Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Older Bushmaster quality

How is quality on a mid 90’s Bushmaster?

The few i have handled and shot did well.

The one I owned from that era worked very well. Accurate too.

That's when they were still under original Bushmaster management. Quality was very good.

Had a pre ban that ran and looked perfect.

I have I believe a 91 patrolman’s carbine upper threw it on a mid 80s essential arms lower, accurate and reliable. I think bushmaster of that era were very well-made.I haven’t shot that set up in years I know the trigger sucks, Someday I’ll throw a better trigger in it.

I have 2 pre-Rem(Windham made) uppers & both are great. One is a V-match & it has always held it's own in accuracy with a lot of the later bull barrel varmint models of other brands.

I also have a complete carbine that is very well made IMO.

I've got a Bushy upper I purchased new in the late 1990's.

It's a nice upper. a Dissipator style. 1/9 twist, chrome lined, carbine gas system.

I've put it through a few different re-makes, trying to find my 'happy place' with it.

Here's a pic fairly stock, I just swapped the handguards for Magpul,


Then I pulled the FSB and floated it. Pic with some 100 yard targets. The 1/9 didn't love the 77gr.


Final iteration, and my favorite. I put the FSB back on, and put it in an A2 upper receiver. Love this.





Under the handguards,


Never any issues with quality.

This is a varmint model, very accurate with 65sgk’s. Hate the barrel length though. Thinking of ordering an 18” or 20” SPR contour barrel for it.
No issues but haven’t really pug that many rd’s through it either. Just wondered how quality compared to other brands at same price points. Always heard the earlier ones were decent guns.

I have had one of their 20" HBAR rifles with a factory float tube on it for over 20 years, and it has been a great rifle. The fit and finish is perfect (for an AR) and it is very accurate. Never had the slightest problem with it.

My buddy has an HBAR national match A2 with the 1 in 9 twist and he loves it. It shoots pretty good, he's never had any issues with it. It was made in the 90's. Excellent quality from what I've seen.

Other than Colt they were the nicest at the time...

It's what Dyncorp provided for us in Afghanistan. I was completely confident in it.

kwg

That's from back when everyone recommended ABC. Armalite, Bushmaster, or Colt. I think I still have my first Bushmaster V-Match in the back of the safe somewhere...

Weird, I heard "ABC" meant Always buy Colt.. The reason behind that was because Colt appreciated very well, never really losing value.

That's the Oregon version. They can't remember more than one brand!

Of course, back in the early 90s, about the only other well known choice was Olympic.

Older, 90s era Bushmasters (some) were made by LAR (Grizzly) company.

LAR was one of 4 major receiver companies in the United States at the time that produced AR receivers for pretty much everyone else.

Noveske and Spikes also used LAR Grizzly, who at the time was also a small time defense manufacturer and was building top notch products. You can tell if your older Bushmaster is one of the original LAR guns, as the serial number will start with an L.

I have an old 90s era Bushy and this is what the receiver markings look like:



These were at the time, top notch receivers.

They would've been on par with Colt if they had used a mil spec RE, staked the gas keys and castle nuts along with a few other small details.

But then again, Colt wasn't always up to snuff either, for example a plastic buffer in an A2 stock setup, what were they thinking?

I have an early Bushmaster, not sure what model they called it. 20" fluted heavy barrel with free float tube 1-8" twist. the only mod. I have done to this rifle is a JP trigger. It is so accurate that I never messed with it, just clean and shoot. It is the only factory AR that I own, all my other AR's are part's guns that I have put together