[GBA]

I was in Wally World the other day renewing my licenses and while I was waiting, wandered over to a Colt AR they are selling.

I've been wanting one for a very long time, but am overwhelmed by the number of manufactures and variants.

I think one could be a great multipurpose tool and toy, but with so many choices, I'm not sure who and what to avoid.

Any suggestions?

[mylife]

Most all of them are fine.
I would avoid Olympic just because not all of their parts are interchangeable with other AR’s
Smokingfrog is our local AR expert
Davetex may have some insight, he’s built some AR’s

[davetex]

GBA, what do you want to use it for? Just plinking? 3 gun matches? Varmit hunting?

[smokingfrog]

Wally World sells AR-15’s ??

Can’t go wrong with a Colt, but there are other ones that are plenty good too.

http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=493

[BlueMondaySkipper]

I was in your position a couple of months ago. I had the inkling to get an AR15 and got the open to buy from the minister of finance so I started educating myself.

If you want to learn, check out the forums at m4carbine.net and ar15.com. What you'll find is that for complete guns, you can't go wrong with a Colt. It's the standard. There are many other brands with excellent reviews, such as BCM, Noveske, Daniel Defense, and others with spotty reps, like Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, and others. I ended up getting a Daniel Defense M4 v7 and I love it.

I might think twice about building your first rifle. While it is a great way to learn how everything works and fits together, buying a complete rifle from a reputable manufacturer means you get one that works out of the box and in my case, one with a lifetime warranty.