I have never owned a AR but am considering getting one for plinking and my boy has mentioned he would like to try to shoot a deer with one in a youth season. Could someone recommend a good one in .223. I am really not a fan of shooting deer with 223 but here some do. Got any advice on a AR?

DPMS has the least expensive on the market at $499 at Academy sports. If you want open sights though you'll have to add that. Ruger has a new AR556. It'll cost between $560 and $620 if you can find one. It has sights, a dust cover and forward assist. Smith and wesson makes one with similar features to the Ruger but it typically costs a little more. All of these guns are accurate enough and reliable enough for your stated purpose.

Someone with fantasies of using their AR for combat will be along shortly to tell you why you need a gun with mil-spec parts. You don't.

Federal Fusion 223 works very well on deer. My 11 year old grandson has shot 5 with that round. Only one of them moved after it was shot and that was a 40 yard death dash.

No I don't want combat I want something I can put a scope on let him shoot mostly plinking at steel and him to hunt with some

"Someone with fantasies of using their AR for combat will be along shortly to tell you why you need a gun with mil-spec parts. You don't."


This always cracks me up, do you base every purchase you make on the theory that just good enough is good enough? Or do you just buy as cheap as possible?

Not saying the new dpms won't suffice for plinking but mil spec is a standard that is easily trumped, yet you suggest if someone buys mil spec or God forbid, better, they are having fantasies about using one in combat.

Some of us prefer quality and maybe those that reccomend the cheapest way out should get an extra paper route...

Wolverines!!!

I'm not one to buy cheap I want one that functions and good quality I have read good things on the dpms oracle but I am not a AR guy my thing is rifles

http://www.model1sales.com/

If you're not into cheap, the Colt LE6920 is a solid gun and a step up from a Smith M&P 15 or the DPMS Sportical. I own all three guns and any of them will be a solid performer, but IMO, the Colt is the best. It is about double the price of the other two. Between the Smith and the DPMS, the Smith is worth the approximate $100 more than the DPMS. Lastly though, the DPMS is fine and has an especially nice price. All of these can be had at a decently sized Walmart, at least around here.

How are there not a ffl required to sell them?

Those are not guns, but parts. You can buy all the parts of an AR and not technically have a gun until you get the stripped lower receiver. To the ATF, the stripped lower is the "gun". bea puts his own together. That's fine if you know what you're doing. IMO unless you're going to put about three AR's together, it isn't worth learning. Putting one together presently, offers no financial advantage over buying a full gun. At times over the years, it has, but not right now. The real advantage lies in customization and parts preferences. The person who is new to AR's is going to benefit very little.

IOW, the FFL comes into play on anything with a lower receiver.

Guess I didn't read doesn't come with lower

DPMS Oracle would fit your needs, like the other fellow said $499.00. If you want a Colt you will need to pay more.

I suggested three rifles that will fill his needs quite well. If he had said that he was looking to burn a pile of ammo or achieve 1/2 MOA accuracy, I would have steered him in another direction. He doesn't need a top drawer Daniel Defense to plink. Quality is relative.

Your suggestions were fine, it's the comment about mil spec and fantasy combat that I'll never understand. I just want better, even in a plinker.

Tater....again...and these are my opinions only.

Colt is a good gun and it works fine with a scope, you cannot see the front sight at 3X.

RRA makes a decent gun, DD same good gun but their barrels have decreased. Bush Windham, DPMS, and Core I am not personally fond of I guess they work sometimes.

If you hunt and you hunt when you want to hunt, and it rains in Kingsport think stainless, Nitrided or chromed barrel.

Thanks Jimmy I'm really not sure what I want there was a guy at the range a while back with a stag which had a big stainless barrel one of there varmint models I think. It was really nice.

While I only own Colt 6920's, I see nothing wrong with buying the others mentioned.

Never heard anything bad about either of them and they sell the hell out of them down here, like vanilla ice cream on a hot sunny day at the beach.

Stag Arms would be a good choice as well, and just as capable as any listed above.

If you can afford it get a Rock river Lar 15, it will shoot both 223 and 5.56, I have one and it is the most accurate rifle I own, last week I shot a 1.7 inch group at 400 yards with my pet handload.

my hunting pardner and friend has a Stag, it shoots well and is a good gun.

How old or how big is the son? The last thing a young'n needs is a 10 lb gun.

He is a 120 pounds but I agree no one wants to lug around a 10 pound gun especially in these Tennessee mountains

I have not seen many ARs that wouldn't work and shoot fine in the last 15 years or so really. CErtianly since the late 90s to early 2000s, most kinks were worked out.

And while certain names I"ve never seen a flaw with, the rest, the things that make em hiccup, are generally minor and easy and cheap to solve.

There is never anything wrong with buying better though as noted.

Personally if you were not relying on it for personal defense, I"d buy what I wanted and see if I was happy with it. You can't hardly go wrong these days.

Me personally I simply shoot what I build, and make sure its right in case it ever has to be used to defend, but that does not mean that I buy the best parts or pay for big name parts.

One downfall to the AR is the overall weight at times, do be careful of that. Couple of Carolyns and couple of my match guns pushed 18 pounds or more...

You do sometimes get what you pay for, but the world of hte AR has come a long way since my first parts gun in the early 80s...

Two of my nephews both started hunting deer & hogs with an AR-15 when they were 11 or 12. Both were small for their age, and had no trouble handling and carrying an AR for hunting.
When they first started out, I only let them hunt with a 5 round mag, with a total of 3 rounds, only , and of course, an empty chamber, while walking.

One of them has a DPS Oracle, and the other has a S&W MP-15.
Both guns have been very reliable and shoot sub MOA 3- shot groups @ 100 yards. Both guns are Flattops and have Leupold scopes mounted.

Like others mentioned, I see no need for a Mill-spec AR for deer hunting.
IMO, based on price and usability, I would recommend, a flat top model in:
1. S&W MP-15
2. Ruger AR-15
3. Stag Arms AR-15
4. DPS Oracle AR-15.
5. Rock River builds a great AR-15, but they are quite a bit more expensive, for a beginners AR.

And unless you just want to spend the extra money, I see no need to buy a Colt, for hunting, unless you plan to sell it later on. The Colt AR will always hold it's value, better than the others.

For Factory Ammo for deer & hog hunting, the Winchester 64 grain Power Point ammo, and their new hog ammo both work great. If your going to Handload, a Barnes TTSX works very well on that sized game as well.

In the $500-$600 range they're all a crapshoot. We just got a shipment of replacement uppers from S&W because of how awful the first batch of rifles were.

I'd buy the cheapest name brand AR you can find. For what you wanna do it'll be fine.

I've had good luck with Federal's 62grain bonded load on hogs.

I would recommend Stag Arms. You can buy a lower and then pick the Upper you want and put it together with the push of two pins! Wallah your done.

How many uppers and replacements are we talking here? What was the specific problem?

About a dozen.

Rusted bores. Chambers so rough that they'd shave the brass and filings would get stuck under the extractor. Bores with burrs in them that would snag and rip patches.

Wow, thats bad.

Goes to show you can get bad chit from anyone these days.

Assumedly not the true custom guys that are 2-3 times the normal dollar cost. But I've even seen a front sight fall off a pretty big name gun.

For your purposes I would buy the first one you pick up at a gun store.

Don't be surprised if you hit what you aim at and the gun goes BANG and cycles every time you pull the trigger. Assuming there's ammo in the mag...



Travis

That is sad. I thought they either chromed or nitrided their bore? I got a bad Colt once, if you lit the barrel you could see where the drug the broach straight up the barrel without a twist about 2 inches below the muzzle. It was nicely chromed however.

These were CL barrels.

CL? CLE?

Chrome lined.

will keep that in mind regards smith and wesson! My MP10 had a nitrited barrel, it was a pretty good gun, not more than 1.5-2 inches for 3 shots but it was a functional weapon not overly heavy, I got smart and got me a DPMS Gen2 which lasted a month I think.

pride in ones work is a thing of the past in the USA.

sometimes pride of work is related to pay and instructions, or even both.

PSA kit........ $379
Anderson lower...... $40

$420 AR that 98% of most gun guys would be happy with