I read the article on AR-15's at the top of this forum. Excellent read. However, I still know very little about AR-15's with regard to which brands are reliable, etc. I wanted to find a carbine with a 1:7 twist and a chrome lined barrel. I also want a machined lower rather than stamped. What do you guys like for your own AR's. I don't plan to hunt with it. It's more for just in case.....

They are all about the same really function wise. DPMS gets a bad rap on the AR forums but they shoot good. I had a Sportical which is the cheapest AR made pretty much and it shot right under an inch with factory PMC ammo and everything else I fed it. Just upgrade the trigger on whatever you get and it will be night and day. There are several good ones and I have a Timney that I like a lot. I currently have a ROck River Predator Pursuit upper on a Spikes lower I built and love the setup.

I assume when you say you "want a machined lower rather than stamped" that you mean you want a billet lower and not forged. In that case, you are going to be looking at higher-end ARs.

The honest truth is that pretty much every brand out there is as reliable as 95% of buyers would ever need. Most people will recommend the brand that they own.

Sounds like you want a fighting weapon and not a target gun. I would be looking at BCM or Colt. And I would put BCM first. Also hear good things about LMT but never messed with one so I cant comment. Regardless of what others may tell you they are not all created equal even in the same price range. Some only batch test parts while others individually test parts for quality control. Some don't even do some tests at all. Barrel steel comes into play as well. How they stake the gas key is another biggie for me. Some don't stake the key at all. There are other little things that separate a good good from a battle quality gun but those are just a few.

Like I said.....I would buy a BCM if I was wanting a fighting weapon. They know how to do it right.

I only own one billet ar out of about 10. It's a factory built Larue. They're nice looking but function wise there is no advantage. My best AR's are home built ones with super high end parts inside of good name brand forged receivers. The trigger and barrel followed by the bolt are going to the biggest things that have to do with accuracy in my opinion. You also want a floated hand guard and nothing that touches the gas block. Stainless barrels are primarily for accuracy but not meant for rapid fire.