I have been reading these threads about the AR 15's and have to admit I am intrigued. I am no gun afficianado by any means so I thought I'd reach out to those that are...are at least proclaim to be

If I were to buy a USED AR 15 rifle, what would be an affordable choice manufacturer wise?

Will I have better luck through a dealer or individual?

Can you provide website resources to browse?

The gun will be used for entertainment (targets and plinking)...and to hunt pigs.

I have a Thompson Contender frame with 2 barrells...a 7-30 Waters with a 4 power Burris scope...and a Rem .223 bull barrell with a Bushnell 4 power scope. I feel like I could sell that package in the $750 range that I could use toward an AR....just wondering what an affordable AR 15 setup may cost for the novice

Check out www.ar15.com its an awesome resource. Its the best AR site there is, its unbiased like many others. Most other AR websites are owned by someone who sells AR's. You will get alot of knowledge there, and there are a ton of real deal competitors/military/ hunters there to learn from. Don't let the range warriors, chairborne rangers tell you whats good or bad, do your own research. All they are is internet parrots, mimicking each other. Learn from guys who actually put their guns through there paces (carbine classes etc, these type of guys shoot there gun more in a month than keyboard commandos do in a year).

If your buying new, spikes will be tough to beat.

I'm with Morgan spikes is the way to go you can beat their customer service.

AR15.com has good technical forums but be prepared to wade through the [censored].

For the stated purposes most of the brands won't be "bad". My rifles are defensive first and foremost and I ask more of them, so there's a definite difference in some manufacturers.

Top down in quality from a knowledgeable AR user brandwise for serious abuse:

Colt
Bravo Company
Lewis Machine And Tool (LMT)
LaRue Tactical
Noveske
Sabre Defence

All "very high quality"

S&W
Rock River
Bushmaster
Spikes
DPMS

These are good manufacturers that will give you no serious trouble, though with any used rifle, if someone's been playing Legos with the parts, that can affect reliability

Model 1
Olympic
Other lesser brands

Can do well, but give serious thought before buying

Hesse/Vulcan/Blackthorne (same company): Avoid like the plague.

For your budget and use, i'd recommend one of the S&Ws or RRA (Rock River Arsenal) rifles.

New or used, almost the same price.....Not losing much value.

They are like Harley Davidson's, lots of aftermarket pieces for dress up,
customization/personalization and BLING.

I recently bought a Spike's Tactical. Completely pleased.

Carried an Armalite AR several years as a LEO, and I was also an AR amorer.
I was not that happy with the Armalite's.
Bad NM triggers and barrel indexing problems, not good for LEO's as life dependant tools.

Despite what the almighty door kicker VSB says Spikes is of the same quality as Colt LMT and BCM for hundreds less. Chris Boc is selling teh M4s for $700 and you will not find a better rifle at that price, period...

Agreed. The whole rating thing is complete bull. I'm not sure you can classify Colt and Bravo Company in the elite class. Maybe older Colts. LMT, Noveske, and Larue are definitely top notch, but you're not gonna notice much difference other than the price. AR's are kinda like women....they all do the same thing and have the same features....some are just better looking than others; the better looking ones cost you more.

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I Almost Fell down Reading this!!!

Never heard of them. Do you possibly mean Rock River Arms????

I missed that !! Real operator there...

No doubt!!!!! He really knows his stuff.

Yes, I meant Arms. Excuse the hell out of me, it was 3am and I'd been up for almost 24 hours.

As to Spikes quality? Yes, they're decent from what i've heard.

Till i shoot the hell out of one, i won't recommend it other than generally.

Must be the Air Force