Long story short, my neighbor is wanting an AR15...I offered to help him build one (he declined)...he has looked at the PSA finished rifles among others locally...

We checked Bud's website and ran across the Savage Patrol family of rifles...

They have the following AR for a shade over $500 with free shipping and since sales tax is not charged on orders from Buds in KY (at least here in TN, unless they have changed policies since I ordered from them last year)...with the transfer fee and background check of $40 at a local FFL, he will still be under $550...

https://www.budsgunshop.com/ca...6+.223+16-inch+30Rds

It's a mid-length, Wylde chamber and not your standard stock and handguard...

Looks like a good deal, but I wanted to see if any forumites had good/bad/meh opinions on this rifle before he orders one or looks elsewhere.

Thanks in advance.

Here is a link to a YouTube video by Mrgunsngear on the MSR Patrol rifle. Hope it helps.

Edit: it's Recon model and not the Patrol.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AUCh-xiETeY

I shot one at the Savage Trigger Tour and a friend of mine bought one. The Savage Trigger Tour rifle had over 1k rounds by the time I got to fire it and it still shot smoothly. It was also hitting 100yd steel plates just fine. It was very well made and felt like qaulity to me.

The one my friend purchased is still informed, however, I handled it and quality is superb for the price. I would not hesitate at all to buy one.

I only heard about this rifle through Mrgunsngear'a YouTube video a few months back but it looks like a solid buy to me. He seems to be a fair reviewer and I wouldn't hesitate to take his advice.

MrGunsNGear's a member here - that's how I first started watching his stuff. I like his reviews, for sure.

I read an article about the Savage rifles, and it seemed to follow the same gist of Savage's advertising campaign: that so much of an AR is "standard" now, the two places that can really make or break a rifle are the barrel and trigger, and they've tried to make them good from the factory. the author of the article said they were impressed with the accuracy, but that Savage's trigger wasn't the greatest as they seemed to tout.

I looked for the article, but couldn't find it. I want to say it was guns and ammo or rifleman magazine, but their articles didn't sound the same as the one I read. They all seem to be positive reviews of a simple, budget rifle, though.

This is the model he decided to order...seems like a good value for the money...it was between this one and the mid length MOE from PSA and he chose the Savage...

As a note...the model he ordered does has a forward assist...another model of the same rifle on Bud's website without the forward assist is $110 more, everything else shows to be the same ...

https://www.budsgunshop.com/ca...23REM5.56NATO+30%2B1

Sometimes the price listings from Bud's often seem to be a little odd...I know their pricing fluctuates quickly (they explain it in their FAQ section), but it still seems somewhat odd to me.

I would say if it has the features he wants, go for it. Like the fact they did it in a mid length and used 1 in 8 twist. I have no experance with the Savage AR but they are a big company that can make decent bolt action rifles so it should be fine.

I've never ran one, but it looks like a winner.

Their AR-10 patterns interest me a bit more.