I have a Bushmaster 20" A2 (standard) that I bought around 2000. Being pre-ban, it’s lacking a flash suppressor and bayonet lug.
Looks like the AR market has decided that 20" barrels are for grandpas, Vietnam Vets, and losers.
Anyhow- Is this BM rifle better quality than the ones on the market today by the same company?
That’s definitely not true, they just recognized that maybe there isn’t as much utility for the 20", like their customers. But since you already have it, why not shoot and answer your own question?
Since BM has been bought out and relocated to Remington’s plant, and the original BM plant is now owned by Windham Weaponry, there really isn’t a “same company” to compare to.
The Freedom Group meaning freedom from quality controls ;), Bushmaster is the new Pinto, having said that 20" barrels are still a lot of fun to have, there is something about that classic M16 look from the 80’s that says bald eagles and Chuck Norris movies, shoot it and enjoy it, by the way kudo’s on the name.
I have a 16" Bushmaster that’s 10+ years old. It’s been lightly used but no issues. I recently got an 18" upper(BCM), then I also have 20 and 22".
I like the handiness of the lighter weight 16" barrels for general use. I has able to make it to a SD dog town on two occasions. For that I used the 20" and 22" AR’s, one a custom, both with excellent triggers. It all depends on what one plans to do.
Good point, but shooting the one I already own just confirms how much I like BM rifles from fifteen years ago.
I had heard that they were no longer as solid as before. I remember them being the industry giant in those great days of the early 2000’s. What company has inherited that mantle, if any?
Is Windham Weaponry the spiritual successor to BM? Are they producing firearms of excellent quality and value?
Is Windham Weaponry the spiritual successor to BM? Are they producing firearms of excellent quality and value?
Bushmaster was never good. They used BS marketing and we were able to fill a niche that Colt couldn’t or wouldn’t. Their specs are all over the place and for everyone that works good, 3-4 don’t run well.
The also counted on the fact that the average dude shoots a few hundred rounds per year. The 3% were inconsequential to them.
There are a lot more AR companies out there then there was in the early 2000s, hell more than there was 5 years ago, forget 10 o 15. I would say if you want a quality, name brand product, you would be looking at Colt, BCM, DD. DD probably does the most advertising of their products, while BCM is really innovating, and Colt is just colt at this point.
As far as Bushmaster goes… I have an old Patrolman from not long after the sunset of the AWB. It has served well enough, probably over 3K through the rifle, my BCMs are far and away better rifles, better quality, finish, and shoot smoother, but the Bushmaster, hasn’t been bad for what it is, but not run as hard as one of my BCMs either. My bushmaster came with a commerical stock, which has long been replaced with a mil spec one, recently returned it to factory-ish configuration, with carry handle irons, a BCM M4 stock from their site, and the carbine handguard and A2 grip. Fun range rifle and a decent back up not that everything is staked and I put a heavier buffer in it which did reduce felt recoil by a surprising amount. I would trust, but it isn’t the rifle I would grab as my go to either.
There is a button to multi-quote instead of creating new posts for every quote. Also, no.
This^^^
My good friend and shooting buddy has a Bushmaster that he purchased a few years ago through a law enforcement program that runs great with 4 thousand rounds through it, having said that I work at a range on weekends and have fixed my fare share of problems with them, DPMS and Bushmaster.
You asked who’s top dog now and to that I would give you a range of companies doing things correctly, however, I mostly recommend building or putting together rifles, less costly. DD, BCM, Colt, LMT, Sionics, anything off of Rainier’s website, KAC, Noveske, and I’m sure a few others.
I have one too that I bought in Nov or Dec '04, right after the sunset, and to be blunt, it turned me off from ARs for about 8 years. It functioned fine, but it was obviously not as well made as the Colts that I was used to in the military (I had just returned from Iraq and turned in my M4, so it was a pretty direct comparison). The BCG was staked properly, but not the castle nut, and the buffer tube / BCG sounded like they were filled with sand when I pulled the charging handle back. I replaced the RE with a milspec LMT and SOPMOD stock and added a KAC RAS, but after about 1000 rounds, I put it away and focused on pistols for a long time. It wasn’t til around 2012 that I discovered BCM and got interested in ARs again. At this point, I’m trying to decide if I should rebuild the Bushmaster with a Colt LPK and maybe a new BCM upper, or if I should just leave it as is and use it as a range beater when the kids get older.
Dave
I bought and sold Bushmaster 5.56mm carbines and rifles over the years when I could buy them right, then turn them at a profit. I also owned a Bushmaster BAR-10 for a few years. All of them except one had issues with improper barrel index, gas key screw staking, front sight height, bad gas rings, rough tooling marks inside the bolt carrier and other issues.
I haven’t had much experience with the new Bushmasters since the company name was sold. If I were to ask a question, I would ask “is Windham Weaponry turning out products as bad as the ones with the old Bushmaster label?”
Others debate this as evidenced above and elsewhere, but in the '90s bushmaster quality was in par with Colt IMHO. I was a class 2 at the time and we did a LOT of business with LE and transferable MGs and the bushmaster barrels, bolts, uppers, and FCGs were our go to components for good reason. Others have expressed differing opinions. YMMV
At any rate, their products after FG took over are garbage.
Bushmaster is making great ARs. I bought a M4 E2S magpul edition last year and it is as well built and reliable as any Colt such as the 6920 for comparison purposes. Lots of propaganda out there regarding new BM quality and in my experience it’s just amateur bull crap. I think Colt recently has more issues than BM ever will but the blind love for the old Colt prevents BM haters from fair analysis.
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Will say this: Most have forgotten or were not around when BM entered the market. The civvy colts backs then were not the 6920/6720s we have now. And there essentially was no AR aftermarket to address deficiencies. Maybe a handful of vendors no one knew about. And worn out surplus.
Not defending BM, just that the gap between commercial colts and BM was nowhere near as large as it was 5 years ago.
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Please tell us all about the standard BM is using this week? And what Colt issues might you be referring to and to what scale?
I want Colt to succeed but a company loses their way when once they were making world class iconic firearms… Single action army, pythons, detective specials, anacondas… And now they couldn’t produce a production of the Python because they just don’t want to spend on world class quality.
The new CEO Dennis Veilleux comes across as a yuppie caretaker of this once legendary company of Sam Colt, the guy probably never even shot a python. Colt has lived off the decades old Armalite deal; giving them certain production advantages of which the novice public think of as the sacred mil spec. That spec is merely a minimum spec created by military bureaucrats n is exceeded by other AR manufacturers. So I won’t get into a fan boy discussion of Colt or Bushmaster. But I do have some knowledge of the story n I do know Colt is extremely frustrated in the gun unfriendly state of Conn.
The company is run by yuppie investors now who view cost cutting as the ultimate business vision. I have seen some really cheap looking 6920s on Walmart shelves…this ain’t the old Colt anymore…
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