Any Experiences With the Bushmaster Carbon 15?

Hello all! I have been doing some research into an AR15 type purchase lately. I'm no stranger to guns by any means, but the AR platform is to some degree new to me.

I was looking at the BM Carbon 15 because of its light weight and I can get a new one for a very tidy price here locally.

My dilemma is a little google-fu reveals that some people have had problems with them feeding rounds reliably. At the same time a trusted local AR nut has two and says they are awesome with zero failures after many thousands of rounds...

So, I'm asking here, my most trusted group of internet friends haha! Anybody got any experiences with this gun? Good, bad, or ugly!? I know its not THE AR, and you can spend way more and get a nicer rifle. My main concern is reliability and at least reasonable accuracy (read 2-3 MOA).

Thanks for any experiences you can offer! And please dont turn this into a gun vs anti-gun thread. This is strictly for discussing the merits or downfalls of this light weight rifle.

Caleb Wilson

If you really want to learn about Eugene Stoner's rifle, sign up at http://www.ar15.com/ and read 'til your eyes dry out.
On a more personal note my dad is a huge Bush Master fan, I on the other hand really like Rock River Arms. I've never
had any problems, but neither has he.

It's too bad the parts for the Daewoo DR-200 weren't so hard to get because in my experience the Korean gun is not only tremendously more accurate (iron sight) than the AR (vertical shot deviation -vs- oval for the AR), but a lot more fun to shoot. FYI - you can interchange the mags.

My AR buddies are otherwise clearly divided between BM haters and lovers. I've shot a lot of BM's and other and don't see the difference at 15" really. Yes, a good receiver is mandatory, but you do kind of get what you pay for.

The most fun I ever had was with a buddies Bushmaster AR, 20" Varmint barrel, and cheap chinese 8x scope (he was broke after buying the barrel). After running a few mags through the varmint gun and seeing how much fun it was at 200 meters I'd get bored with 15". I figure I'm not going into combat, so what's wrong with the longer barrel.

The difference in the Carbon 15 is that it has a "carbon fiber/carbon material" receiver. It has a standard 16" barrel. Down here in mid GA we dont really have many long shots availible unless you're over a field, and that's when I bring my .308 along haha

I have heard the carbon material can somehow cause it to jam... I dont know how that is possible unless the feed ramps are not properly milled out. The one I'm looking has what looks like a quality job on the ramps. I could touch them up a little, but it looks like it will run out of the box!

And I would join the ar forum but I cant because they dont accept yahoo email addresses

Thanks for the input!

Caleb Wilson

Daniel Defense in Georgia makes very nice AR's that are a step or two above Bushmaster.

I've owned a couple of BM's, and except for a bolt carrier burr destroying a set of gas rings pretty quick (which they promptly remedied) they have functioned very reliably. I competed in rifle matches with a 20 inch BM heavy barrel and always placed well. Some consideration was recently given to selling my old BM rifle, and it still has more utility to me that outweighs the cash.

That said, aside from the lighter weight I don't see carbon fiber being a must have.

Paladin

Just my opinion, but I would skip the Bushmaster and find a Cavalry Arms Polymer receiver. I built my wife a lightweight rifle based off of the CAV-15 lower and a Del-Ton lightweight carbine kit. With Magpul MOE handguards, Streamlight TLR-1, Magpul MBUS and Aimpoint Micro T1 it's still under 6 pounds.