S&W MP 15 vs. Bushmaster carbon 15
- Thread starter zumer715
- Start date
dixiehighlander
Inactive
m&p
I got my S&W MP in 5.56 back in febuary.its a tackdriver,at low cost for an AR. it was accurate right out of the box.when i slapped a scope on it, it got even better.the bushmaster and colt are top of the line but honestly i have no experience with them
I got my S&W MP in 5.56 back in febuary.its a tackdriver,at low cost for an AR. it was accurate right out of the box.when i slapped a scope on it, it got even better.the bushmaster and colt are top of the line but honestly i have no experience with them
Marquezj16
New member
When you say M&P 15 vc Bushmaster Carbon 15, I'm assuming you mean the M&P 15 Sport as they are about comparable in price.
The M&P 15 Sport is an excellent AR. Mine is very accurate and 100% reliable. Do some reasearch and you'll find more good things said about them.
Can't speak for the Bushmaster.
You'll have plenty of people talk about get this or that AR or build it yourself. I think you'll have to answer some questions yourself (like the ones asked by blacksky) to come to a decision.
BTW all the Colts I've ever handled have been 100% reliable.
The M&P 15 Sport is an excellent AR. Mine is very accurate and 100% reliable. Do some reasearch and you'll find more good things said about them.
Can't speak for the Bushmaster.
You'll have plenty of people talk about get this or that AR or build it yourself. I think you'll have to answer some questions yourself (like the ones asked by blacksky) to come to a decision.
BTW all the Colts I've ever handled have been 100% reliable.
These excerpts were from a Guns & Ammo review of the M&P
Of the many things I've never expected to hold in my hands during this lifetime (along with certain parts of Uma Thurman), a Smith & Wesson-manufactured AR-15 rifle would rank pretty high on the list. But that's what I'm holding right now, and it's a very impressive piece of work.
The "M&P" stands for "Military & Police," and it puts these two new 5.56mm (.223 Remington) 16-inch semi auto carbines square in the forefront of Smith & Wesson's continuing century-plus tradition of duty-oriented M&P firearms.
Talk to the guys at S&W about the M&P15, and the word you hear over and over is "reliability." "Our intention is to produce the absolute most reliable and duty-ready AR-15 you can find, right out of the box, with all the best features and accessories already in the package. We examined and tested literally every AR-15 component in existence before selecting what we were going to put in these guns." "These guns just run and run."
Plus, I might add, they look really cool.
The optimum twist rate for your own AR-15-style rifle will depend entirely on the bullets you shoot and what you want them to do, and 1:9 is the most popular all-purpose twist for the .223/5.56mm cartridge. It will shoot well with bullets anywhere from 40 to 75 grains in weight. It also wears better than faster twists. At typical .223 velocities, a 1:9 twist will stabilize bullet lengths equivalent to lead-core bullets of 40 to 73 grains in weight. In terms of accuracy, 1:9 bores, even basic mil-spec chrome-chambered and barreled, can attain one to two MOA out to 300 meters or farther provided the rest of the gun is put together like it should be. The M&P15s clearly are.
Our M&P15 rifles arrived in Illinois in the middle of last December's bitter cold snap, with midday temperatures not rising above 10 degrees and a continuous 25mph north wind blowing sleet and snow. What better conditions to see whether S&W's bold reliability claims were worth listening to? After making sure that both M&P15s were properly "winterized" by treating their internal parts to nothing but a very light wiping with a very lightweight gun oil, I gathered every variety of .223 ammunition I could drag out of inventory and embarked on a function review with 38 different individual loads in all.
Suffice it to say that after nearly 4,500 rounds of mixed commercial ammunition of every grade and every bullet weight you'd want to put through an AR, there had been exactly zero stoppages of any kind, reliable indeed.
I fired the M&P15 Standard model (with Leupold VX-III 6.5-20X scope) at both 100 yards and 200 yards.
I also fired the best-performing 200-yard load at 440 yards as well (440 yards being the distance from fence line to fence line across a 40-acre field). My thinking was that there was no need to go past 100 yards with the tactical optic, but with the high-magnification varmint scope I could easily see from the 200-yard results whether my hopes for the Standard gun as a coyote tool would be realized--and they were, in spades.
Both guns passed their tests for service, duty and personal-defense qualities with flying colors. But three of the six review loads, all in the midrange of bullet weights, also held within one MOA out at 200. And the best of them proved the same to a full quarter-mile. That's predator-control quality--pick your species. I just love a good quarter-mile coyote gun. Who would have thought I'd find one in an AR-15 type wearing a Smith & Wesson label?
For those of you who don't know who Uma Thurman is:
Of the many things I've never expected to hold in my hands during this lifetime (along with certain parts of Uma Thurman), a Smith & Wesson-manufactured AR-15 rifle would rank pretty high on the list. But that's what I'm holding right now, and it's a very impressive piece of work.
The "M&P" stands for "Military & Police," and it puts these two new 5.56mm (.223 Remington) 16-inch semi auto carbines square in the forefront of Smith & Wesson's continuing century-plus tradition of duty-oriented M&P firearms.
Talk to the guys at S&W about the M&P15, and the word you hear over and over is "reliability." "Our intention is to produce the absolute most reliable and duty-ready AR-15 you can find, right out of the box, with all the best features and accessories already in the package. We examined and tested literally every AR-15 component in existence before selecting what we were going to put in these guns." "These guns just run and run."
Plus, I might add, they look really cool.
The optimum twist rate for your own AR-15-style rifle will depend entirely on the bullets you shoot and what you want them to do, and 1:9 is the most popular all-purpose twist for the .223/5.56mm cartridge. It will shoot well with bullets anywhere from 40 to 75 grains in weight. It also wears better than faster twists. At typical .223 velocities, a 1:9 twist will stabilize bullet lengths equivalent to lead-core bullets of 40 to 73 grains in weight. In terms of accuracy, 1:9 bores, even basic mil-spec chrome-chambered and barreled, can attain one to two MOA out to 300 meters or farther provided the rest of the gun is put together like it should be. The M&P15s clearly are.
Our M&P15 rifles arrived in Illinois in the middle of last December's bitter cold snap, with midday temperatures not rising above 10 degrees and a continuous 25mph north wind blowing sleet and snow. What better conditions to see whether S&W's bold reliability claims were worth listening to? After making sure that both M&P15s were properly "winterized" by treating their internal parts to nothing but a very light wiping with a very lightweight gun oil, I gathered every variety of .223 ammunition I could drag out of inventory and embarked on a function review with 38 different individual loads in all.
Suffice it to say that after nearly 4,500 rounds of mixed commercial ammunition of every grade and every bullet weight you'd want to put through an AR, there had been exactly zero stoppages of any kind, reliable indeed.
I fired the M&P15 Standard model (with Leupold VX-III 6.5-20X scope) at both 100 yards and 200 yards.
I also fired the best-performing 200-yard load at 440 yards as well (440 yards being the distance from fence line to fence line across a 40-acre field). My thinking was that there was no need to go past 100 yards with the tactical optic, but with the high-magnification varmint scope I could easily see from the 200-yard results whether my hopes for the Standard gun as a coyote tool would be realized--and they were, in spades.
Both guns passed their tests for service, duty and personal-defense qualities with flying colors. But three of the six review loads, all in the midrange of bullet weights, also held within one MOA out at 200. And the best of them proved the same to a full quarter-mile. That's predator-control quality--pick your species. I just love a good quarter-mile coyote gun. Who would have thought I'd find one in an AR-15 type wearing a Smith & Wesson label?
For those of you who don't know who Uma Thurman is:
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chris in va
New member
I've put roughly 2000 through my Sport with very few issues, all related to my reloading formulas. I imagine the more costly M&P's are fantastic as well.
what upper and lower would you recomend if i were to build my own?
You can buy S&W stripped lower for $140, S&W uses CMMG uppers. I have used both on my builds. A CMMG upper & lower will cost you $200. They offer excellent quality machining with tight fit and a flawless Teflon finish. I have also used DPMS quality is questionable at times with DPMS. I do like their lower parts kits.
You can buy S&W stripped lower for $140, S&W uses CMMG uppers. I have used both on my builds. A CMMG upper & lower will cost you $200. They offer excellent quality machining with tight fit and a flawless Teflon finish. I have also used DPMS quality is questionable at times with DPMS. I do like their lower parts kits.
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Mrgunsngear
New member
That's my M&P15 PS set up for some target shooting/hunting. I run almost exclusively Brown Bear and Silver Bear through the gun and have never had 1 failure with it (I do clean and lubricate it after firing, always
). This model has gone up in price a lot (almost double) since I bought mine but I'm sure some of the other lower priced DI M&Ps are great guns too. I fired about 200 rounds through my buddies sport version on Saturday and it had no issues at all using 62gr Silver Bear rounds. You can pick that version up for under $600. Plus, if you ever have any issues, S&W will back their products up...Justice06RR
New member
Smith&Wesson has pretty good reputation all around, but if you're looking at the M&P15 Sport model, keep in mind that it does not have a dustcover and forward assist. So depending on your use, this may or may not affect you. I've never fired one, but from reading the reviews and inspecting one at the gunshop they seem to be solid rifles.
The Bushmaster AR15's are great too; I've owned an M4A3 Patrolman's Carbine and don't have a single negative thing to say about them. Quality is actually great, although some may say they're not.
Edit: I recommend the Bushmaster (by a short margin) because of the dust cover and forward assist. It just makes it easier to keep clean and I've always trained to push the forward assist after chambering a round.
The Bushmaster AR15's are great too; I've owned an M4A3 Patrolman's Carbine and don't have a single negative thing to say about them. Quality is actually great, although some may say they're not.
Edit: I recommend the Bushmaster (by a short margin) because of the dust cover and forward assist. It just makes it easier to keep clean and I've always trained to push the forward assist after chambering a round.
The world is your oyster in that regard.....There are a LOT of great options.
I built a Del-Ton on a S&W M&P15 stripped lower I got on sale very cheaply and am extremely pleased with the result. I've run some commercial ammo as well as the XM193 and it eats them like it was made to.....(Which is was.) Goes bang every time and is really very accurate as well.
The best part of a build is you can go at your own pace and buy what you can afford and you learn an awful lot about how it works and goes together during the build. I'd put my Del-ton build up against anything in the $800 - $900 range and I didn't pay anywhere near that amount.
Here is a picture of mine.....with post build accessories. The base rifle with rails etc... was around $625. As you can see I've invested some extra money in it since then with rail covers, flip up rear sight, EOTech XPS2 and magpul grip.
As the posters above said, CMMG is a great option as well. Shop around and get a deal your comfortable with...check back here for advice if you're unsure. There are a few to stay away from and most everyone here knows which brands to steer you clear from......
I'm a sucker for all things HK, my next AR is likely to be one of the HK piston models, but they're crazy money for a first rifle.....
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