Should I have gone for the Colt?

[SubNine]

Last Thursday I bought my 2nd S&W M&P15 carbine after selling my first one back in January due to a medical debt. About a month ago I was looking around locally for a Colt 6920 but everywhere I looked the prices were between 1500-1600, which was a little more than I was willing to pay. I've fondled the Colt in the past and it didn't feel any higher quality than my M&P15 except it had fatter hand guards. I saved myself almost 500 dollars by buying the S&W and was able to buy ammo and a few Magpul Pmags (these rock). I was told the Colt is entirely mil-spec but the M&P15 is not. I'm starting to think mil-spec is over hyped and I'll do just fine with what I have.

Lee's thread about his S&W AR exploding had me wanting a Colt but realized an overcharged round can make any gun blow up.

Please relieve me of possible buyers remorse!

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Siafu]

Last Thursday I bought my 2nd S&W M&P15 carbine after selling my first one back in January due to a medical debt. About a month ago I was looking around locally for a Colt 6920 but everywhere I looked the prices were between 1500-1600, which was a little more than I was willing to pay. I've fondled the Colt in the past and it didn't feel any higher quality than my M&P15 except it had fatter hand guards. I saved myself almost 500 dollars by buying the S&W and was able to buy ammo and a few Magpul Pmags (these rock). I was told the Colt is entirely mil-spec but the M&P15 is not. I'm starting to think mil-spec is over hyped and I'll do just fine with what I have.

Lee's thread about his S&W AR exploding had me wanting a Colt but realized an overcharged round can make any gun blow up.

Please relieve me of possible buyers remorse!

Colt is all hype. I build my AR's using Spikes Tactical components and they rock & roll as reliably as any of the guys who have Colt or LMT or any of the other fancy-pants rifles. here is my Spikes AR-15 in 5.56 and the other in 9mm. My dedicated AR in .22 is awaiting the arrival of all the parts.

Bottom line is that you will get as much mileage out of your rifle as the guy who spent $500 more on his Colt will. Sleep easy, you bought a nice rifle.

[SubNine]

Ok thanks for the re-assurance LOL!

While we're posting pics here is my new M&P15 with my G17 and Ka-Bar fighting knife!

[chrise2004]

i don't have an AR but just want to say the pics and the guns look great!!!

[C hawk Glock]

You are good to go.

[jon]

WANT.

Nice rifle!

[Jcabin]

So you say you saw colt 6920's for $1500-1600?
Too expensive you thought, so you bought a S&W MP15 and saved ALMOST 500 dollars. That means you probably spent over 1100 on a S&W MP15. I don't want to get you upset, but you got RIPPPPPEDDDDDD OFF.

There are a few rules when you buy guns, the list as follows:

1) Only suckers buy at the MSRP (which is what you did, possibly even more)
2) Shop around at multiple gun shops
3) Shop around online
4) Once you realize you can buy almost any gun for HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper off gunbroker, never buy in a gun shop again.
5) Find the gun shop with the cheapest transfer fee's and have all your guns sent there.

If you look online right now you can probably find half a dozen new in box Colt 6920's selling for $1100 + 25 shipping. The bidding often war doesn't go to high, I see them sell regularly for 1100 flat.

I bought my XDm new in box for $500 on gunbroker, they are selling in local gun shops for $650-700.

My advice, is if you didnt shoot your new rifle, go back with a SOB story and tell the guy you need the money or you will lose your house or something and dont ever go back. You got ripped off and that guy took the money laughing all the way to the bank.

The colt 6920 is the premium AR on the market, it's built 100% to military spec and is the standard issue rifle of the US Army. It is the most sought after rifle by our law enforcement community.

Military spec MEANS ALOT. Alot of people however will tell you it means jack, thats because they are happy with their 600-800 dollar AR's and don't want their pride kicked in the dirt.

These are also the same people who generally only shoot 3 or 400 rounds over 5 years and claim their rifle is as good as any "fancy pants" rifle. Their rifles dont have a chance to break, so they cant really complain. There are exceptions to the rule, but you know you're getting top of the line when you get a colt 6920.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask away.

The S&W MP15 is not a bad rifle by any means, but it is no where near the quality of a 6920. I would normally tell people to save up an extra $200-300 and just buy the colt 6920 over a SWMP15, Stag, Bushmaster, etc, and have 100% confidence you're getting a 100% mil spec PROVEN assault rifle. But you already spent more than the price of a 6920 on a rifle that isnt even in the same class.

Hopefully you can correct the situation.

[BikerRN]

Colt is not "all hype", as they actually make a good product that meets specifications set by the military that is consistent with what a rifle needs to be to ensure proper functioning under realistic combat conditions.

With all that said, I use a Colt at work, and highly doubt that I will run the gun hard enough to use the mil-spec features. I doubt that I could run a non mil-spec AR hard enough to need the mil-spec features either. For me, the mil-spec does two things. The first is that it gives me a little higher resale value if I ever need to sell the gun. The second is, it does give me a little bit of extra insurance that the gun will function under less than optimal conditions in a combat environment.

My second AR will most likely not be mil-spec, but my first one sure is.

Biker

[SubNine]

So you say you saw colt 6920's for $1500-1600?
Too expensive you thought, so you bought a S&W MP15 and saved ALMOST 500 dollars. That means you probably spent over 1100 on a S&W MP15. I don't want to get you upset, but you got RIPPPPPEDDDDDD OFF.

There are a few rules when you buy guns, the list as follows:

1) Only suckers buy at the MSRP (which is what you did, possibly even more)
2) Shop around at multiple gun shops
3) Shop around online
4) Once you realize you can buy almost any gun for HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper off gunbroker, never buy in a gun shop again.
5) Find the gun shop with the cheapest transfer fee's and have all your guns sent there.

If you look online right now you can probably find half a dozen new in box Colt 6920's selling for $1100 + 25 shipping. The bidding often war doesn't go to high, I see them sell regularly for 1100 flat.

I bought my XDm new in box for $500 on gunbroker, they are selling in local gun shops for $650-700.

My advice, is if you didnt shoot your new rifle, go back with a SOB story and tell the guy you need the money or you will lose your house or something and dont ever go back. You got ripped off and that guy took the money laughing all the way to the bank.

The colt 6920 is the premium AR on the market, it's built 100% to military spec and is the standard issue rifle of the US Army. It is the most sought after rifle by our law enforcement community.

Military spec MEANS ALOT. Alot of people however will tell you it means jack, thats because they are happy with their 600-800 dollar AR's and don't want their pride kicked in the dirt.

These are also the same people who generally only shoot 3 or 400 rounds over 5 years and claim their rifle is as good as any "fancy pants" rifle. Their rifles dont have a chance to break, so they cant really complain. There are exceptions to the rule, but you know you're getting top of the line when you get a colt 6920.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask away.

The S&W MP15 is not a bad rifle by any means, but it is no where near the quality of a 6920. I would normally tell people to save up an extra $200-300 and just buy the colt 6920 over a SWMP15, Stag, Bushmaster, etc, and have 100% confidence you're getting a 100% mil spec PROVEN assault rifle. But you already spent more than the price of a 6920 on a rifle that isnt even in the same class.

Hopefully you can correct the situation.

I actually paid 1,049 for my M&P15. I support the local guys even if it means spending a bit more than I would online. The cost of shipping and transfer fee could bring the price to what I just paid for it, so it wouldn't really matter. There is a gun store in town that actually does have Colt 6920s at 1,250 but I refuse to take my money to them because they have treated me like garbage in the past. The gun dealers I do enjoy doing business with have their 6920s at the prices I just listed. I don't know about you but the quality of customer service means more to me than the price I pay. In this case however I wasn't willing to spend 1500-1600 because my budget was at 1,300 so I could save 200 for mags and ammo. I spent just over a grand for the rifle itself, and that left me with about 450 bucks for ammo and mags.

My next AR-15 will hopefully be a 6920 that I can buy at market value.

[tapout1003]

I'm glad you bought an AR. It's good to have more "black gun" owners out there.


Colt is not all hype. They have been a pioneer in this field for years. As for Spikes...people are reporting various "out of spec issues" with them. I'm not sure who's to blame as Spikes doesn't make their own lowers. If I remember correctly they were also the first AR company to boost their prices to gouging levels the morning after the election. YMMV

[Jcabin]

I actually paid 1,049 for my M&P15. I support the local guys even if it means spending a bit more than I would online. The cost of shipping and transfer fee could bring the price to what I just paid for it, so it wouldn't really matter. There is a gun store in town that actually does have Colt 6920s at 1,250 but I refuse to take my money to them because they have treated me like garbage in the past. The gun dealers I do enjoy doing business with have their 6920s at the prices I just listed. I don't know about you but the quality of customer service means more to me than the price I pay. In this case however I wasn't willing to spend 1500-1600 because my budget was at 1,300 so I could save 200 for mags and ammo. I spent just over a grand for the rifle itself, and that left me with about 450 bucks for ammo and mags.

My next AR-15 will hopefully be a 6920 that I can buy at market value.

That's all great. I like supporting my local shops too, but the better prices are online. If it's only a matter of $50 or $100, might as well by there, because shipping and transfer will add up anyway.

I don't know about you, but if my local shop was selling a colt 6920 for 1600 and i could find it online for 1100+25 shipping +25 transfer.
I'd rather get it online and spend 1150 total and save myself $450.

I don't see how you could justify "supporting" your local shop if they are gouging.

There are local shops here that gouge, guess what?
They get no business and continue to raise their prices when everyone else is coming down.

I heard he was trying to find a buyer... can't make a dime without being honest.

[rocky]

Colt makes a good rifle and does follow mil specs, however unless you are running thew gun really hard you will most likely be happy with your M&P as well. Is Colt the "best"? Probably not, as Noveske and other high end AR's are reportedly better.
To me it all comes down to use and how much you are willing to spend on an AR. Everyone likes to feel they have a good gun and most work well enough for general use.
Enjoy your new AR!

[jwhite75]

I have to root for the Colt. I have a 6721 HB. It is awesome. However I did get it for CONSIDERABLY less than 15-1600. So I could afford to get the Colt, and it was NIB. Colt is not hype. they have been an industry leader for a number of years for a very good reason. Just to clarify the actual company issuing the military rifle is FN I am sure your S&W will do you and 95% of the american public just fine for what they will use it for. If I were using it for a battle or LE rifle then I would look at mil-spec. Think you'll be OK.

[Guns and more]

I have a Colt 6920. It's a fine weapon. But if I had been able to buy a M&P for $1000 or so, I would have done that.
I'd like an LMT also, but I think they are too expensive.
Enjoy and don't look back.

[dhshark]

I wouldn't worry about it. I'd rather have an AR-15 in my hands rather than WISH I had an AR-15 in my hands. If you want a Colt, buy one later and use the S&W as a backup to the Colt. "Best" is too subjective and personal. I want a LaRue or a Noveske rifle...Colt would be a distant third for me.