Good idea for a thread, given the recent preponderance of posters espousing the superiority of their poor to mediocre guns.

Since it's the purpose of this thread, I'll share the experience I have had with my first AR, a Stag Arms A3. I still own it, but keep it mostly as a range toy now that I don't feel quite comfortable trusting my life to it.

Background: I'm a citizen with a strong belief in personal responsibility which extends to self defense and am fascinated with mechanical things, so guns are a natural fit for me. I enjoy running drills to make myself better, and see myself as proficient especially with some automatic pistols and I'm getting there with ARs.


On to my Stag...
I bought my Stag merely 18 months ago. Since then I have put around 2500 rounds through it, mostly doing drills. I've had exactly one stoppage from this gun, a double feed, about a month after I bought it. Other than that the only issue I've had with it is a cracked buffer retaining pin. I noticed it cracked during an inspection after a range trip. I am not sure what caused it--I'm thinking maybe just that it has a carbine length gas system while having a carbine buffer in it from the factory before I knew better.

That said, the barrel didn't go through MPI or a HPT. Neither did the bolt, nor was it shot peened. It's also not made of the correct steel. The bolt carrier isn't chrome lined. It doesn't have M4 feed ramps... I think I've listed enough.

So while it has been a good gun that has treated me right, I now know that not all AR-15s are created equal and buy accordingly.