Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Help AR rookie

Lookin' to purchase a Bushmaster AR-15 Opticreadi. Found a used one for 650. comes with hard case,tasco scope, 20 rnd mag, 30 rnd mag. Good deal??? and with so many different models and features how does a newbie know where to start? Thanks for any help, Tim

as always it depends on what you want to do and expect out of it.

IMHO these days there are no really bad guns any more. Most all of them will shoot and function fine.

Most have crap triggers to start with.

Most will shoot 2 moa or under as is. Almost all will scare the heck out of 1 MOA with reloads.

rost495, Didn't know there were Irishmen in TX. As far as use, just plinkin and home D, semi's are a no-no for huntin in PA. What about the price? I can't keep up with the changing climate. Thanks for your input. Tim

$650 is a good price by today's standards. Buy it while you can.

Like TWR says, if thats your uses, buy it NOW.

And FWIW I'm not Irish, Rost is pure German. But I do love that saying. Tis something about it for me....

jeff

Thanks for the input. Oh and sorry to hear you have not a wee bit o'the green in ya. I'm of Irish decent and my B-day is St. Patrick's Day. Hopefully that's enough to keep my darlin' wife from raising to much hell, about another gun purchase.

Consider the Tasco scope a "throw-away" cost in the sale, a few models are OK, most are junk. The rifle comes with a hard case if its recent BM production. Magazines are $20 bucks a piece on average, even now.

Price is good in this market, just look it over for signs of overheating, seen a couple lately that were treated pretty hard at the range, barrels and gas tubes showed signs of excessive heat and blast-o-thon sessions.

JMO.

Takin' a chance, this is not a local sale. What are the signs? Never owned any type of tactical firearm. I have only talked with a few locals, and I'm still tryin' to figure out what options and features separate good from bad. I'm in need of schoolin' and the only way I know to get it is to jump in the ring. I'll take any help I can get, Thanks Tim

Tim,

Make sure to ask if it is a Bushmaster assembled firearm, or a Bushmaster receiver "assembled" to be a ORC. This market is bring out many gun sellers that are making a quick buck by assembling rifles and calling them "new".

Not trying to rain on your buy, but I've seen many sellers in the past two months trying to turn a profit at the expense of the buyer. The price is outstanding in the current market, so why is that? Unknowing seller? Hard to believe in the media age. Good friend passing on a deal, or looking out for a buddy at the pawn shop? More believable.

Take a look at the gas tube behind the gas block, should not be "blue" or show signs of heat tempering, think exhaust pipes on Harley, should not be any of those colors.

You may see a bit of the carbon gas, black, blowing past the gas tube where it enters the bas block, that is not usual, but fixable.

Look at the bottom and sides of the bolt carrier, where the bottom of the carrier rides over the hammer, it will show wear, the side contact rails on the carrier will show some wear, but shouldn't be much.

If you want it, buy it. Probably not going to lose any money in the short term, and about anything on the rifle is replaceable if you want something different later.

Two cents...

Thanks, that's great info. Unfortunately, deal went south. I was asking alot of question, and before he got'em all answered, I received a notice that his listings had been flagged. And he was unwilling to meet FTF. So maybe I'll keep looking. This gun was not a necessity. But thank you, all.