IS IT TRUE AR15'S ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN AR10'S?

marathonrunner · Mar 14, 2017

I understand there are some AR10;s that are very reliable but I am sure we are talking about the top tier ones where as AR15's you can get even entry level ones like the Sport 2 that is very reliable, at least mine is.

Why if that is true AR10's are prone to misfeeding as I read many times chambers are too tight. Is it possibly because the bolt is just too big?

Even Windham's SRC .308 which has a great reputation, one reviewer said his misfed a few times. It just seems the AR15s work better and are more foregving.

Ross3914 · Mar 14, 2017

I think it's just that it reflects what the buying public demands.

"Back in the day" there were plenty of AR-15's that were junk. Colt had the lock on the market and the aftermarket was mostly sub-standard junk. It wasn't until Colt grip weakened and some companies started to do a better job of quality that the buying public started to gravitate towards the quality guns. Then it was a matter of either producing a quality AR, or going out of business. The introduction of many of the big names into the AR market had further increased the pressure to maintain quality.

50 years as America's front line rifle tends to mature a design.

With the AR-10, there was no "milspec". The parts aren't interchangeable on many. Heck, they couldn't even settle on using the same mag for the longest time. The market forces are not as strong with the AR-10, simply because the market itself is relatively small compared to the AR-15. It's going to take some time for the AR-10 market to sort itself out.

scooter123 · Mar 14, 2017

I have a co-worker who has put together 3 AR-10 rifles, one in 45 Raptor, one in 45 Bushmaster, and one in 308. He has not had one single misfeed with any of them. However the case of the two 45 caliber rifles he purchased rifled barrel stock and cut the chambers himself, so that may provide one benefit not available to most. In the case of the 308, that was assembled using a completely finished barrel with extension.

I really don't see any reason why an AR-10 would not be reliable as long as the correct magazines are used and it was put together correctly with well matched components.

Tom S. · Mar 14, 2017

Ross3914 hit a lot of good points. Although the AR started life in .308, McNamara dropped it down to .223 to afford more ammo in a given space. Had the round stayed .308 and .223 introduced later, I suspect the situation would be reversed. As any vet who was around when the AR15 was introduced to the troops, and you will find it had a lot of teething problems that left them very undesirable, including feeding problems, which led to the forward assist. One of the problems turned out to be the ball powder that was being used, which caused debris that made chambering difficult to impossible.

marathonrunner · Mar 14, 2017

I am still seeing lots of threads of AR10's having feeding issues, even the high end ones. My MP Sport 2 when I first bought it, didn't expect that to be as reliable as my Colt's but it has been perfect, not one issue except the indexing for gas tube is slightly out of alignment.

I hope the AR10's issues are completely gone and they are just as reliable as AR15's. Would love to get a Windham 16" with the Midwest Industries but the only complaint I hear about that rifle is it is so light, it is very snappy.

WR Moore · Mar 20, 2017

Tom S. said:
Although the AR started life in .308, McNamara dropped it down to .223 .................

Ah, No. The AR10 was a competitor to replace the M1Garand. Competitors included the FN FAL, some British rifle and the Springfield rifle that became the M14. It lost. Badly. Very badly.

The AR15 was a competitor for the DOD requested "light rifle" in .22 caliber. The initial request for proposal (both ammo & rifles) was long before RSMcN had anything to do with the DOD. Neither the Winchester or Armalite rifles were adopted initially. Remington won the ammo competition over Winchester but there was no contract awarded at that time.

Curtis LeMay actually got interested in the AR15 as a firearm for his airbase defense teams. RSMcN jumped on the bandwagon because a rifle is a rifle, just like an airplane is an airplane and a truck a truck. Regardless of the possibly differing needs of the end user.

Dennis · Mar 21, 2017

My DPMS monster and my Windham SCR are very nice shooting and so far very reliable.
I take em out and shoot at a rate of about 1 per second. Both use the P-mags.
I think they're more fun that my '15s. LOL.

IS IT TRUE AR15'S ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN AR10'S?

marathonrunner

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marathonrunner

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