Opinions on High End AR's

[Bigtrav6442]

I've been trying to figure out which one to get and just wanting some opinions.  I had it narrowed down to a top 3 of the Daniel Defense MK18 10.3, Sig Spear 11.5 (yes I know it's not a true AR but still), or the Radian Mod 1 10.5...all SBR'd and all in 5.56.  I will only be running the gun suppressed if that changes the opinion.  I'm really leaning toward the Spear however I've never owned a piston driven AR.  Opinions???

[ken_mays]

I’d go with DD because SIG not only uses proprietary parts but they have a tendency to discontinue support for rifles.  DD makes a solid AR and at the end of the day it’s an AR with the parts compatibility.  
if you’re using a suppressor, an adjustable gas system is a great feature to have.   

[Choatecav]

16 hours ago, ken_mays said:

I’d go with DD because SIG not only uses proprietary parts but they have a tendency to discontinue support for rifles.  DD makes a solid AR and at the end of the day it’s an AR with the parts compatibility.  
if you’re using a suppressor, an adjustable gas system is a great feature to have.   

I agree with Ken on this.............

[RED333]

It's just my $0.02, why does that have to be "HIGH END"? When I hear that term high end, all I hear is lots of money.

I have multiple ARs and none of them costs more than seven hundred dollars. To me that's lots of money. Yet I see ARs for sale for thousands of dollars. 

Unless you are going to shoot thousands of rounds in the next few months to a year, I see no need in spending thousands of dollars on a rifle.

Again just my $0.02

[deerslayer]

I'm a lot more interested in building ARs nowadays, but if I were leaning high end and wanted to maximize bang-for-the-buck, I would look at BCM.  

Edited yesterday at 01:14 PM by deerslayer

[ken_mays]

3 hours ago, RED333 said:

It's just my $0.02, why does that have to be "HIGH END"? When I hear that term high end, all I hear is lots of money.

I have multiple ARs and none of them costs more than seven hundred dollars. To me that's lots of money. Yet I see ARs for sale for thousands of dollars. 

Unless you are going to shoot thousands of rounds in the next few months to a year, I see no need in spending thousands of dollars on a rifle.

Again just my $0.02

I think with ARs, you hit the point of diminishing returns pretty quick, say around $1500.  A good quality barrel is the key and as long as the other parts are decent, I don't see much point in spending a premium on them.   There are only a few major manufacturers of most of the parts, so I'm a bit jaundiced when it comes to the boutique AR market, especially when they're like "yeah other people make our parts but we QA them and put our name on them " and then not bother to actually do the QA / testing.

Edited 22 hours ago by ken_mays

[leroy]

I think the " High End AR " thing wuz a thing invented by the " high end " builders to harvest more dollars thru either trickery or to lure the " Pride in Ownership " crowd in ta harvest their dollars.  It's the same thing with the high end 1911 builders/sellers.

An AR is an assemblage of parts.  If the parts are good and the assembly is good, the weapon is good --- warfare good... 

I build all my ARs. The heart of em is the barrel n trigger group.  Everything else is fluff n hype other than the bolt carrier n bolt...  

Food for thought.  

leroy.. 

[ken_mays]

I can understand some of the cost on 1911s because there’s a lot of hand fitting often required.  Either you have oversized parts and hand fitting or you’re making every part in house via CNC to your own specifications and tolerances.  
I don’t get buying a bunch of AR parts from diverse manufacturers, snapping them together, and putting a $3000 price tag on the result.  

[leroy]

3 hours ago, ken_mays said:

I can understand some of the cost on 1911s because there’s a lot of hand fitting often required.  ....  
I don’t get buying a bunch of AR parts from diverse manufacturers, snapping them together, and putting a $3000 price tag on the result.  ...

DING... DING.... DING.... We have a winner...

leroy....

[InertOrd13]

Having owned "lower," "middle," and "higher" end ARs I do see some difference when it comes to the different levels but I also see the higher end as having some proprietary component that fills a niche role. The few DD, BCM, and I would say WOA that I have owned have been great but I have kept my LMT and KAC rifles through everything. They have been the most reliable and flatest shooting compared to the others in my experience.

 

The SIG MCX is an awesome system however SIG likes to change generations frequently which often leaves owners unable to upgrade or swap out parts. They got me with the caliber kits with the 556xi before dropping it completely and I got into the MPX too which is now on its third generation with no promised caliber kits.

[btq96r]

I'm pretty happy with my two ARs that I assembled with various parts.  The biggest things I put money into were Geissele triggers (I'm on their flats for life), and decent optics (EO Tech and Vortex).  The rest is common enough, but it's working just fine.

That said, if you buy the DD, it's not a bad purchase at all.  I just never had the time or ammo budget to justify something that top shelf.