Armalite-vs-Colt

[BE Wild Willy]

As ARs go, how does the Armalite M-15 stack up against Colt's AR? Quality and potential resale down the road?

[mag318]

I own both and my Armalite has been consistantly more accurate. Quality wise I find Armalite products to be everybit as good as Colts and in some area better. ArmaLite is a smaller company and I think their attention to detail is better as a result. In the 50s when Gene Stoner invented the AR15 he worked for ArmaLite. Colt who with much bigger production capacity bought the rights to manufacture the AR15 and for many years was the sole manufacturer. Mark Westrom the owner of Eagle Arms bought what was left of ArmaLite keeping the name alive. Funny how things go full circle.

[dfariswheel]

Quality is something that differs from rifle to rifle. One owner will get a great rifle and another will have problems.

Colt problems are typically more rare.

Colt will always have a higher resale simply because it's a Colt.

[ltdave]

Colt currently doesnt offer any true match grade barrels. does the armalite (that is posted as being more accurate) have a stainless or possibly non chrome lined barrel?

my two Colts were pretty darn accurate but once i put a stainless barrel on them, they shot extremely well...

im just saying that even though Glen Zediker says to use the Colt 1:7 barrel if you have it, there are other barrels that are better...

a shooting buddy of mine has an Armalite and kept blowing primers. safe loads, factory loads WAY safe loads. the chamber needed about 7 twists of some emery cloth in it to relieve it just so much...

i wouldnt hesitate to own an Armalite if the price was right but the Colt will hold better value...

[BE Wild Willy]

I'm curious because I had seen an Armalite at a LGS that had what appeared to be a stainless barrel, flat top receiver, Magpul PRS stock (od green), possible carbon fiber or aluminum forearm (od green), and some other features that slip my mind. I'll have to take another look next time I'm in the area. Is there any chance that this factory? If after market, are any of these features desirable or undesirable? I appreciate any comments.

[ltdave]

yeah that might be a factory set up. or not...

are those parts desirable? definitely if you are into action shooting where having the latest and greatest high speed-low drag parts on your rifle help you blend in with the tacticool crowd...

are those parts undesirable? definitely if you are into service rifle competition because thats not whats currently on an issue M16, appearance-wise...

if I were looking for an AR i dont know if i would get it unless there was some ridiculously low price on it because i only shoot service rifle and i would have to replace the handguards, the stock and possibly the barlrel if i couldnt get a front sight base on it somehow. there are some shooters i hang with who would probably be all over it provided the price was right...

i know, thats not really a very good answer but ARs are very customizable and they fit each individual as that individual wants to kit it out...

[TooTech]

I have both a Colt rifle and a couple Armalites - both manufacturers make excellent rifles.

Armalite is not completely "mil-spec", whereas the Colt is. I'm not certain anyone beyond Colt fan boys or real combat troops with full-auto rifles would ever care.

Even NIB Colts will frequently have a scuff or two in the finish from handling at the factory. If you're an "operator" you don't care. I'm not an operator, so this bugs me.

The Armalite 2-stage trigger is vastly superior IMHO to the Colt's single stage, which I find to be gritty.

The Armalite has a lifetime warranty for the original purchaser.

The Colt will have a better resale value, as already stated. It ought to, it's more expensive in the first place!

[BE Wild Willy]

Thanks fellas. I'll have some decisions to make over the next month or so. The comment on shooting in a service rifle class was a point well taken and may influence my final decision. I'm gonna be turning over a firearm to make the purchase and may have an opportunity to get a stock Colt 6721 or the above mentioned Armalite. The 6721 would be be considered eligible as a service rifle correct? I'm moving from SoCal up to Reno in a couple of weeks, the Armalite is up there ($1100), and I'll be taking a closer look then. Continued comments are appreciated and will help me decide when the time comes.

[dfariswheel]

I'll offer this:

My best buddy is a National Match shooter who used to attend Camp Perry every year.
One year he made the President's 100, so he's no slouch.
He's an engineer and he's the type who investigates and thinks about things before buying.

He bought a Rock River Arms DCM rifle because they were the only maker who offered a written warranty on accuracy. Their warranty is 1 moa.

He liked it so much, he bought a Rock River flat top. He's had some work done on both rifles. As example, Match shooters have the AR rear sight "pinned" to eliminate movement.
He's replaced the Rock River double stage trigger with a fully adjustable trigger from one of the high end trigger makers, and done other work.

He precision loads his Match ammo, and for 100 yards he's using 52 grain Sierra Match King bullets.
With the scoped flat top, he's getting right around 1/2" groups at 100 yards.

Point is, he bought AR rifles specifically for Match shooting, and after a lot of investigation he chose Rock River.
He said he didn't buy Colt because they didn't offer a written accuracy guarantee.

He gave me one of the Rock River double stage triggers for my old AR carbine, and it's just great. He went with the far more expensive fully adjustable triggers because he's one of the few people around who can actually get the benefits of one.

If I was buying a new AR for general shooting, it's be a Colt, probably a fixed handle Law Enforcement model because of the known high quality.
If I was buying a rifle to shoot Matches, I'd have to go with a Rock River just because of my buddies success with them.

[ltdave]

As example, Match shooters have the AR rear sight "pinned" to eliminate movement.
He's replaced the Rock River double stage trigger with a fully adjustable trigger from one of the high end trigger makers, and done other work.

only a few have actually pinned their rear sight. as long as the ball and spring are in good condition, there isnt any need to pin. John Holliger likes them but there are lots of P100 winners who have never done so. as long as the sight base sleeve to upper tolerances are within spec and the above mentioned spring is right, you get no benefit. Frank White hasnt gone to that and hes still one of the top builders of match rifles...

the Rock River Arms 2-stage match trigger is a great trigger. again John Holliger can make it an outstanding trigger for $25. i have the stock RRA trigger in all of my ARs and i put them in all of the lowers i build for others. i have tried the Geiselle and not seen enough difference to justify the $200(?) price. i shot one of Franks modded safety triggers for a couple of years because it was all i could afford. it too was a great trigger. the other big name is jewell but the RRA is a best-buy part (my opinion)...

He precision loads his Match ammo, and for 100 yards he's using 52 grain Sierra Match King bullets.
With the scoped flat top, he's getting right around 1/2" groups at 100 yards.

yep. 52-SMKs. over 26g of WW748 will do about 3/8-1/2" at 100 yards ALL DAY LONG. i LOVE those little pills! i run hornady 75s over 24g of Varget for my short line and 75g A-max over the same charge for 600...

the RRA guarantee is great but truth be told, any AR with a decent barrel (im running a $200 Wilson 1:7 stainless) and solid rear sight will hammer all day long. factory NON-match triggers arent the best but in almost all situations, their shortcomings can be overcome...

ive seen great results from Colt, Armalite, Bushmaster, Rock River, Fulton Arms, Olympic Arms and even GM Hyrda-matics (SAFS with plain-jane USGI components)...

Armalite is not completely "mil-spec", whereas the Colt is

the Colt's are farther from mil-spec than any other rifle in that they run 0.177" fire control pins vs the mil-spec 0.151" size. depending on the vintage of the Colt, they use Chicago screws instead of standard pushpins for the upper to lower connection, and then those are larger than the mil-spec 0.250". fortunately i dont believe the current crop of Colts are using those anymore...

get what you can afford, then later build or buy a Service Rifle upper from RRA, WOA, CLE and go to town!