Ive seen this in other boards and even in the rifle section of this board. Out of DPMS,RRA,Bushmaster,M&P and Stag and Olympic. In what order would you put them in based on quality?
Out of those, the only complete rifle I have experience with is Bushmaster. And my experience has been perfect. But its a heavy barreled varmint rifle so doesn't do a lot of tacti-cool shooting and its babied, so my opinion is overwhelmingly biased and as such offers nothing to this thread.
I can't really speak to that, I have only owned RRAs. I like mine, but know there are some people that have more experience with more brands than I do.
I am currently starting to build a DPMS lower into a 204 Ruger. I PM JoshL about it, and he has some great suggestions. This will be my varmit gun. I have a daughter in Guymon, that has friends out across West Texas, so I want to do some coyote and prairie dog hunts if possible.
I bought a DPMS at the last gun show, i was torn between DPMS and RRA and went with the DPMS coz i got a deal on it.The Bushmaster didn't seem any better quality and the ones i handles actually felt of a lesser quality(ie: Loose upper,lower fit)And i at least handled 4 Bushys and 4 RRAs and and 3 DPMS and all the RRAs at their booth.I really wasn't impressed with the Bushys at all, Is it the name people buy?
I only have experience with my RRA, so far it has been 100% flawless and I could not be more pleased.
My dad and I have elk hunted with DPMS pres Randy Luth, and he was using a DPMS .338 with which he bagged a very nice bull, but I never used a DPMS myself so this whole paragraph is irrelevant, sorry
Some of the things that make one better than the other you can't see with the naked eye. Also, you will see NO noticable difference in accuracy from the upper/lower fit. If you can you are an amazing shot and should be on the olympic team or something.
Out of the choices you listed I would rank them as follows....
S&W
Stag
RRA
DPMS
Bushmaster
Oly
But we all know my opinion is biased.....
Edited to add.... Things you should look for that make a difference in price/quality.
Do they MP/Pressure test their bolts? Do they park under the FSB? Do they use F marked FSB's? Do they stake their gas keys? Do they offer 1/7 twist? Do they offer chrome lining? Do they offer M4 feed ramps? Do they have a proper 5.56 chamber? Do they offer H buffers? Do they use mil-spec buffer tubes? And so on...
You cannot judge a rifle by it's "fit and finish".
Some other people had a problem when they shot my DPMS as i posted in a post weeks ago about it not cycling. I found out the problem was a used USGI mag i bought,I took my rifle out again after the incident and actually replicated the problem they were having. I realized when i shoot i use the magazine as my foward grip and hang onto it,but when i used the rifle foregrips and released pressure off the mag it would fire then not cycle(they were usint the foregrips), i rotated between 4 mags and the ONE mag was the problem,i guess it wasn't seating right or something. SO i have not had a problem with my DPMS at all just an old used USGI magazine is all i had a problem with. So i am biased towards DPMS i guess you could say...lol