My idea is to get a budget AR and follow up later with a longer barreled upper to mount a scope on and use for 100-200 yards.

Two for the price of one?

Looking at Ruger and M&P price range, just don't know anything about dpms, bushmaster etc.

What do you guys think?

Thanks

Radical Firearms, Model1 and many others make good ARs that are not that spendy.

Build your own or buy an assembled lower and an assembled upper. It's really an assembly job that does not require and special skill. If I can do, you can too.

As far as durability, check out this article about rental AR durability. It is an eye opener san the usual mall ninja or internet operator BS:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/09/08/ar-endurance-findings-at-a-rental-range/ 

One word of advice......Reload. If you plan to shoot that much you need to plan to reload your own bullets. That is unless you roll Big like Wheel

I have to respectfully disagree on the PSA advise, I've had to work on NUMEROUS PSA rifles and in my opinion there are way better and more reliable rifles for the money. Granted the FN barrels on certain models are ok but the other internals and receivers wear easily and don't get me started on the lack of use of torque specs. In my honest opinion PSA has flooded the market with crap. I won't even mention the sorry azz customer service [ram27bat]

We've got Colts for $799, Rugers for $619, M&P $599 and DPMS $529

You can go the full custom route but you'll spend more than off the shelf

You and that damn Daewoo lol

It's not even a typical AR........ if you could even put it in that category

It's an AK/AR hybrid that I would put closer to an FN FAL than anything

Or a Galil.

http://www.guns.com/review/2012/04/24/rock-river-arms-lar-15-gun-review/ 

As always YMMV, but you have my curiosity up about PSA. Was it the low cost PSA PTAC line? Individual parts assembled by an individual?

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've had really good performance with other lines. I also like assembling my own ARs. PSA does not sell super billet operator special ARs. They do have some enhanced uppers. Over the last year they have improved their shipping time from super slow to acceptable and now actually answer emails, though I can overlook that since they do maintain very competitive pricing.

The PTAC is the majority of the ones I've had issues with but some of the earlier models also. They are notorious for over torqued barrel nuts and not putting any anti-seize on it. So if you ever wanted to change forend/rails/gas blocks etc.. you're pretty certain to bust the damn barrel nut due to it being galded , hell the torque specs are only 30lbs. We've had several come into the shop with headspacing issues, one guy even worked for them and they refused to look @ his. So needless to say I'll never buy one

Don't shoot your eye out. 😳

I'm leaning towards Ruger as I have always been a fan, that said I found a store in Florida with M&P NIB, for $539 plus 20 to ship.

That's a great price, best I've seen.

I have a M&P 15-22 and I like it a lot.

Dang.

Understood and not good, it's not like AeroShell Grease 33MS or equal is rare or expensive. Torque setting need to be followed and understood. Too many 'hammers' think the tighter the better. I run into that with stripped Torx head screws on knives that are blamed on bad screws.

Found this review of the Ruger AR556 direct impingement AR. These are more milspec versus the more expensive piston driven Ruger ARs.

i would echo palmetto state armory but advise to steer clear of the ptac models. for a few more bucks you can at least get the freedom model or, if you watch for their specials they often have fantastic deals on their standard psa and premium models

if you want to really get a feel for what the rifle is all about then i would recommend buying an anderson lower (45-50 shipped) a lower parts kit, buffer assembly and a complete upper.

Not a fan of Rugers, but maybe that is because the ones I have shot were the cheaper models.

Quantical Tactical sells a lot of the M & P's, but they have different levels at different price points.

Not sure what price range you are looking at, but you might just want to buy the upper and lower separate. That way you can spend more money say for a good lower like LMT, and then later you can get a better upper to go with it.

What you will find, is that there is a lot to choose from, and there are a 1,000 different opinions about each of them.

Good Luck

Loved Rock River Operator! $1000 plus tax etc. Super accurate which I want.

The price of this is about the same as getting a less expensive carbine and purchasing another upper and scope for distance. Supposedly this RR has a 1" MOA with a 16" barrel. That's my kind of shooting.

Now I have to shop around as I want to pay less!

Anyone have one, I'm a buyer.

Bought one 7-8 years ago, added a light and a sight. Took it out shooting once, took it home and cleaned it, put it in the safe.

Kept buying ammo and magazines whenever I'd be buying other stuff, or found a deal.

Only had it out to shoot once since then.

Need to sell it sometime.

Here is one you can buy for $929 + shipping. Transfer fees are around $20-50.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=507055311