Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles Which? DPMS AP4 or Bushmaster A3

I'm thinking of getting one or the other. Which is better?

I have had both. Never a problem with either one.

Larry

neither.

Which ever one is cheaper. kwg

Have had good luck with my Bushmasters.

They're both Freedom Grope guns, think Remlin. You can do better. I'd order from Delton of Palmetto State if I was determined to be a cheapskate but the smart money goes to Colt or Daniel Defense. The reason for that is both will have a decent barrel. Bushmaster ? maybe. DPMS, most likely not. Buy a cheap-azz gun and rebarrel it, you've spent Colt money, but you still don't have a Colt.

I'd just go with Spikes Tactical, for a good quality, less expensive AR.

I just finished my build with great part and ended up at about $970 including shipping on all the parts. Aero precision upper and lower, troy tube, AR performance melonited barrel, AGL trigger group, BCM bolt carrier, BCM charger and BCM gas block.

Easy to create exactly what you want if your willing to take your time.

One is $699, the other $779.

I don't shoot these much at all and am not a big fan of the AR. It's not my thang.

I do want one to have one. I have some ammo and mags. I'll probably not put 100 rounds through it, before it gets salted away.

I don't know whether this changes the replies, but I sure appreciate the ones so far. They make sense.

Palmetto State Armory, M4 Premium.

L2S, I have a Bushmaster, and a good friend of mine has a DPMS, so let me give you a run down.

The triggers on both sucked, each was replaced with a Jewel.
On mine I opted for the Vmatch barrel, which is their better HBAR profile barrel, so I haven't had the barrel issues mentioned by other posters.

Both have run extremely reliably, with no functionality issues with either rifle, of course we only run them with quality magazines.

There are two uppers on the DPMS, one with an HBAR profile in 1/7 twist, and a heavy barrel stainless upper. Both function reliably, and the heavy will shoot 1/2 moa with my reloads.

We've had good luck, but neither is the $600.00 base model.

I've owned both & still have a Bushmaster. Nothing wrong with either Mfg., but my Bushmaster M-4 just happens to be more accurate. I'd buy which ever one you find the best deal on. Stag Arms is another good option, too.

Luv2, if your not betting your life on them or plan on shooting the crap out of them I would say get whatever you can afford. There is a difference between super reliable and super cool. I would rather upgrade on a bolt/bolt carrier than spend $300 on the latest and greatest rail system or 40 pounds of accessories to hang off of that fancy new rail.

I've said it before, but when you say stuff like "mine is reliable" "haven't had any problems" "it's accurate", it's really only fair to give a frame of reference.

What model do you have? Have you replaced any parts? How old is it?
How many rounds have you fired?
Have you had ANY malfunctions?

Just posting "My BushtagPMS is great" without any other information really is a worthless post.

FWIW, I owned a $700 DPMS M-4-ish with detachable carry handle. I put 1500-2000 rounds through mine with nothing other cleaning of the BCG. I had no problems I can recall. Ran flawlessly. Accuracy was 5-shots into an inch when I used Ulramax 50gr B-tips .... everytime.

Did I get lucky?? I don't know or care. Ended up trading it for a shot out M1. I wouldn't discount the cautious tales, but wouldn't make put a lot of weight on them either ... I'm sure Colt has put out some lemons too!

Both are about the same in quality, and at AR entry level QC.

Look at it like this, you are looking at buying a Guild gun, and you could have a named Suhl rifle equivalent (Colt) for $200-300 more. The fact that you are saving the rifle for later, and your knowledge of gun values, would make a strong argument for investing a bit more in the initial purchase.