Should have just gotten a BCM/DD/LMT/Colt. At the prices these days there's no real excuse for getting anything less than a TDP compliant weapon at the minimum. But hey, at least you didn't get a Delton. I would have been sad about having to kill you. 
As for an optic, the Aimpoint T1 is my favorite CQB optic by far. More details upon request.|||Like all industries, the firearms market is driven by supply and demand - cracking the TDP isn't like breaking into Ft. Knox. If consumers demand quality on par with the TDP, we will have it. If consumers demand quality superior to the TDP, we will have it. If consumers continue to demand made in China-quality crap, we will continue to have that too. Regardless, we would all do well to find some sort of middle ground between milspec and not. The TDP is a safe way to manufacture a rifle, but that doesn't mean it's the best. I'm sick of people worshiping anything that's 7075, Type III Class I, shot-peened, MPI tested, MP proofed, blah, blah, blah. Material names and manufacturing processes don't mean anything - if you can make a gun out of balsa wood and Bubblicious that will out-perform a Colt, I'll buy a dozen. Rifles produced in accordance with the TDP are a good baseline for performance, but nothing more.|||I thought in Texas, you get a free gun everytime u buy alcohol. -source family guy|||Yea.. I just don't get it. I can understand perhaps being a little Elitist, especially if someone was ex-military and/or willing to spend a lot more dough on one rifle than most others would consider spending...
But I spent the better part of the night reading reviews on that Spike, and they all ranged from Glowing to Very Good. Why even bother dishing on his nice purchase, despite the fact that it might not have been your own personal first choice?
As for me, I was very impressed by all I read, and it's got me very tempted to pick one up (my friend recently bought a Colt, and when we go shooting in the desert he is dragging along 10+ guns/rifles, and I bring just one
After trying some of his rifles I've realized I am missing much fun by only having my Glock. Not to mention, what about the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse??? Gotta be ready, dangit)|||rifles are no good for zombies gotta get shotguns.|||Quote:Why.
Should have just gotten a BCM/DD/LMT/Colt.I did a lot of research prior to my purchase. From everything I could discern by pouring over a couple years of facts and opinions by people who have owned Spike's and who have talked one-on-one with the manufacturer, Spike's was initially mediocre (and used mediocre parts. DPMS, for example), but they've since stepped up and started making a quality product at a great price. They use 11595E steel in the barrel, they HPT and MPI both the barrel and the bolt, their FSB is F-marked and parkerized underneath, they use a 1/7 twist, etc. Before I purchased it, I checked for myself that the gas key and castle nut were properly staked, and that the feedramps were cut correctly. About the only thing that's "non-standard" is Spike's buffer, which I'm told uses a tungsten powder instead of solid weights (a gimmick no doubt, but I haven't found anything to suggest it hurts anything over a standard H-buffer).
Also, Colt is way overpriced compared to BCM and LMT (which were definitely on my list as well). The Gunfighter looks like a damn good charging handle, though, so I'm sure they'll end up with some of my money in the end. =)
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As for an optic, the Aimpoint T1 is my favorite CQB optic by far. More details upon request.
Request!|||In the Zombie Apocalypse, what good are guns gonna be when you run out of bullets?
*sharpens machete*|||Quote:
Regardless, we would all do well to find some sort of middle ground between milspec and not. The TDP is a safe way to manufacture a rifle, but that doesn't mean it's the best. I'm sick of people worshiping anything that's 7075, Type III Class I, shot-peened, MPI tested, MP proofed, blah, blah, blah. Material names and manufacturing processes don't mean anything - if you can make a gun out of balsa wood and Bubblicious that will out-perform a Colt, I'll buy a dozen. Rifles produced in accordance with the TDP are a good baseline for performance, but nothing more.
If by middle ground you mean mil spec or better, I absolutely agree. The TDP does not mean best. It was developed and changed after decades of use and experience with the platform and is currently the minimum acceptable standard for military use.
For all the crap the government gets for being inefficient and lousy, what should we say of products that the government deems "not good enough for government work"?
The reality is that guns made out of balsa wood and bubblicious will not out-perform a Colt. That like anything, there are varying grades of quality and construction. If you may some day trust your life to your rifle, you may as well get the best you can for what you can afford, and the price difference these days ain't so big. Your last comment is true, bearing in mind that many AR producing companies do not even meet that baseline by a wide margin.
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Yea.. I just don't get it. I can understand perhaps being a little Elitist, especially if someone was ex-military and/or willing to spend a lot more dough on one rifle than most others would consider spending...
But I spent the better part of the night reading reviews on that Spike, and they all ranged from Glowing to Very Good. Why even bother dishing on his nice purchase, despite the fact that it might not have been your own personal first choice?
As for me, I was very impressed by all I read, and it's got me very tempted to pick one up (my friend recently bought a Colt, and when we go shooting in the desert he is dragging along 10+ guns/rifles, and I bring just one After trying some of his rifles I've realized I am missing much fun by only having my Glock. Not to mention, what about the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse??? Gotta be ready, dangit)
Quality rifles can be had for around 1k. And properly maintained, they will last tens of thousands of rounds and will function more reliably and for a longer period of time under a wider variety of conditions than rifles that are not built to any standard. To save a couple hundred bucks for a rifle that may have issues with it down the line or isn't built to a standard is penny wise, pound foolish, in my opinion. Odds are you are going to be with that rifle for a long time or sell it at a loss, so if you're going to drop a few hundred bucks, you should do it right. I think Saro could have done MUCH worse than he did, particularly because of the value of a lightweight midlength these days.|||Quote:
I did a lot of research prior to my purchase. From everything I could discern by pouring over a couple years of facts and opinions by people who have owned Spike's and who have talked one-on-one with the manufacturer, Spike's was initially mediocre (and used mediocre parts. DPMS, for example), but they've since stepped up and started making a quality product at a great price. They use 11595E steel in the barrel, they HPT and MPI both the barrel and the bolt, their FSB is F-marked and parkerized underneath, they use a 1/7 twist, etc. Before I purchased it, I checked for myself that the gas key and castle nut were properly staked, and that the feedramps were cut correctly.
Spikes uppers are fine, but for another hundred or so I'd rather take a step up. I'd take a Spikes over most other manufacturers back a year ago, but these days, I haven't kept up with them.
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About the only thing that's "non-standard" is Spike's buffer, which I'm told uses a tungsten powder instead of solid weights (a gimmick no doubt, but I haven't found anything to suggest it hurts anything over a standard H-buffer).
Thankfully, guns are actually engineered, so someone like myself usually stands a much better chance of understanding them than even people who carry them on a daily basis.
Yes, the Spikes buffer is a gimmick, and not a very good one IMO. The buffer is supposed to do two things - act as a counterweight to the bolt carrier group on its rear travel, slowing it down and ensuring proper bolt unlock timing and carrier speed, and acting as a secondary bolt locking mechanism on its forward return.
The Spikes buffer fails to do the latter and can exacerbate bolt bounce. When that action spring returns the carrier forward, you have a mass (carrier and bolt) that are coming forward at a relatively high velocity. The bolt will essentially slam into the barrel extension and lock into place as the bolt rotates. But due to the nature of its momentum, it will not just hit the barrel extension and stop - it will also have a tendency to bounce backwards. Thankfully, the engineers accounted for this equal and opposite reaction by having sliding weights in the buffer. As the bolt locks into the barrel extension, the weights in the buffer (which slide back as the carrier stops at the end of the receiver extension) continue to slide forward due to their momentum. As the bolt bounces back, the weights in the buffer slide forward, giving an extra oomph to the carrier to help ensure the bolt locks into place.
Will the bolt bounce cause you issues? Maybe, but probably not, and if so, probably not until your action spring gets a lot weaker (which can be easily solved by replacing it as a PM measure). But there's no reason to have a buffer that MAY cause issues AND is probably not of the correct weight for your system anyway (I'm not sure which you have, but ST buffers tend to be inconsistent in weight). Of course, ST buffers, due to the lack of sliding weights, can in theory reduce felt recoil, but it's probably going to be negligible and should be secondary to an optimally functioning weapon system.
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Also, Colt is way overpriced compared to BCM and LMT (which were definitely on my list as well). The Gunfighter looks like a damn good charging handle, though, so I'm sure they'll end up with some of my money in the end. =)
Request!
The BCMGF is a great charging handle, but not for soft paws. You'll get used to it though, and AFAIC, there is no better charging handle on the market today. Most people won't break a quality stock charging handle, but it's because most people don't train enough with malfunction drills.
Finally, the T1. Four awesome things about it, at least.
1. Light. Superlight, in fact. People who stick a bunch of a crap on their guns usually don't carry them for very long or don't shoot off-hand. Guns get heavy if you're not shooting off of a rest, and that fatigue affects your ability to shoot and makes it less pleasant to do so, which makes you less likely to use it for longer training sessions. Newbies also don't like the weight (which is why I'm a big proponent of light-weight barrel profiles). Weight is bad. Bad bad bad.
2. Obscene battery life. Kills the competition, end of story. Requires only one battery that will last you years.
3. Aimpoint durability and consistency. Nuff said. Aimpoints are built to last.
4. Wide field of view. It's a small optic. You can see more with both of your eyes open. Seeing more is better.|||Quote:
Spikes uppers are fine, but for another hundred or so I'd rather take a step up.
A step up in what way? What makes a BCM upper (for example) better than a Spike's? I haven't seen anyone able to answer that question satisfactorily for Spike's current manufacturing process.
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The Spikes buffer fails to do the latter and can exacerbate bolt bounce.
From the looking around I did on the subject prior to my purchase, I actually heard someone make that claim that once, but he was unable to substantiate it when pressed. I guess if I do have a problem with it, it's $20 and 30 seconds to fix. Good link though, and thanks for the recommendation. What do you think of EOTechs?
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