Ar sage advice requested

dg31872

New Member
I am not good at this, but I am asking for advice on an AR upper.
I ordered a Bushmaster XM15 16 5.56 upper assy from Midway last Christmas. It was put on backorder, but I would periodically check with them and the Midway rep reassured me that the order would arrive, eventually.
Well, I got a message from Midway yesterday that my order has been cancelled. Huh???
Okay, if either Bushmaster or Midway wants to cancel, then I have to reorder another upper.
I am looking for perhaps a 300bo or a 5.56 barrel with a cast friendly barrel.
My only experience has been Bushmaster. I know nothing about other brands, nor the 300.
So, my question: What other brands are good and where is a good (reasonable) place to buy? And someone please inform me about the 300, for instance, accuracy, case forming difficulty, will it fit my existing AR 30 round mags etc.
Advice appreciated.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
http://www.radicalfirearms.com/product-p/fu16-300hbar-12fgs.htm

That is what I bought. I also bought a bolt/carrier group with it so I can have one dedicated to each upper.

To me a 300 BO is far easier to get good results with than a 223. It is a cartridge that is close to perfect as far a being cast friendly goes. Lots of good 30 cal moulds out there too.

Mine is accurate enough to be enjoyable to shoot. I haven't really wrung it out but am pleased with the results thus far.

I buy brass rather than form my own. I have more money than free time.

Magazines are easy, get some Magpul magazines and modify them. It takes a few seconds per magazine. Look at post 133 in this thread. http://www.artfulbullet.com/index.php?threads/first-go-with-the-300-blk.424/

I have fired 230 gr bullets at 1050 fps and 165 gr bullets up to 1800 fps. Never had trouble getting good cycling of the action.
 

dg31872

New Member
Thanks Brad. I do not know much about the black rifles. Uncle handed me a M14 when I wore green.
Okay, I will call them today. They show to have this model in stock, and I live only 90 miles from Houston.
Thanks for your help.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Second the Radical option for 300 BLK, have two of them. It's no Noveske, but for $200 you can't go wrong and the bores/rifling are excellent. Bushmaster is passable, but is "old school cheap". They've fallen behind the times and the super-glut of inexpensive, mid to high quality parts and upper assemblies makes buying a GI rack-grade upper for $400 or having to wait for it to become available seem silly. You might also look at Sportsman's guide for cheap uppers in all sorts of calibers and configurations, but I still recommend Radical or some other reputable company that will stand behind their product if you have issues with it. Mail order stuff...not so much.
 

dg31872

New Member
Thanks for jumping in, Gear.
I was just looking at Brads link, and saw that they also have 7.62x39.
Would the Russian round be better than the 300? And why?
 

Ian

Notorious member
I'd steer clear of the Soviet round in an AR-15. It can be made to work, and I can tell you the magazines and modifications/tweaks necessary to get it to run, but it's way more trouble than it's worth, trust me. If you want to enjoy the economy of the Soviet round and only shoot full-power, factory ammo, buy an Arsenal or Century Arms AK-47 and be happy.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I've heard that Blackthorneproducts.com can be hit and miss but mine is ok . Enough so that I have 3 . The A2 or A3 kit comes in at 399 in most cartridges with specials every month . Separate parts and assemblys are available but kits ship free. Both 6.8 SPCII kits required some minor figeting but at the time I bought them it wasn't worth the extra money for the free float on those kits . I did spend it for the 223 M4 style . For the 6.8 it was $60 more but only 25 more for the 223 . Out in the boonies where I am I get 3-4 day delivery. The kits come sans stripped lower with an assembled test fired upper and all the GI lower parts .
You end up with a $500 AR that meets MIL spec I changed the M2/3 fore end and gas block to a low profile and a cheap rifle length fore stock and messed with the gas tube until it was as free floating and non bumping as I could get it ,the 1 I've used stepped from a 3-4 in factory ammo gun to an unvarified 1.5 " cast shooter . Only having shot a a Colts 80s vintage rifle before this an that being 10+ yr ago this is a happy place for me .

I'm cheap and don't mind tinkering with a sub $500 rifle to make it play in 7-900 dollar class ,but, I be cranky if I had paid 1k + and had to monkey with it . These are fall in mud swish it in the creek pour the water out of barrel 5'2" Ms with a fused wrist /youth going to fall down in the rocks rifles for the zombies just in case rifles to me .
 

dg31872

New Member
Thanks to all. I appreciate your thoughts and experience.
We will be in The Woodlands in two weeks and I will look them up.
 

Hawk

North Central Texas
Ian and Brad, I know you both have Radical Arms guns.
How are the stock triggers on the Radical Arms basic guns?
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I just have an upper from them. My lower is an Armalite with a reworked RRA two stage trigger.
 

Ian

Notorious member
All my lowers are homemade with reworked "GI" internals. An RRA hammer/trigger set has been on my radar since Brad and Bill mentioned it a while back.