Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Budget AR

Who makes a good plain Jane basic AR these days?
Is the S&W M&P sport ii good?

Ruger AR556. Hasn't missed a beat. Yet.

yes I think best for budget have 3 now. I picked up for $499 a few years ago.

The M&P sport II is a great rifle. I prefer it over the Ruger AR556 budget rifles. Prices and availability are going up on every AR rifle right now though. The last shop I saw a S&W sport II at, had it listed for $899.00. If memory serves me right. That was 3 weeks ago at a local shop. Last year I could find them for $599.99... I'm also seeing a lot of home builds selling for $1,000.00 and up. Rifles I would consider budget home builds, like PSA, Anderson and the like... Nothing I'd buy at those prices..

Whatever kind you can find used and do a person to person transfer on.

With a CL barrel......

Getting ready, are we?

Got rid of all but one that way. Under current state law I didn’t have to keep a record of who bought what since it was a long gun. Trace ends with me. I haven’t got em.

DPMS Oracle used to make a bottom of the barrel turd. No frills, pencil barrel

The rock island armory version of ARs. Made of chocolate. 😃

All sound advice

Isn’t the Ruger basically their own proprietary version?

Does Palmetto State Armory make a good A.R?

Wish they was still that price

ok if nothing else available. you can find s&w's with some patience and research.Have to jump on them though like ammo

I'm pretty sure it's just a mil-spec AR. Parts from other sources seem to fit.

I have built several ARs with PSA parts and can vouch for their quality. It is hard to go wrong with most ARs that are produced now if you are plinking or for light use (never field tested a budget AR.) When I was looking for an AR to depend on I looked at Rock River and BCM and ended up buying the BCM. I would say just as good as a Daniel Defense or Colt but without paying for the name.

yep, Im a rock river fan

I’ve built a “few” , they run fine. I usually throw in a good ejector spring. It’s an AR, don’t over think it. Mostly your paying for the brand on higher end AR’s. There are plenty of psa’s used in competition with upgraded triggers they will run as well as anything.

PSA makes several levels of quality. You'll have to research that yourself.

I just looked on GunBroker and saw a DPMS Oracle for $625, but that's the starting bid, with no "Buy Now" option and it WILL sell for higher. I would guess you'll pay a grand for one. There were several others including a used one for nearly $700 with two days left and 54 bids already. I don't think I saw a buy now on any of them.

The Sportical is their other budget gun but with sights. The Oracle will have to be scoped or have sights put on it as it is the "optics ready" type. Be advised.

Nothing wrong with DPMS. I don't know what Smith and Wesson M&P's are going for. I bought my Oracle several years back when Walmart jumped into the AR business. I was so astounded to see that pussified outfit selling AR's that I had to buy one there. Soon afterwards, I spied a Smith for not much more and was pissed I'd bought the DPMS instead of the Smith. They're honestly about the same level though. So I bought a Smith too and have both. Either is a passable weapon IMO, but if you go on the AR page here, you'll get some posters who think not. So again, be forewarned. Also, Smith's basic MP15 is "optics ready" also. You'll pay a bit more if you don't want to fool with buying and installing sights on it.

These two are what I'd be looking at in normal times if I wanted a budget AR that I didn't have to build. These aren't normal times though and you'll probably have to take what you can get. I'd be prepared to spend at least $1000.