AR-15 Questions

[zerosignal]

Hey all hide members,

I finally registered, been looking at all the beautiful pictures of your rifles and such for the last few months but neglected to register until now. I just recently graduated from high school, in college now, and have been shooting nearly every weekend since I bought my first rifle, a Remington 700 VLS in .223, about a year ago. I admit im quite addicted to this sport already. Anyways, im planning on joining the marines next year after school is out and want to become a designated marksman or possibly in the future a scout sniper although not very realistic or important to me.

Seeing where Im coming from what do you guys think would be the best AR-15 build to get to practice with before basic next year? I know there are probably a lot of different opinions on which is the BEST company but an input is helpful as I know very little. I want to spend around $1500 or less if possible as im a college student that doesnt have much money saved. Thanks in advance for any input you guys have, this is a great forum!

 

[RANGER_MAC]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Question, you said you just graduated recently from high school, but you will not join the marines till next year when school is out. Are you doing just some college classes or are you graduating from college in a year?

Well for a good reliable shooter for trigger time, get a stripped lower (brand of your choice) and go to www.model1sales.com find the kit you want (go with one of the vamint options for a good longrane shooter or one of the M4 CAR options for a rifle like you will have at basic). The kit will come with everything and you just need to put the lower reciever together and shoot. Either way you will get a decent shooter to give you trigger time on for half your budget. Spend the rest on good optics.

if you need help with assembling I would suggest AR15.com

Trigger time is good, but don't develop any bad habits. The marines will teach you to shoot and the worst shooters I saw at basic were those that thought they could shoot coming in and didn't list to the instructions.

As long as you have good eyes, scout sniper is not out of the question. However snipers are unique individuals and not everyone is made out to do the things they do.

 

[1911fan]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Fill out your profile- might be somebody nearby who can help.

1911fan

 

[zerosignal]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Thanks ranger that was very helpful, sorry for the confusion about school ill clarify and fill out my profile as well im sure that would be helpful. Im a freshman at college right now and plan on joining the marines most likely reserves if school goes good, next year after college is out for the summer about 4 months which I figure is when I could go to basic and back in time for school.

How difficult of a process is ordering firearms over the internet I never really looked into it before, ill have to do some research. If anyone from Minnesota could point me in the direction of a good gun shop that would be very helpful.

As for scout sniper, I do have better than 20/20 vision and it has been a dream of mine to become a sniper but heard it is EXTREMELY hard to even be selected for the training.

 

[RANGER_MAC]

Re: AR-15 Questions

If you find an AR stripped lower locally (which you should be able to or have your gun store order one for you), you don't have to worry about FFL for the kit and it can be mailed to your house. The Lower is the only serialed/control item that would need to be shipped to an FFL (federal fireams license) dealer. Call around locally to different gun stores and ask how much they will to an FFL firearm transfer for, smaller stores are usually the best and will do it for $15-25 (i have heard of $10 never seen it). Shop around and it may be worth paying a little more to have a nice guy you will do business with in the future. When you get the one you want and they seem like they won't be rude and annoyed about it, get a copy of there FFL mail it or they can fax it to the person or business you are buysing from. They will will ship the serial numbered firearm or in this case lower reciever to the dealer and he will process the ffl.

Once you have the lower, then google AR complete kits and start doing some homework or go to the sites I listed. Guys at AR15 have had good success with them. The model1sales.com site uses pretty decent ER Shaw barrels on there varmint guns (not shillen, kreiger, wilson, or fill in the blank top of the line barrels, but you get a lot for the money I think)

It is the easiest and cheapest way to get into an AR(Washington State has 9.3% tax), the hardest part is just getting the lower to your dealer/ffl. There have been some for sale around here and on AR15.com they are always for sale.

It is real easy to do. I just bought a rifle of the sales list here and I am having it shipped to an FFL locally (charging me $25)

let me know if you have more questions

 

[hibc]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Most people, (kids mainly) have the misconception that a person chooses the occupation of scout/sniper, but in reality the occupation chooses the person. Not just anybody can be in this line of work, it takes a very unique individual to be in this line of work. As for getting practice in before basic, its probably best to not even get an AR yet because most likely you will develop bad habits and will end up spending too much time unlearning them instead of learning the way the corps wants you to shoot. You should be more concerned with physical fitness because they will make you run until you die. Concentrate on fitness.

 

[jaw921]

Re: AR-15 Questions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: hibc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Most people, (kids mainly) have the misconception that a person chooses the occupation of scout/sniper, but in reality the occupation chooses the person. Not just anybody can be in this line of work, it takes a very unique individual to be in this line of work. As for getting practice in before basic, its probably best to not even get an AR yet because most likely you will develop bad habits and will end up spending too much time unlearning them instead of learning the way the corps wants you to shoot. You should be more concerned with physical fitness because they will make you run until you die. Concentrate on fitness. </div></div>

What hibc said is perfect advice for you or anyone going into the Marines, work out. Do a lot of running and pull ups. And once you get your M16 in boot camp, you will be drilled over and over on the weapon.

 

[steelcomp]

Re: AR-15 Questions

If in fact you do learn to shoot well and familiarize yourself with the AR15 before joining, whatever you do, don't let them know! Your DI will have a field day with you.

 

[sgtbutt]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Not in the Marines but I am in the WY Army National Guard. One thing I will say is to think about storing your AR when you get stationed. I've got some Air Force friends who hated living on base due to storing their weapons. Personal firearms are not authorized on military installations and must be stored at the local security office. I would look into this. I've got a few Prior Service Marines deployed with me now and most of them went their whole service living in open bay's or double room barracks. Storing your rig whatever your case will be a problem. Not to mention moving from camp to camp, or overseas.
Now that that is covered, the style you get is purely personal. The AR15 has so many different manufacturers and after market accessories that it gets overwhelming. For a first time gun I would suggest going with a Kit. As stated above get a lower from a local and buy the kit. As far as what to do from there m4carbine.net is a wealth of knowledge about the AR Platform. Good luck!

 

[zerosignal]

Re: AR-15 Questions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sgtbutt</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Not in the Marines but I am in the WY Army National Guard. One thing I will say is to think about storing your AR when you get stationed. I've got some Air Force friends who hated living on base due to storing their weapons. Personal firearms are not authorized on military installations and must be stored at the local security office. I would look into this. I've got a few Prior Service Marines deployed with me now and most of them went their whole service living in open bay's or double room barracks. Storing your rig whatever your case will be a problem. Not to mention moving from camp to camp, or overseas.
Now that that is covered, the style you get is purely personal. The AR15 has so many different manufacturers and after market accessories that it gets overwhelming. For a first time gun I would suggest going with a Kit. As stated above get a lower from a local and buy the kit. As far as what to do from there m4carbine.net is a wealth of knowledge about the AR Platform. Good luck! </div></div>

Storing my rifles isn't a problem for me thankfully, I am able to store them at my father's house along with all of his guns. I was thinking of going with a RRA arms lower and kind of stuck on what to get for an upper. I want something very basic I dont need all the flashlights, lasers just something simple with a rail on top for a scope or possibly irons.

Kind of off topic, but I was wondering if any one from the marines or other branches of the military is in the reserves and attending college at the same time. I have about 13 weeks off for summer break and then start my sophomore year in college, I was wondering if its possible to go through basic during the summer and then do the reserves at the same time attend college?

 

[sgtbutt]

Re: AR-15 Questions

I'm in the WY Army National Guard and I did the Split Option training, Basic one summer, AIT the next. Not sure about doing that with the other branchs. Call your recruiter.
The RRA is a good lower. I have two RRA's and love them both, but my wife's Olympic Arms and sons CMMG are just as good. With the RRA though getting the 2 stage trigger is a definite plus, but totally different feel from the M4's one stage. Get a 16 inch flat top upper. That way you can get whatever BUIS and optic. And when you want to upgrade to a rail system its easy to do.
The 16 inch has the ability to make hits out to 500M and has CQB manueverabilty. And you don't have to worry about getting the tax stamp for it being an SBR. A 16 will do you fine.

 

[PeteCamp]

Re: AR-15 Questions

You have gotten good advice. I want to suggest that if you decide to get an AR, you not buy any optics and instead learn how to use the iron sights. You will be taught sight alignment, sight picture and everything else using iron sights. The flattop rifle is fine, but forget about optics until later.

 

[DaveV]

Re: AR-15 Questions

I've owned a few AR's and the only thing I can tell you is wait until you can afford to do it right. Hold out for a Colt or equiv. I have owned Colt, Olympic, E.A. and Rock River (my current gun). I have put together many configurations and found that "mil spec" is a wide lane. You will get plenty of time with the 5.56 platform. You will learn to shoot it well and will discover what you like and don't like about it. Remember, at the end of the day, they are just a machine.

I suggest you get the online training here on SH and spend time on your Rem. learning to shoot well. Carbine training and long-gun are two different animals. They both are a blast, however they are different. The stuff you will learn and practice through the online courses will pay great dividends for you. As others have said, it's best to not learn habits that have to be broken and relearned. At this point in your game, you probably don't know what those habits are and much less, how to fix them. We all live in that space but you have the advantage of coming to the game with a clean canvass. Shooting, as you know, is mostly mental and you will become lethal in a very short time if you apply yourself to doing it right.

I know that you probably hate hearing crap like this, but...I wish I would have had your mindset and resources in front of me when I was your age.

Stay open minded and don't get in a hurry to do anything. Let the gear come to you as you need it and know exactly what you need.

Good luck!

 

[scotharr]

Re: AR-15 Questions

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jaw921</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: hibc</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Most people, (kids mainly) have the misconception that a person chooses the occupation of scout/sniper, but in reality the occupation chooses the person. Not just anybody can be in this line of work, it takes a very unique individual to be in this line of work. As for getting practice in before basic, its probably best to not even get an AR yet because most likely you will develop bad habits and will end up spending too much time unlearning them instead of learning the way the corps wants you to shoot. You should be more concerned with physical fitness because they will make you run until you die. Concentrate on fitness. </div></div>

What hibc said is perfect advice for you or anyone going into the Marines, work out. Do a lot of running and pull ups. And once you get your M16 in boot camp, you will be drilled over and over on the weapon. </div></div>
+1 Focus on the rifle you already have. The basics of marksmanship are the same regardless of what you use. Put some iron sights on that Remington if you want to learn about them. Meanwhile, save your money, focus on school, and get in good shape. Let the Marines take care of the other training.

 

[Smallmouth Crazy]

Re: AR-15 Questions

I have bought a few lowers myself, I really like Bushmaster and RRA, I just bought a S&W this last week matter of fact, DPMS is not bad either, now is a good time to buy as it seems like the prices have leveled back out for the time being.

 

[ArcticFun]

Re: AR-15 Questions

You can get a complete gun from DPMS for $800-$900 dollars. It has a 16" barrel, collapsing stock and a fixed carry handle on top of it. Complete guns with a flat-top receiver and removable carry handle are $1050-$1200. I have a RRA and absolutely love it. It has a tactical carry handle (just extends the handle to clear it when using optics), EoTech holographic sight with a flip to the side 3x magnifier, and a one-point sling. I'd recommend staying away from all the bells and whistles however because you'll get used to them and the gun they give you in boot camp is, I'm assuming, bone stock with just the essentials.

 

[n5odj]

Re: AR-15 Questions

Howdy. I was in full time from 1991-1994. Glad I did it, but wouldn't want to do it again.
Like the others have said, let the Marines teach you how to shoot the rifle. They do indeed take marksmanship seriously. Every Marine a rifleman, don't ya' know. Others have also said to get in shape. I'll tell you that, no matter how in shape you are, they'll push you to your limits physically & you'll be a stud when you finish boot camp. The scout sniper program is do-able, but again, they only take 1st class PFTers (physical fitness), so if you concentrate on that & have an open mind when they teach you to shoot, you'll do OK.
A little off topic, but some motivation for you.... When I was in boot camp, I got the attitude of "I'm not going to let them get to me". Later, I found out that that's the exact attitude they wanted me to have. I was mad about that.

Robert