Political opinion aside I think Springfield makes a nice AR for their price point. Got one at the shop on Friday and seems pretty solid. I've got one of the standard saint AR's and I enjoy it. Anybody have one or have any opinions on them? Looking for something new and seemed pretty nice

I cannot speak to that exact model. I initially thought the Saint appeared to be a well-configured gun for the money. The apparent partnership with BCM for some components was particularly encouraging. But...

We have had three or four Saints purchased by officers for use as a patrol rifle. Not sure of the exact model/configuration.

One of them would not group for anything. The officer contacted Springfield and they replaced the entire upper. We do not know what the issue was determined to be.

Another one also would not group for anything. There was evidence of corrosion on the crown and I broke a barrel nut wrench trying to turn the barrel nut. We were in the middle of a class and I was hoping that a detailed inspection would show us something obvious. The officer returned the gun to the retailer (Brownells, which is a 45 minute drive) and ended up taking an issued rifle.

The third one was okay for a couple years. It, too, stopped grouping eventually. Round count likely well under 5k. The officer ended up buying an FN-15.

We removed the Saint from our authorized list with one gun (the first one) grandfathered. I am sure that there are perfectly functional examples out there, but I/we lost faith in them for duty guns.

I saw one at my LGS, but to me it just seems like an overpriced and heavy AR. I expect it’s nice, but just not something that I’m interested in.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
I saw one at my LGS, but to me it just seems like an overpriced and heavy AR. I expect it’s nice, but just not something that I’m interested in.

Definitely pretty heavy. Would be more to shoot off bench /w bipod or something. Not sure I'd want to carry it around with me everywhere