AR-15 Colt vs. Armalite vs. Bushmaster
Pardom my ignorance and lengthy question but I really need some addvice. I have been saving up to buy a pre-ban AR-15 and have narrowed my search to these three brands Colt, Armalite and Bushmaster. I have an Armalite AR-10A4 and am very happy with it but I don't ever hear much about thier 15's. Are there any thoughts on what the pros and cons are of each brand.
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All three make good products.
Colt: best for resale value
Bushmaster: quality for the price
Armalite: Again, bang for the buck
I personally like the bushmasters for shooting. If it is an investment, i would go colt EVERY time.
-Kid
www.acebuyers.com
GB... Land of the Free, Home of the *POOF*0 -
The A B C's of AR 15's
Armalite
Bushmaster
Colt
Colt has the name. Then again what is in a name
Armalite was the original AR-15. They still make it right
Bushmaster makes the rifle to military specs. Now that says something, but what?
My 2 cents0 -
Thanks to both of you for your input. It is much appreciated. 0 -
Gap 1916, I am afraid that the current Armalite is NOT the same Armalite that designed the AR-15. The original firm was located at 118 e.16th st. in Costa Mesa, CA and I remember riding my bicycle down there and pestering them for literature while I dreamed of owning an AR-15 or AR-180. The company went out of business in 1973 and the old building is an auto parts shop today.
The new Armalite was the old Eagle Arms Co. in Geneseo, IL. Back in 1995 Eagle Arms purchased the rights to use the name from one of the company's founders. Eagle Arms then became Armalite and the EA brand became a division within the new company. I am unaware of any Eagle Arms AR production prior to 1990- a solid 30 years after the AR-15 was developed and went into small scale production. If they still "make it right" it is because they had 30+ years to study!
Greyhorse, the chances of finding an original Armalite AR-15 is nearly impossible as nearly all were select fire and today cost many thousands of dollars. The original commercial semi-auto AR-15 was built by Colt starting in 1963. These are the guys who developed the semi-auto sporting version of the rifle and they still make the best example. I am a Colt law enforcement dealer so I am bias. But the Colt's are excellent. My next choice on your list would be Bushmaster. I own several of these as personal firearms and can not fault their quality for the price. The older Eagle Arms AR's were decent looking rifles but I am not familiar enough with the new models to pass judgement.
Mark T. Christian0 -
Since the AR-15 design was licensed by ArmaLite to Colt in the late 1950s, the term "AR-15" applies only to a Colt. All the others are clones and do not use the actual AR-15 name. For instance, ArmaLite now calls its .223 rifles the M15. Bushmaster calls its clones XM15, etc.. Therefore, if you really mean you want a pre-ban AR-15, you are limited only to a Colt. I think instead that you are using the term AR-15 incorrectly as a generic term, as many do, and really mean AR-15-style rifles.
I do not believe there were any pre-ban ArmaLite AR-15-style rifles. They were called Eagle before the ban date. The ArmaLite name was purchased by the Eagle owner in about 1995 or so, and the name Eagle was changed to ArmaLite. Now Eagle is the name applied to the "budget" ArmaLite rifles. The fact that there is a current firm with the name ArmaLite has nothing to do the original Fairchild Aircraft firearms division of the 1950s, so anything good about the early 1950s ArmaLite rifles has no relation with current rifles with the ArmaLite name.
I agree with the other posters that the Colts have the most market value. I believe the value will remain high with real Colts even if the ban sunsets. As much of a Colt fan as I am, I never liked the way Colt did not use a push-pin front hinge pin on most of the AR-15 rifles. Colt also left off the magazine release fence for a long time. Then Colt took off the bayonet lug and started installing the sear blocks, so to get the best Colt, you have to find one with all the desirable features from a relatively narrow time frame.
What is in a name? Everything and nothing. For nearly identical items, the name can be everything. For instance, the value of a painting by one of the masters is worth quite a bit more than a perfect copy. For a paperclip, the name means nothing.
Of the pre-ban AR-15-style rifles not made by Colt, my favorite is the Eagle. They have all the M16 features that Colt refused to put on the AR-15, and are very high quality.
You should be warned that there lots of parts rifles being represented as "pre-ban." Watch out when buying.
Let us know what you buy.0 -
A colt will hold valve better and in more collectable. I personally like Bushmaster.
I have a Bushmaster postban M4 in A3 configuration. I use the open sights and it is very accurate. It shoots like a dream.
Every person that has fired my M4 wants one....they love it.
Edited by - diablo on 10/25/2002 18:53:400 -
It seems that this question comes up every month and has come up again. I'm just going to pull this up from the archives.
Mark T. Christian0
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