i recommend that you check out stag. they make good rifles. i paid 900 OTD for for mine and 1100 for my wifes. prices very by store and region but they sit right around 1000. you can also look to RRA, PSA, S & W. for entry level, under a 1000 rifles. theses brands are of good quality as well. the option also exists to build your own, and that can be well under the 1000 price tag and you get to pick what you want. as far as caliber, most of the AR style rifles these days are made to handle 5.56, which is fine and will thus handle almost any ammo you feed it. only the lower quality cheap Ar's are the few that still only make a .223 chamber i believe. i could be wrong on that but on all the recievers ive seen its said .223/5.56, or multi cal.
Actually, you probably want it in 5.56. That being said look at the S&W M&P 15 Sport. I've heard good things about it and have put a mag through one of my neighbors. Seems like a pretty solid gun.
Another idea, find a nice lightly used LMT out there. With our poor economy, my guess is there are more than a few lightly used M4's out there for a savy buyer.
In my recent experience, I will recommend DelTon. I have their Echo MOE model, and it continues to be flawless. I paid less than $800. It came with heavy 4150 barrel and Magpul furniture. With RDS, vertical grip, and Magpul pop up rear sight, I am at $1000. Pretty much mil-spec, except the barrel. But I don't think I will be mounting a grenade launcher anytime soon. A friend of mine is borrowing it for a carbine course, because his Colt is in the shop with FTF issues. This is just his bad luck, but he could have borrowed some expensive rifles from our friends. The more I shoot it, the more I like it. I can't give any better endorsement. DTI does not appear to have the long term tested performance of some of the other options. But, the AR15 has years of test data, and DTI uses quality parts.
I agree with AT. If you look around you can build or buy a BCM in this range and maybe find the Colt.
I'd suggest DPMS, they've been around awhile, started making arms for the military then branched out into this market and now they are like the second largest AR platform manufacturer and as far as I understand, it's all US machined and made.
I will say BCM for the win. Can be put together for just under $1000 with magpul furniture. You will not be disappointed. Excellent rifle and customer service.
I believe you said you wanted the best AR for under that $1000 right? BCM and Colt come to mind, but are you looking for a standard setup? What is your intended use?
Intended use is important. However, on average a BCM or Colt will fill 99-100% of a shooters needs in the $1000 price range. The hardest part is deciding LW or Standard.
You should bookmark your response and copy and paste it anytime someone asks the "which AR should I buy?" question... I must say I have never seen you so reserved...but I guess the OP was about what AR he/she SHOULD buy, not "I bought brand X, now tell me how good I did"
There should be a sticky covering this. I think I'll do a little ditty when I get home. Going to the in-law's. Where are those smiley/sad face icons when you need them? Those "how did I do" stroke my ego threads usually share a common theme. Maybe they'll let me do a "how did I do" sticky.
