A few weeks ago my brother-in-law was looking over my Colt AR15A4 and said that he’d like to have one like it. Talking with him today, he apparently has his sights set on a Spike’s Tactical A2 HBAR. I would personally recommend the Colt but I have zero experience with Spike’s. Are they a decent range plinker?
More or less.
They deemed good enough years back, if not a little flashy with their “lifestyle” image and roll marks. They got a bad rap for raising prices during the 2012 panic. I haven’t really kept up with hem since. I don’t really think they do anything better than the usual suggestions around here.
Why is he into the HBAR?
Didn’t ask about his HBAR preference. Other than Bushmaster (which markets them as a competition rifle) I didn’t realize that many companies even made HBAR’s these days.
A lot of people don’t like them because of some of their more corny rollmarks and images but their rifles are decent. There was also some drama because of their lawsuit against Ben Thomas (Mookie). Their rifles are on par but no better than what gets suggested here. Certainly better than the Ruger/SW Sports/Deltons of the world.
I have several of their upper/lower receiver sets that I used for a couple of my earliest builds. As was previously stated they got a bad rep. during the price gouging thing in 2012. I personally had great customer service experience from their folks when I had questions. They made some nice receiver sets, I never have had any issues with any of my parts for what that’s worth. I tend to lean towards BCM/DD these days as I find they are a nice combo of quality and price.
Everyone wants a Colt / DD / BCM until they see the price tag, then Shrubmaster / Spikes / etc is good enough.
For a range toy that gets finger banged every couple months, it’ll be fine either way.
Their rollmark does look kind of gaudy/hipster.
I think most of their bad rap is due to things other than failires.
I have a couple guns that I built out of spikes parts and they are good to go for me.
I HAD to have a snowflake lower, because it makes ME laugh, and my 12 year old daughter thinks the unicorn is “adorable.” :jester:
To fix that, I put a DD lpk in it, so it at least works.
Spikes bad rep predates 2012…
They were claiming mil spec, got caught. Then claimed it again on bolts, when they were not doing mil spec testing.
Probably better than some clones like Delton, but sure not worth any premium in my book.
Worse, their fanboys are high drama. And Kings of the “just as good as” thing.
Their tungsten powder buffers steered me away from anything they offer. But like RHINOSWO said, if it’s just a funzy gun, it’ll be fine.
Spike’s rifles are good to go, especially for a range pinker. People bringing up their alleged actions from six years ago is kind of silly. It reminds me of folks who oppose Colt because their leadership at the time supported gun control back in the 90s.
The choice of an HBAR is kind of silly, though.
I have two Spikes uppers; a dedicated .22 and a 5.56mm with Adams Arms piston kit. Both are superb, and no issues with them.
Spikes does do good choices with their barrel selection. The .22 I have has a Lothar Walther barrel, which was an upgrade to the Green Mountain barrel (both are match)… and mine can shoot the nuts off of a fly. The 5.56mm was a stainless barrel, 1 in 8" twist, and Melonite coated. Accuracy for that one is also pretty good for a 16" AR barrel.
As said, BCM is another good source. I was going to get one for a lightweight AR build, until I changed and built a .45 on that lower (for those, I recommend Macon Armory out of Georgia). I am also going to be doing a FDE build, and I’m going to use Aero Precision for that… for their reviews and the fact that they are one of the few companies that offer complete FDE upper receivers.
As far as price raising, it is a capitalist society… supply and demand drives price up/down. I never saw Spikes raping customers… like a $500 stripped lower (standard DPMS, at that) that I saw in a local gun range at around that same time period.
I believe this is the rifle in question. Looks to be an unremarkable Plain-Jane, although it does feature a 1/7 twist barrel. I do like the retro look, though.
Well, make sure he doesn’t pay that much for it. Here it is for $822:
https://www.gunsmidwest.com/spike-s-a2-retro-556nato-20-blk.html
Some more deals:
https://gun.deals/search/apachesolr_search/STR5275-A2H
Nothing wrong with spikes parts. I’ve built 4 guns with spikes sets. I have two nickel boron bcg’s and a 14.5 chf LW barrel. My first bcg gave me some problems like double feeds because it wasn’t ejecting and spikes sent me a brand new bolt and zero problems 3 years later and probably 2000 rounds. My other BCG by them has had zero problems. The 14.5 barrel is a spikes branded FN barrel and it out shoots my noveske 16 chf barrel. I like the T2 buffers by them and have them in 3 guns so far. People don’t like their roll marks but I like some of them, they make me laugh. Their lpk’s are good to go also.
I have the Viking lower. Quality-wise everything seems fine. BCM LPK went in with no prob as did Geissele trigger. I will be switching it out eventually as I decided I don’t care for the cartoony lower.
Generic anecdotal “just as good as…” stuff
I’ll play: I’ve had dozens of bolts from companies other than spikes… Never had one fail. (DD, LMT, Colt, AA, toolcraft) Never had to do an exchange.
I don’t think spikes is bad. It’s just not “better” to justify a premium
Said another way, I’ve been consistently able to get better parts and weapons for the same money or less as Spikes.
I just built a 5.56 on a spikes upper/lower/enhanced lpk. The only thing I changed out was the trigger for a giessele. No complaints so far. Friend shoots a DD M4V(whatever the mlok one is) and they’re close.
With that being said my next build will be on an aero lower. Once you get to a certain point of quality all you’re paying for is a rollmark unless you get into the premium stuff. I have the spider logo. No colorful or anything.
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That’s the same thing I’m doing. I’m going to try the M4E1 I got for a killer price.