Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Color me surprised, Bushmaster XM 15

Junior walks in the house carrying a box, He bought his first firearm today.....

I almost fell over with surprise, anyway,

I've little knowledge of the 'Black Rifles', Don't own one and never really looked into them.

So, whats the story on a Bushmaster MX15 minimalist .223 with 16 inch barrel?

He'll need mounts and optic suggestions.

TIA.

ARs are addicting, tons of options, AR15.com and Utube

Thank you for that.

I love the JP mount.

For general purposes, start with a low power variable optic. There's a couple recent threads on these.

Watch out for the rabbit hole.

Yea, my first AR was a Bushmaster XM-15. The only original parts left on it are the lower receiver and lower parts kit, minus the trigger.

You like upgrades or the OEM parts weren't the best?

Bushmaster put together a good rifle, but I wanted to play tinkertoys.

In no particular order, I changed out the A2 but stock for a collapsible, got rid of the mils spec trigger, upgraded the barrels, and changed the handguard out for one that would allow attachments. Upgraded buffer and buffer spring, and changed over to a full auto style BCG.

And then I built a second upper for it, one of which still used the original BCG. And the original barrels, well, it got rebuilt into another upper as well....but that is the way of us afflicted with the AR sickness.....

Isn't that the truth! I have boxes of parts. Always looking to snap together something new. It is what makes the AR so much fun.

One of my first AR's was a Bushmaster XM15. I kind of miss it. I sold it last year during a rough patch in life. I damned near almost bought another Bushmaster just a few weeks ago. Speaking of "tinkertoys", mine had a stag 6HL upper and some bells and whistles. It was a pretty good shooter too:



Never had a single hiccup with this one.. In the pic above, is the kind of mount I run. That would be my suggestion, or the Leupold Mark 2 IMS. Both of these mounts can be found for under $100.00. If he wants to spend more money and is looking for a detachable set-up, something like the American Defense Recon is hard to beat:



I'm not going to suggest power range, as that is highly subjective and should be left up to the individual. Personally, I have absolutely no problem using a 3-9x40 or 4.5-14, but I like more magnification. Some do, some don't... However, with that being said, on the lower side of the magnification scale, I'd lean towards something like an eotech. Again, just personal bias here, that sounds like it's either "all or nothing" and no in-between, but there it is... Truthfully, the nice thing about optics is, they make one for everyone now days. A lot of great options out there..

Any interest in a red dot type on a '15?

Where's the downside of a Sig Romeo 5 on a '15?

Good for a 100 yards or more?

BSA,

Nothing wrong with some magnification on an AR. As I mentioned above I have two uppers for the Bushmaster. Both have Leupold Mark AR's, one in 1.5-4x and the other is a 4-12.

My 22" 6x45 mounts a 4.5x14, so when I build out the 16" sitting in the safe it will probably get a low power variable.

I'm a relative newbie to the AR. That said, the first mistake I made was trying to encompass too-wide a range of use for my skills. At this point I can't own a do-all rifle. If I approach the AR as a '200-yards and in' rifle or a '200 yard and out' rifle that works for me. Any wider range than that and me and the rifle won't perform at one end or the other.

Another thing I learned is that for my uses the AR shines set-up for 200 yards and in. At longer ranges there a better choices.

Legos for Loonies, right?

The first several ARs I had went unmolested but were sold off when I got bored with them. Bored, most likely, because of limited utility, and that I attribute to poor ergonomics and function (for MY purposes, at least) that comes with the carry handle.

Then came the day that I had acquired another of the same type by buying an upper and a lower assembly at a gunshow. After some time I found myself bored with it but ran across someone who wanted to trade his flat-top upper for my carry-handle upper. That changed things up a bit. Once I had a flat-top upper, different scope mounts, handguards, and aftermarket triggers became items of interest.

After that I somehow acquired an extra upper assembly. At first I thought I'd just switch out uppers when the mood struck me, but what struck me was this irresistible urge to put that spare upper on another lower. I further compounded the error by buying a stripped lower to build. That's when all hell began to break loose and it's been all downhill from there.

I gotta get back on a hunting lease soon. I think a couple dozen outings per year would keep me too busy to build more stuff. Probably cheaper, too.

Yeah, the eotech I mentioned is a "red dot" type of sight. I actually really liked it for its intended purpose. Not the best for shooting groups, but it worked very well on clay pigeon sized targets at 100... The nice thing about a red dot type sight is it offers extremely quick target acquisition, which is never a bad thing, especially up close and personal...

Sounds like a good plan... Remember I'm still new to this AR chit. I like shooting at 100 and further and the higher mag scopes work better for me in that regard. My eyes suck too . I don't know how much more I'll shy away from my comfort zone and change things up a bit. However, I damn near bought a light rifle, set up for 3 gun,a few months back that had a sig romeo 4 on it. That rifle was pretty sweet, but different than what I'm used to. I kind of regret not buying it....

The AR's are fun to shoot at longer range too. Well, at least my AR10 is. I've shot .6 moa 5 shot groups at 400 yards with my Armalite AR10T, and wouldn't be afraid to stretch its legs further yet..

This is just a 3 shot group, but you get the idea that it is fully capable:


One I'd be very hard pressed to ever get rid of:


Shooting these AR's at long range is a damn blast.....

In my opinion the reason the AR is so popular is because anyone and everyone can tinker with it. Even if you screw up a part or two it is cheap. There are no big and expensive tools needed. One can go from plain Jane basic to Tactical Mall Ninja wild! To me they are fun to play with and shoot.

Scope and mounts?

SWFA SSALT mount
SWFA "SS Classic" fixed power scope....6x, 10x, or 12x......just depends on his intended use.

Complete setup for under $400....

BSA.....nice 6....grin

Like you I come from the tradition of shooting small groups at long ranges, but I'm trying to learn new tricks as well. Recently bought some steel and a timer. It's a different kind of shooting.

That is the truth!

Six months ago I had 2.5 AR's, my first, a CMMG "Bargain Bin" bought around 2008 with Faxon Pencil barrel, a BHW on an Aero matched upper and lower started around 2010, and an Aero upper with a BCA 6.5 Grendel barrel built around 2016.

Today I have 6 after adding an LE6920, PSA 10.5 on an Anderson lower, replaced the BCA with an ARP 6.5 Grendel barrel on an Aero lower, a BHW 243LBC on an Aero upper and lower and almost enough parts to build a FrankenGun using the BCA 6.5, a BCA 223 or the original CMMG 223 barrel.

Its all fun man. Good to change it up a bit too, every once in a while.

Thanks for the warning,

Now my question is, how deep this hole gonna be?

It could be very deep. I personally didn't want an AR for the longest time. Being more of a traditionalist bolt gun guy, I figured I didn't have a need for an AR. I came to my senses though. In the last year, I've bought 5 AR's... All decent quality, so the hole can be deep, especially when you start replacing parts to suit your needs. Better triggers a must have, proper stock and grip and handguard are all needed things. That doesn't even include rifle scopes and mounts. I keep my scopes and mounts cheap (Burris now), but still have over $2,000.00 in to just scope mounts and scopes... Only you and your pocket book can decide how deep the hole is going to be, but rest assured it can and will be addicting.