Smith M&P or windham

[Chrisbradley_2001]

Looking for a good first AR.

The two I'm strongly considering are the M&P15 ORC and the Windham SRC.

Any thought as to which is the better buy. I mostly want this AR to be a plinker but occasionally air out to 200 yds.

[TCS_XDM]

200 yards will be easy for any AR you don't need anything special for that.

Windham is the original Bushmaster I like their story never shot one of their rifles though. Remington bought Bushmaster fired all the employees so they just started a new rifle company called Windham.

[richeyo2]

Both would be good rifles & shoot 200yds. easy IMO.
Me I'd probably go S&W.

[Vandal]

I think you would be well served with either rifle. I have shot the S&Ws and they seem just fine. My father has a pre-Remington Bushmaster (bought during the AWB, says Windham ME on the lower) and it has been a fantastic rifle. I would suspect the new Windhams would be just as good.

[Gulftanker]

I got a Windham based on other recommendations and reviews. I've been extremely pleased with it and would highly recommend Windham Weaponry.

[diskgolfer109]

I am new to the a r world myself did a lot of research and was down to the stag model 3 smith and wesson optics ready sig m 400 and the windam. ended up with the windam. I've had it for about 2 weeks and have about 400 rounds down range. so far it has been flawless and accuracy seems excellent although I've only had the chance to shoot out to 100 yards. put a vortex strikefire red dot on it and even though I'm new to the rifle world can easily put 10 rounds in a zombie head size target at 100 yards. I am very pleased with my purchase

[windsearcher]

I am also new to the AR family. Did the same research as you are doing, and looked at:

Stag / Windham / S&W SIG M400 and a few others. Ended up with a Core15 based on some positive reviews and comments from my LGS.

core15.com

The Core15 was also built here in FL and I wanted to support a local business.

Availability was also a concern, at the time some of the more expensive AR's had long lead times.... Bravo Company, Spikes... others were out of what I wanted to spend.

Anyway..... I'm at almost 1000 rounds, and have had only one failure with brass ammo. (Fail to eject/double feed caused by ME not seating the mag properly). My particular AR doesn't like the Herters steel cased ammo. It appears from reading a LOT of threads.... steel cased ammo in AR's is on a case-by-case basis... some have no problems, others can't make it fire.

I am very happy with quality, fit & finish and accuracy. (Still need to work on my part to make it shoot better) It also has a lifetime warranty. When shooting it side-by-side with a Colt, Bushmaster (early) and a S&W, I was very happy with quality that was at least as good as any of those.

Would recommend maybe taking a look at the GTO Core15 if you haven't already made a choice.

[MoshMeisterXD45]

I bougt a Windham, no regrets.

Rifle is fantastic 1,000+ rounds thru her and not one failure of any type. Customer service is fantastic, lifetime warranty. Buy a Windham you wont be sorry

[Fdxpilot]

Of the two, I would go with Smith & Wesson.

[INMY01TA]

Originally Posted by Fdxpilot

Of the two, I would go with Smith & Wesson.

Me too.