Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Armalite vs S&W

Usually when I see someone say this they are from Florida or Texas or some place that is warm. That does not mean 1/9 is an acceptable twist rate to choose if you want to shoot 77 grain bullets as it may not work at colder temps.

Save some more and get a Noveske.

I just recently got a new S&W M&P in 30 ACC or 300 Blackout. Bought it for suppressed hog hunting here in TX. Mine has the new digital camo finish. It's very well made & the fit & finish looks great.

So far I'm extremely pleased with it. Accurate, reliable, & I like the fact that it is a Flattop, for easy scope mounting.
I've owned all kinds of AR's from Colt, Bushmaster, RockRiver, Les Baer & Stag.
I'm not a "warrior" so I don't need a battle proof AR. The only model I've had problems with was my old Colt M-4 Carbine not feeding & not near as accurate as my other AR's. I'm sure the new Colts are probably much better, by now.

As far as money or more bang for your buck, I would take a serious look at the new S&W M&P.
I don't think you could go wrong there. To me, the Armalites just look & feel cheap.
I've never owned a Armalite, though. So don't just take my word on those.

The S&W M&P is a fine weapon. I've been real happy with mine. Never owned an Armalite so no comment there.

I own 3 Armalite uppers and one Armalite National Match lower. All three meet my expectation with 2" (and probably less) of accuracy at 100 yards. I think the 1 in 9 twist is perfect for the 55 and 60 grn. bullets I prefer to shoot. I see no need for a 1 in 7 because the magazines limits overall length, anyway.

But, if you can get the S&W for the right price, go for it. kwg

Hard to beat the S&W M&P M-15 TS

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/..._757784_757784_ProductDisplayErrorView_Y

A brand new one, with a hand-full of those fantastic MagPul 30-shot magazines is a PRIZE. I paid $1,250 out-the-door for mine, rifle and ten MagPul 30-shot Pmags.

God Bless,

Steve

I came close to buying the S&W T15 Tactical Quad that CDNN has for $1,100. It is the earlier version that came with Troy sights. The 9" twist and the "fully loaded" rail kept me from pulling the trigger. I wanted a "smoother" rail and also really did not need BUIS for what I intended. I spent $200 more and went with a Daniel Defense M4V7. Hopefully I will be pleased when I pick it up.

It'll be interesting to see how my 1-7" twist will work out in the 5.56mm. Those bullets will be turning at a pretty danged high rate of speed.

My experience in load testing a bunch of rifles for feature articles has been that the fast-twist barrels often end up shooting lighter bullets like an absolute WHIZ.

I remember VHA Custom Rifle in 6Ackley and a really fast-twist. It ended up shooting 70-grain Ballistics better than any other bullet ... man did it blow up coyotes, with the bullet torking about 500,000 RPMs./ It was a fur chopper, for sure.

God Bless,

Steve

I have had both, and I would go armalite all day and never look back.

I'm an Armalite slut but if I needed or wanted another AR, I would seriously consider a Sig Sauer Model 400. At walmart for $917 for the M-4. I'd look at one if you get the chance before you make up your final decision. kwg

So far I am very happy with my S&W M&P-15. It came with a .300 Blackout upper as well as a Rock River 'Coyote' upper in 5.56 that I got at the same time. While I had a couple issues with the S&W lower, neither was a major consideration.

The rife was used when I got it and one of the problems may have been caused by a previous owner. That was the missing 'J' spring that goes in the hammer. Because it was missing the hammer pin would slide out to the left side, causing the hammer to 'lean' to the right and the trigger not to reset. A $5 fix in the way of Rock River anti-walk pins cured that. Eventually an aftermarket trigger/hammer may eliminate the need for the anti-walk pins but it works well for now.

The second issue was the trigger, which had some creep and and roughness, was fairly stiff and had some over-travel. Even so it was the second best trigger I had felt outside of match triggers. (The best was on a Core-15.) I polished the mating surfaces on the trigger/hammer with a pair of Cratex wheels ('Fine' and 'Extra Fine'). The Cratex wheels removed very little material (less than .001" based on other experiences with them) but they took off the rough ridges, gave a nice polish to the sliding surfaces and noticeably smoothed things up.

The polishing didn't help with the creep because I didn't change the engagement depth. Nothing I did addressed the over-travel, either, although I don't find it bothersome. None of the angles were changed so the trigger pull, while reduced in weight and considerably smoother, is still more than I would want on a target or even a hunting rifle. For a SHTF rifle, where I would want a very deliberate squeeze, it is more than fine. (Sincerely hope it never comes to that, but I'm less convinced than ever.)

One thing I noticed on the S&W is that the castle nut is staked per Mil-Spec, something I've heard/read not all manufacturers do.

Too new at this to comment on Armalite. Hadn't shot an AR since 1970 and then only 60 rounds (dammit) in the Air Force. The S&W has only had about 40 rounds through it since I picked it up, something I hope to change this weekend.