Lunchbox wrote:Thanks for the link. I'll check out the chart, but it sounds like a fight I don't want to get into. Get into similar spats about 1911s with rukwikenuf every now and then. I'm still waiting for a good answer as to why I'd pay upwards of $3000 when you're not getting much more then a name. Which me personally, I don't care as long as it feels good and shoot just as well.
The Chart is about AR components. The defacto benchmark is "mil spec", assuming that if we're talking about a rife that's been to war successfully for 40 years, well...that ought to be something to aspire to if reliability is important...a professional-grade assault rifle.
So...is 4150 barrel steel (mil spec) better than 4140 (Bushmaster)? Sure it is. But is 4140 "good enough"? For most civilians, of course. Most weekend plinkers would never wear out a Bushmaster barrel. How about proof firing the barrel, or the bolt? Chinese or otherwise cheaply cast LPK? T6061 commercial diameter buffer tube? There's a long list of corners that can be cut on an AR that won't make the slightest bit of difference to someone who is only ever going to use the rifle to shoot at tin cans for a couple of hundred rounds a year. That $650 rifle will be absolutely "good enough".
But make no mistake, the Noveske's, Daniel Defense, BCM etc are demonstrably better made. They use higher quality components and have more meticulous quality control. This "paying for a name" bleat is just an excuse for someone to convince themselves that their $800 DPMS is as good as a $2000 Noveske. It's BS, of course...as if their Yugo is as good as a BMW (only paying for the name). BUT...if you're only driving your Yugo 1000 miles a year in nice weather to church on Sundays then absolutely, that Yugo is probably going to be good enough.
A lot of people aspire to the highest quality they can afford in firearms or cars or power drills. Others think its silly to spend the money on anything that's better than "good enough". The top tier rifles are higher quality that the lower tier, and they cost more. For those that often run their riles 2500 rounds in a weekend or 10,000 rounds per year, that bottom tier isn't going to be "good enough". But if you're just looking for a cool-looking range toy for 500 rounds per year then your RRA is almost certainly going to be good enough and buying a Noveske for $2000 would be silly.
But hey, we were getting free ammo and range time, and it sure beat the hell out of the previous 3 weeks of rolling in the mud doing front back go's bookcased by classroom lectures about UCMJ, and why I have to salute some guys and not others.... Hell yeah, I'd love to shoot a p-dog! Uh, I mean fast freddy and slow ivan. 
Sure, it's not a battle rifle, but they are fun and mine proved to be quite reliable and easy to shoot accurately. I also bought my first AR as the first gun I purchased as a civilian after I got out.
