (BCG). You basically have two choices a semi-auto carrier or full-auto carrier. Get a full auto-carrier. The difference is that is has a little more weight. This will help in slowing down the whole carrier and help prevent bolt bounce. Receiver extension. That's the part that sticks out and what the buttstock rides on (sts). They have commercial and mil-spec receiver extensions. There are those that look down their noses and bitch about the commercial receiver extensions because it's not as "strong" as the mil-spec ones. I don't care either way. Just know that if you decided to put a new buttstock on from whatever comes with the weapon, there are different sizes. The commercial one is slightly thicker, so say you buy a Magpul buttstock, they will annotate if it's for a commercial or mil-spec receiver extension. My recommendation: Either one, however the top notch companies will use the mil-spec extension. Upper receiver. You're looking for M4 feed ramps if your barrel extension is an M4 extension. The good thing is the top notch companies and most of the mid-Tier ones will use the M4 extension with M4 feed ramps. As for the receiver itself, you'll want forged 70705T6 aluminum that's hard coat anodized. Lower receiver should be the same specs as the upper. I suppose you're not building the weapon from scratch, so you're either going to buy a complete rifle or a complete upper and complete lower separately. The lower is defined as the firearm, so that will have to be shipped to a local FFL. A complete upper can be sent to your home directly (no paperwork needed). In any case, here are some of my recommendations for an AR-15. Colt LE6920: The standard that all others are judged by. I don't own a Colt AR-15 (just two of their 1911s), but they are currently the sole contractor for M4s to the US military. You can find these reasonably priced between $1150-$1300, mostly online. Spikes Tactical: ST-15 M4. They make great rifles and use mil-spec parts. It can be had for $950 on their website. They also offer the same setup with a gas piston for slightly more. S&W M&P15A: This wouldn't be my first choice, since they use 4140 steel, but they make a fine rifle that would suit most people's needs. Also, with their 40% off deal you can get it for a good price. What I personally would do, if I were in your shoes, I would buy a complete lower from spike's tactical Spike's and a complete upper from Bravo Company BCM. You're getting one of the best basic rifles you can find for an outstanding price. It will check every container on "The Chart." If you do go this route, just make sure you select add BCM BCG to the upper so you get a BCG and charging handle with it. It's only $145 more, which is about $20 cheaper than if you were to buy them separately. You'll also have to buy handguards and a carry handle or back up iron sights. Add that all in and you're hovering at around $1000 before shipping, and that'll be cheap. This was kind of a quick and dirty of what to look for, so here is an in depth link of what to look for when buying an AR-15. This guy will list his recommendations afterwards, which, for the most part, are pretty good. So you want to buy an AR-15, huh? The writer is a former po-po.

I own an Springfield Armory M1A standard w/ walnut stock. It's a great rifle, and I've had no problems with it. They're pricey and ammo is also expensive, even milsurp ammo. I guess it depends on how much shooting you're going to do with it.

Seriously, this forum is failing. This almost reached the second page.

I just used Hoppe's No. 9 on the metal parts and a paper towel mixed with mild dish soap and water to get it off the wood on my SKS. It worked pretty well, but the wood attached to the gas tube did sweat some cosmoline the first time I shot it.

Positiveg, for some reason only the URLs were showing up with no pictures, so I fixed it for you.

She has a red scarf on because it appears to be cold outside.

I haven't heard anything bad about EAA, but I also haven't heard much about them. They are, however, modeled off of the basic CZ 75 design which is an outstanding pistol.

I have that same problem. I have since calmed down recently. I can only hope that I won't be buying any new guns for a while. I've sent myself to the poor house.

For those of you who have a conceal carry permit in your respective state, what do you carry? I usually choose between three different handguns. It's dependent upon what I'm wearing and what I feel like carrying. The first is my SIG P220 Carry, .45 ACP 8+1 in the weapon and I carry an extra magazine. My second is my SIG P239 in .40 S&W. 7+1 in the weapon and I also carry an extra magazine for it. The third is my Smith & Wesson Model 36, a .38spcl. 5 in the cylinder, and surprise surprise I carry a speedloader with another 5. The S&W is the easiest to carry since it's the smallest and lightest. I've spent a lot of time practicing on all three, especially the P220 lately as that is my newest handgun. I carry the extra mag/speedloader in my left pocket to facilitate a faster reload (I'm left handed but shoot right handed). Here's a picture: from top to bottom P220, P239, S&W M36. There is a quarter for scale. EDIT: For spelling and phonics...

You have a disease when it comes to the milsurp rifles now.

Awesome, M2. Be sure to get pics up soon.

Double Tap. I thought I would post some new photos of my newest setup on my LWRC. I did a 50yd/200m Improved Battle Sight Zero with some Hornady 75gr BTHP match ammo (my zombie killer ammo) last week. LWRC M6A1 14.7" upper w/permanent attached A2 American Spirit Arms complete lower w/gen 1 stock Troy Rear Back-Up Iron Sight w/diamondhead aperture (absolute cowitness with the Aimpoint) Troy vertical foregrip Fenix PD30 light (220 lumen) mounted with a Vltor mount Aimpoint Comp M4s Troy single point padded sling (not shown) OD pistol grip and OD ladders for the rails EDIT: You can see the piston system underneath the top rail.

This guy has a few different ones up for that .22lr AR-15. Apparently he got a lot of returns from customers he sold them to. It has reliability problems and whatnot. At least he has a sense of humor about it even though it's such a crappy product. Drain Marker Pooper Scooper This one is funny! Boat Paddle Paperweight

Which is why I said it sometimes does work. Every barrel is different so some people have success with the heavier (longer) gr bullet, but to say that all SR-556s will stabilize a 75/77gr bullet is not true. Regardless, there are quite a few 64-69gr bullets designed for self defense that do the job real well. If Vandal does end up buying the Ruger, he can always test out the heavier bullets. If they keyhole or just aren't accurate he can move down to the 69gr bullets. There are a lot of cartridges to choose from with a bunch of bullet types... Best Choices for Self Defense and Best 5.56 Loads With Rankings. Let us know what you end up buying, Vandal.

Good deal, but don't let your love for Soviet weapons change your love for Capitalism, haha. What are you going to do with the rifle? Is it just going to be a paper puncher or will you use it for defense/zombie apocalypse? I don't own a Ruger SR-556, but I've heard some good things about it. You get a lot of cool Troy stuff with it. However, it's barrel twist rate is 1:9, which isn't bad, but it won't let you use the full range of ammunition designed for the AR platform. The heavier bullets (75/77gr) won't stabilize. The heaviest you can shoot will be 69gr. You can always try the heavier stuff and see if it works (it sometimes does), but a 1:7 barrel is what the military uses. That's not to say Ruger is bad, it's not, but there are certain limitations to it. LMT and LWRC make 1:7 barrels. Check out AR-15.com and look for the dedicated Ruger threads. There are quite a few people who own them on there that have given them range reports and put thousands of rounds through them. You'll find your answers there... AR-15.com AR Discussions.

Nice! BCM is top tier stuff.

You have a SKS obsession now.

I had a S&W M&P .45 w/4" barrel. It was a great gun. I sold it because I'm not into tupperware firearms.

Nice! LWRC and LMT make really good ones.

You're going to need everything you would need as if you were sending in your order through the mail. Ordering Info

And you contributed nothing...

What Stunna said... the Civilian Marksmanship Program.