The Colt 6920 is the Gold standard for basic M4 style fighting Carbines. Not that other manufactures don't make very good AR's, they do. It's just that the 6920 is correct technically, right from the box. If you follow the notion that the AR needs to be manufactured in accordance to the U.S. Military TDP(Technical Data Package), that is. As an LEO Armorer, I take the TDP standard very seriously. Can an AR be made of higher quality materials then specified by the TDP? Of course, and several manufacture's do just that. But anything less then the TDP(As in cheap AR's) and you can possibly run into all sorts of problems with that rifle. Some of those problems are almost inconsequential, and some problems can be severe.
Like the old adage says; "Ya pays your money, and ya takes your chances"
Buy a Colt, and you won't be disappointed later. The 6920 will take all the abuse you can dish out, and then some.
Of course, IMHO anyway, after having carried an AR in some version or another, since I was 18. That was a while ago. :supergrin:
I disagree that the LE6920 is the "Gold" standard. It's the milspec standard. That's it. If you value milspec then it might be the "Gold" standard for you. If you don't then it's just that - milspec.
As an LEO armorer you have to take the TDP seriously because of a multitude of things that I can think of top of my head:
A. It's a known performance point. Not great, not bad, but a known performance point.
B. Liability - if anything happens and your bosses/department needs some sort of reference point then see Item A. As in a cop claiming that the trigger of the gun was too light and caused him/her to accidentally shoot a perp. Or the shot perp/victim claimed that the department didn't maintain the guns correctly and caused the guns to "go off" on its own. If you show that you have maintained the guns per manufacturer's recommendations then it's no longer on your shoulder.
I do agree that anything less than milspec may have serious consequential problems such as wrong headspace that may cause a gun to fire out of battery. That would be disastrous to the shooter.
As far as jamming in a self defense situation goes, I seriously doubt that any of us civilian joes have to worry about it. The probability of us having to use a gun for self defense is practically zero. That probability then extends to us having to use a military type rifle for self defense? Might as well start buying lottery ticket.
While it might be fun to fantasize about hosing down Hells Angels and Jihadists, but the reality is that it "ain't all that".
Mind you, I'm talking about civilians here and not armed professionals.
For the competitors, I doubt that they'd want a milspec gun. They'd want guns that are geared towards giving them an edge in a competition and that's another animal altogether.
