Question about AR type rifles?

Not very up on info about ARs but wanted one for ever. What is the difference about the ARs only fireing the .223 and not the 5.56? And Stag is that a good AR ? say compared to bush master. How hard is the stag to find parts for if needed?

5.56 can withstand a bit more pressure than a regular .223. You can shoot .223 in a 5.56 but not the other way around.


I love the stag. My newest AR build I built it with a Stag 2H upper. Parts are not hard at all as they are all interchangeable as long as they are milspec. You would really enjoy the Stag.

I have had no dealings with bushmaster and I do not think I ever will so I won't be able to compare the 2.

ok thanks Daywalker I thought that was the the .223 & 5.56 worked wanted to make sure. Went to one of my friends house today .He has his FFL and was talking about Stag Run me about $750 to $ 800 depends on what I want so much to pick from . I dont know what i want flat top stock Very nice AR you have there.

i have a bushmaster 5.56 flat top 20" barrle 1:9 rate I love her.

My personal favorite is Rock River Arms, they also have the Wylde chamber so you can shoot either 223 or 5.56. I am not a fan of Bushmaster and would go with a Stag instead.

Hopefully your friend can hook you up with a great deal. Also check out ar15sales.com for Stag and RRA parts. He seems to have some of the best prices around and a good reputation.

i want the a4 flat top with a4 stock in the stag 5.56 upper the uppers are around 500 here is the link..
http://ar15sa.fatcow.com/store/page2.html

Not sure about Bushmaster but Stag has a lifetime warranty. I too have a Stag 2H upper and it has not bobbled once. I actually shot a deer with it this year.

johndeereboy24 wrote:i have a bushmaster 5.56 flat top 20" barrle 1:9 rate I love her.

JD, does yours have the polymer lower? I saw one of those this weekend by Bushmaster.

nope alumm it shoots 5.56/223 stage not bad nerter

XbonesX wrote:

johndeereboy24 wrote:i have a bushmaster 5.56 flat top 20" barrle 1:9 rate I love her.

JD, does yours have the polymer lower? I saw one of those this weekend by Bushmaster.

I knew they had a carbon lower but now they have a polymer?

700.00 is a great price if you can get it for that. I built my stag for 730.00. That is the stripped lower bought from a friend and then the upper kit from www.ar15sales.com for 614.00 shipped... Id jump on it for 700.00

If he can get you the stag 2H, jump on it. Flat top with a rear flip site. Now I put the handgaurd on myself. You will get a standard hand gaurd..

RemMan700 wrote:

XbonesX wrote:

johndeereboy24 wrote:i have a bushmaster 5.56 flat top 20" barrle 1:9 rate I love her.

JD, does yours have the polymer lower? I saw one of those this weekend by Bushmaster.

I knew they had a carbon lower but now they have a polymer?

sorry, yeah Carbon

whatever you decide on....try to get a matching receiver set from the same company. Not all uppers will fit in all lowers...well they might fit, just not the best fit.

IMO,out of all the AR's I've owned, I have to say I like the DoubleStar's the most... as far as fit and finish go.

Be sure to get it chambered in 5.56 or Wylde . 223 is good, but you are limited to the ammo you can use. I also recommend 1-8 twist...you'll be able to shoot bullets from 50-75gr no problem.

I’m new to the AR world as well. I was wondering if it was really that much better to get a free floated rail system or get the cheaper ones that use the existing Delta-Ring? I got a Bushmaster in 556 and love it so far. That spring buffer tube spoils you rotten.

badjeep02 wrote:I’m new to the AR world as well. I was wondering if it was really that much better to get a free floated rail system or get the cheaper ones that use the existing Delta-Ring? I got a Bushmaster in 556 and love it so far. That spring buffer tube spoils you rotten.

A Free floating "handguard" does help, just like freefloating does in a bolt rifle.

It's probable not necessary on carbines or if you don't do alot of long range or target shooting.

If you want to free float it but like the stock looks better, Get one of those CMP handguard kits....the best of both worlds.

I have a Bushy that is my beater AR15, that gets banged around in the truck quite a bit. Not a bad AR15, for a mil spec rifle that does everything I need it to. It is bone stock mil spec.

My RRA is my safe queen and it has a heavy SS Shilen 24" barrel with a 1-6 twist barrel throated to shoot the very heavy 80 gr AMax. Its BCG has been coated by Zero Fail. It is a single shot as the match 80 gr loads are too long to load in the mag well. I use an old 10 round magazine with a single load follower that has the whole bottom of the mag filled with lead for weight. Larue free float handguards with a swivel stud on the bottom for a tripod. A JT match trigger set for half-pound and a big honkin chunk of Leupold glass rounds off the AR that tips the scale at just under 11 pounds.

Next AR is a POF piston-driven rig with a long 20" fluted SS barrel. This one wears a big Burris XTR scope and I use it to hunt 'yote and bobcat. It has a light snow camo paint job by Larue down in Texas and a JT match trigger. It wears Lewis Tool & Machine free float handguards and a BCG that has been NP3 coated.

My last AR is a S&W MP15 5.45x39 that I got for giggles. Fun & cheap to shoot when 5.56 was so hard to locate the shelves were quite full of Russian mil surp 5.45x39.

I used to have an Olympic Arms AR15 in 9mm that was a lot of fun but I traded it years ago.

Thanks sorry took me so long to get back. do believe you know your ARs scorge . Lots to pick from thats a good thing. Lost me on BCG what is that??? Do you use your AR to hunt varmit at long ranges???

I use mine for hunt, @300/600yr. I need a diff 1:8 is what i need for the 300 600 i think

BCG = Bolt Carrier Group

Up to about 250 yards/300 meters or so, the twist rate is not all that important. Once you start shooting out there quite far, though the twist and weight of bullet comes into play.

Most mil spec ARs are now 1-7 twist to shoot the new M855A1 67 gr round now entering service to replace the old XM855/SS109 62 gr clones. The new A1 round is a tad heaver, has a longer ogive, and a steel core but is lead free made of gilding metal.

The new A1 round is supposed to solve some of the lethality issues with the old 5.56 rounds, and friends that have used them in Afghanistan tell me they work pretty well - much better than the old stuff.

Most of the older XM855/SS109 clone ammo will shoot in just about any .223/5.56 weapon, unless it has a match chamber cut for .223 match. I have seen some bolt guns with a very tight match .223 chamber jam when mil spec 5.56 was shot in the gun.

I like the Wylde chambers as several have mentioned, but none of my ARs have one.

My POF piston driven rig is a neat but expensive toy that seems to work a little better with a suppressor mounted than the DI guns. With a suppressor mounted the DI guns do tend to get dirty but if you maintain your weapon not an issue.

Having the BCG (Bolt Carrier Group) coated with NP3 or by the folks at Zero Fail helps cut down on the carbon fouling and makes clean up with a damp rag soaked in Break Free much easier.

The folks at Larue feel the DI system is just fine and maintain your weapon and you will be fine. Larue does not believe the gas piston systems are necessary or required even for suppressor use.

The gas piston systems are nice and do run somewhat cleaner and cooler, but there are more moving parts (somthing Stoner was trying to reduce) and try finding parts for a gas piston gun in the middle of Iraq!

Other than just for the novelty I think I would stick with the DI system as it works great and as long as you clean and maintain the rifle you will not have issues with it. Even with a suppressor mounted, the DI system works pretty well and unless you intend to play poor man's SAW and rip off rounds as fast as you can you will not issues with reliability.

I would love to be able to use a suppressor on my AR more but here in my state while I can own a suppressor and I can put it on the rifle, I can not shoot the rifle with the suppressor mounted. Stupid laws!!! It falls under our anti-poaching laws, but I think they are great for the prarie dog mounds and anywhere you will be doing rapid shooting.

I like Sweden where they consider a suppressor a safety device - no avalanche, eh?

ok thanks for shareing. no avalanhe funny eh?

I carried an M16 for more than 20 years in the Army and while the early days the rifle had some issues that was more because it was rushed into service and beurocratic BS than problems with the rifle.

If you load for your AR you do have to be careful with powder selection as the wrong powder choice will gum up a DI system as they found the hard war in Vietnam which caused a lot of boys to lose their lives because their rifle FTF'd while the VC where chargin' down the hill spraying with their AKs.

There are many of the older guys who still hate the AR like the late Col Cooper, who feel the smaller round and rifle were a mistake. While I like the M14, it is a heavy beast and a full combat load increases an already heavy load for a Infantryman.

Some of the recent attempts to increase the lethality of the AR15 platform by increasing the weight and size of the bullet have been driven by the fact that the Army marksmanship training still teaches past 300 meters when most of our fighting lately has been in your face accross the street.

While I find the .260 Rem, 6mmx223, 6.8 SPC, 6.5 Grendal etc, all interesting and I would love a rifle in each of them to fool with - the main problem is we follow the Geneva Conv and are limited to what we can use in combat. If we could stuff the rounds with good expanding hunting bullets, we would not have so many issues with lethality - but that damned Geneva Conv hoses up the deal.

The old XM855/SS109 rounds and the clones are all designed to work best past 300 meters and really shine at that distance and out to about 700 meters.

Within 300 meters the rounds do not have time to stabilize and they tend to punch small holes through the enemy. Past 300 meters though the rounds will stabilize and tend to shatter and fragment.

Like most of that have carried a M16 or still shoot a DI AR15 one thing we all hate is scraping carbon off the BCG. They make some nifty tools for this - I have one that tucks into my pistol grip - but I really like having the BCG NP3 coated. Makes clean up a dream.

I have seen several guys toss the BCG in a vibration cleaner like what DW has but you have to be careful as some of the cleaners will take the parkerizing right off.

Simple Green with some vinegar and Dawn work real well. I put a few thousand rounds through my Bushy AR once before getting a chance to clean it, and the ultrasonic cleaner was the shite!!

Tossed my BCG in there along with a few of my friends, and drank a beer while swabbing out the upper. Can't beat that for cleaning!! Just remember to dry and re-oil the BCG real well before jamming it back in the rifle.

One thing that really helped my Bushy was a thing called the Wedge which is a small wedge-shaped piece of hard rubber that goes between the upper and lower and takes a lot of the wiggle out between them.

Another thing I would recommend is the small rubber plug to put in the ejector that increases ejector tension. While this is frustrating for those that reload because the rifle really tosses the rounds, it does increase ejection performance and reduces stove piping especially in a dirty gun.

I also put a thing called a receiver rug in all my ARs. Something the SF guys showed me it is a small rubber ring that goes around the trigger group that keeps a stray loose primer from falling into the trigger group jamming the rifle up.

While a primer blowing out of the round and falling into the trigger group is a rare occurance, and usually happens only in full-auto M16s, it can happen more frequently than you realize with reloaders.

In my RRA match gun, such an occurance happened while I was in the middle of a string of fire, and I was able to break my rifle in half, fish the loose primer out with a pencil, and reassemble my rifle only having to eat 3 rounds in the match for time.

The titanium firing pins are nice, but not required even in the full auto M16s, but are nice assurance against breakage and wear.

I do like the larger charging handles with the "high speed tactical" charging handle. Makes charging the AR a little quicker but do not forget to let the handle fly and do not ride it closed as some rookies do or the first round you fire you will eat your charging handle in the lips and the fat bloody lip will forever remind you not to ride the charging handle.

When I was with the Swedes I kept wondering why almost all the rifles had suppressors. Even the civilian rifles like a clone of my old man's Win 70 .270 had suppressors on them - so I had to ask.

And that was the response I got - no avalanche, eh?