Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Rate the best of the best receivers/manufactures.

Mega Arms was a good company but got merged with Zev and they dropped a few lines. The monolithic upper was one of those things dropped in favor of ZEV's own line from what I'm seeing.

You should call the Smith I posted above and have him put one of his custom barrels in it. As I recall, they are among his favorite sets to build off of.

Antelope Sniper are you referring to Stiller?

Sorry,
I got cross threaded. I was referring to my post in the barrel thread:

I’ve only had a few.

The original SPCII 6.8 when ARP made Guns before focusing on barrels. I don’t hear much about them now but don’t have a 6.8 anymore.

Black Rain billet is nice but a bit of a rattle trap.

Barnes Precision is really nice even swapping various uppers and lowers. I’ve still not shot those but they have a good rep just not real advertised. I have heard Andrew has been a major OEM all along but don’t know for who.

WarSports did the custom Cerakote and I’ve handled one of theirs as well as a JP 260. I don’t recall WarSports fit but the JP seemed like quality. WarSports did a very thorough job on my cerakote but it was a personal favor for a friend so maybe that’s wasn’t their norm. They are defunct now anyway.

"War Sports", now that is a name that you'd think would last forever. Wonder why it went under? Going back to the root of the thread, BCM. I just put my Windham Weaponry barrel in the BCM. Very tight fit. Thermo fit. Ok. Yeah, the handguard is a thermo fit. Had to heat it up pretty good to go over the barrel nut. The rifle is going to shoot good, but first impressions of the BCM is yawn. Good fighting rifle, ok. Great finish, nah. Military matte, yeah. My Noveske has a nicer finish, just being honest here. The BCM is going to shoot great, but that is because of the barrel and nothing more. Will it shoot better than my North Tech Defense. Yet to be determined. Probably not, but if it does, I'll be pretty happy...

JMO, but you can take most any in-spec upper (and lower), and make a very accurate hunting/target AR with the right barrel and fitting/assembly.

If you’re thinking of a top end, competitive/high volume/adverse condition/fighting rifle AR, then I believe materials, process, etc. become more important from a durability, reliability, and staying in spec perspective. Then again, bolts, extensions, gas setups, and barrels are likely a far bigger part of that than the receivers they’re riding along in.

I could kick myself for not buying a truckload of those Noreen billet lowers when they had them intro priced at $39.99 most places. They seem hell for stout and were great on fit on the few I did use. There’s a VERY long list of stuff I use before I use Colt. That’s just from my anecdotal experience doing repairs in the Army vs the later FN stuff. Far more little, receiver or trigger related issues with the Colt stuff for us back then.

If you understand the system, and know how a barrel should interface with an upper, I (personally) don’t get too wrapped up in how much is spent on receivers.....as long as they work. I’ve only had issues in the last few years with Anderson stuff sometimes being rough, and having to have some touching up on holes and such. Not end of the world, and I’m not working on nearly the volume of AR stuff as in the past, so I’m probably not ‘current’, either. Bed, thermo fit, square, etc...shoot.

Word salad

Good info. Thanks..

What about RockRiver ?

Good stuff for sure.

Just as good as any. My buddies first AR was a RRA because he said he wanted all mil spec. He found out he likes his national match bushmaster upper on a cheap azzed Rogue Defense lower better. Before he bought his first AR, he did a lot of research and found that RRA was very good. Now he wants to sell it. Just for chitz and giggles, it has a sub moa accuracy guarantee, but it won't even shoot moa in the moa all day long challenge here:

I'm guessing the "guarantee" is for a single 3 shot group?

Yep and they are anything but mil spec.

Their receivers were fine and they use Wilson barrels. Most would shoot pretty well but they cut corners here and there.

Mostly I just look for a low-shelf trigger pocket.

You are not wrong...

I'm guessing the "guarantee" is like gun show bulshit.

Im thinking its a 3 shot guarantee as well. I dont like RRA enough to look on their website. I remember his rifle was the first AR I shot in the black rifle challenge here. Not real impressive with a 1.285 moa score, and that was with very expensive match grade factory ammo. My iron sight Noveske does better. I like RRA triggers, but their rifles are nothing special. From what ive seen, most manufacturers have their weaknesses. Kind of like my new BCM. The finish on that thing sucks donkey ballz. Its already worn at the shell deflector. Something my Noveske and Northtech Defense show no signs of use because of their superior finish. The BCM has 600 rounds on it now, but wear was noticable after a couple hundred rounds through it. I know thats picking nitts, but something that should be considered when searching out quality components.