I bought mine in 1999. It’s a M16A2 type. I haven’t kept track of the round count, but it has never once given me a problem.
I’m off to the range this afternoon to put a couple hundred more rounds through it.
Did I just get lucky, or were the older Bushmasters better than the new ones?
(All that being said, when I recently bought a car gun, it was a 6920).
And what about the new Windhams?
Bushmaster has an up and down history with AR15s. It’s like the QC rules were only in play certain days. Certain time periods were better than others, but nine were on par with Colt or the like.
I own a Buhsmaster URG which has been flawless, though I confess it hasn’t been fired much if at all in the last decade.
I believe that the Bushmasters of old (Windham, ME made models) are better that those of today. I have a Windham, ME made XM15-E2S A3 Target and it is a great shooter. It was the basis for my Travis Haley Blackwater clone.
Inspiration:
Clone:
Their QC has indeed been up and down, but over the years I’ve heard generally positive comments about their barrels. Don’t know if they make their own or buy them from a subcontractor, though.
There used to be a gun rag called “Gun Tests” in the 1990s that claimed no advertising dollars from manufacturers & they bought OTS guns, tested them & reported their results. Any problems requiring return were also reflected in the reviews as well. Back in the early 1990s (before the 1994 ban) there was Armalite, Bushmaster & Colt for ARs. Their review of all 3 led to the conclusion that Bushmaster was a few hundred dollars cheaper and did everything the Colt & Armalite did “better.” So, I bought a Dissipator—I liked the 16” heavy barrel with carbine gas system & full sight radius.
I’ve never had a problem with it in thousands of rounds. After reading about all the differences, I replaced the bolt & BCG with BCM; it now has a Geissele SSA trigger and an A2 stock. It still runs like a top, but is overgassed, as evidenced by brass sprinkles with M193, but the 1/9 twist allows me to consistently hit clay pigeons resting on the 100 yard berm with the TA11 ACOG on it. With handloads, I am able to subMOA with it. But it is an Hbar, so I would have been surprised if it didn’t shoot well.
Retrospectively, I wish I bought the Colt, not because of problems with the Bushie . But since the 1990s, I switched to building my own with CHF barrels. The exception being the Daniel Defense indulgence years ago.
:thank_you2:
I’ve owned 5 or 6 of the Windham Bushmasters over the years. They were all good rifles. I still have an A2 “Patrolman’s Carbine,” and it still gets shot a good bit. I kept it just because it was an A2.
That’s him! That’s the ka-wat chewin’ wascal! (Spoken like Elmer Fudd).
I tried to justify an N of 1 and statistical significance as meaningful, but it isn’t, re: Gun Tests. Bottom line: my Bushies have been fine, but I have changed parts & springs to make me feel better. The Windham, pre-Ilion gun’s I have are finished better, but the commercial buffer tubes, BCGs & some other parts were swapped for BCM. I guess I could sell the lower to some poor guy in a pre-ban state…
A man needs a hobby.
The one and only AR I currently have is a Bushmaster. It’s a Windham made one and have never given me any issues.
So, what is your opinion of the magazine? Is it worth two bucks an issue?
Thanks!
I have no idea about the print magazine. I was just showing the online link. It’s all new to me.
I own several Bushmaster rifles. One of the local gun dealers sells them by the train car load, I buy them cheap at local pawn shops— after every big scare, give it a year or so and you will find them showing up…case, three mags, fired about 30-100 rounds…
I’ve never had one that didn’t run. Overgassed? Yes. AR15 bolt vs. M16 style, Yes. Poor gas key staking? Frequently. Castle nut not staked- Always. Commercial buttstock extension, Yup.
Big deal. I own a MOAKS and a good center punch…bolt issues and castle nut fixed- 2 minutes. If I couldn’t fix those common “complaints” I would sell all my rifles as I would be embarrassed to admit otherwise.
I run the guns as “trainers” primarily. If something breaks- well, then it has served it’s purpose- breaking guns by shooting them makes skill–that’s the whole point so I don’t feel bad if a “non milspec” AR15 bolt goes down etc…Never had an issue with the extensions breaking etc…and I have mortared a few over the years…The barrels are pretty darn good even if they are over gassed…reasonably accurate and durable. I’ve never found the 1/9 twist a problem- I buy my own training ammo- and it’s 55 grain, brass cased, maybe m193, maybe not, depends on what I can get at a reasonable cost…
When the barrel is burned out I replace it, sometimes with a better barrel, sometimes with a Take Off of some sort. Because of the large number of Bushmaster guns in the area the local gunsmiths often have take off M4 Bushmaster barrels from when guys converted the guns to a “precision” rifle or maybe they wanted a 6.8 or a Blackout…they sell them cheap- bought several nearly new ones, complete for $40 or less.
For me, for the money etc…I have no problems with them.
Quoted for truth.
I have beat the piss out of one for over 25 years.
I recently put it back in original configuration.
It has had different stocks, rails, carry handle mounted forward aimpoint 1000, carry handle 3x scope, redi mag, etc.
It was on par with a Colt or Armalite of the era.
Probably about as accurate of a statement as anyone will post. My dad’s Bushy had a castle nut that was near completely backed off out of the box, and ran haaaaarsh (overgased & underbuffered). YMMV.
The whole overgassed thing is true.
But they leaned way towards reliability with crappy ammo and in crappy conditions.
Something that seems to be lost on some of the members here. You shouldn’t haven’t have to stake a castle nut, replace shitty carrier key screws, buy an H buffer, get a .040 front sight post, ream a chamber etc… on a new rifle to make it functional. Bushamster and other junk vendors survive because people don’t demand they fix their products.
Bashamster quality is all over the place and has been for decades. Sadly, they could have made their stuff legit and yet chose not to.
I would argue that they “survive” (How many times has Colt gone bankrupt or nearly so, now?) because they produce a product that people want and can afford that will fill a need they have- which in most cases is to sit in a closet and collect dust. That’s the truth of the matter.
Now, you can say, “Well, those people are stupid and they should educate themselves and the only AR’s in existence should be Colt 6920’s etc…” But that’s not the way of the world, never has been, never will be. Like it, don’t like it…some things simply ARE…
I purchased a Bushmaster during the ban years. It was my first autoloading centerfire rifle. Fed it a steady diet of Wolf 62gr with the lacquer drips down the side of the case. Never skipped a beat.
Included was a 1983 USMC TM (don’t know if Bushmaster included it or the seller did). In any event, I read through it and learned a little bit about the rifle. Also came with this spliced together 10rd magazine which I soon replaced with an outrageously priced 30rd magazine at a gun show. I took it out a couple years ago and it still shoots well. I now use the lower on a CMMG .22 dedicated upper and replaced the A2 stock with an adjustable. Maybe one day I’ll buy another lower for the .22 and return the Bushmaster to it’s original form.
I was issued a brand new Bushmaster in 2009. My department bought 200 of them when they were unable to buy new Colts during the panic years and someone in the command staff brought up the “fact” that they are all the same anyways.
During my 40 hour 3000+ round patrol rifle school my Bushmaster broke two different pieces in the FCG. Of the 15 guys in my class at least 10 had some sort of issue with their rifle that required armorer attention.
Over the next 3 years my Bushmaster would have the entire FCG replaced because of parts breakage, I would go through 4 sets of gas rings, and my gas key came loose. During our quarterly training days and quals we would have multiple rifles go down every single training day. In 2012 we were able to trade in our Bushmasters for new Colt 6920s. Since then rifles going down during quarterly training days has dropped to almost non existent. I can remember 2 rifles going down in the last 7 years. My Colt has roughly 10k rounds through it at this point and has not failed me yet. I have complete trust in the rifle.
I will say though, when the Bushmaster was running it never had a FTF or FTE and had a very accurate barrel.