Reviews Pm Xm-15 Qrc 16 With Red Dot

Bushmaster XM-fifteen QRC (image JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

This is the first time I've wanted a Bushmaster AR-15 since I was a kid.

Bushmaster has been synonymous with the AR-fifteen for decades.Tens of thousands of them, if not more, are in use by police enforcement entities throughout the US, including the Texas Department of Public Safety. Even more have been sold to non-police enforcement civilians throughout our country.

In the past, Bushmaster has ever been a decent plenty product at a low price signal. During the last several years of the race to the lesser of toll, for a lot of companies, Bushmaster was the price signal to trounce.

Bushmaster XM-15 (paradigm courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Only a foreign footling thing has happened. On the competition's way down — in both price and quality — Bushmaster didn't lower their price. And they upped the quality. The XM-15 Quick Response Carbine (QRC) is i of the everyman, if not the lowest-priced Bushmaster AR-fifteen in their line-up. It's as well one of the better budget ARs I've shot.

Bushmaster XM-xv left side (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Out of the box it looks a lilliputian weird. It shouldn't. Non as well many years ago, a carbine-length handguard and a xvi" barrel length would have been what all the cool kids wanted. Merely in this new day of full-length track (and they are skillful days) all that naked pencil-thin butt looks foreign. So does the lack of sights.

The XM-15 QRC model is a flat top with a receiver-length Picatinny rail on the upper receiver and no front sight. Instead, Bushmaster includes a Chinese-made miniature red dot optic. As far equally quality, it functions well and I had no issues with it during the review. I didn't fully test the battery life, only I left information technology on overnight without issue. The field of view is adequately modest, there is a bluish tint to the prototype, and there is no night vision capability. It's a cheap, workable optic.

Bushmaster XM 15 ruddy dot optic (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

If you would similar to add irons, you take a broad variety of rear sight options available to you. There are fewer options to add together a forepart sight, similar replacing the gas cake with an A2 way front sight, or going with something like the exceptional Ultradyne Sights.

It'due south been a while since I shot an AR with this short a handguard. Even my SBR's have handguards all the way out to the cage, then getting out of the habit of reaching forward took some getting used to.

The XM-15'south A2 birdcage-type wink hider (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Of class, the result in a carbine-length paw guard ending well shy of the terminate of a lightweight cage is that you can start and cease that muzzle with a quickness. That's bang-up for moving to your target, or transitioning between targets. Of form, that likewise means it's easy to motion that muzzle during shot strings, making precise controlled pairs and follow-upwards shots more hard.

In the old days, when you bought a Bushmaster AR the guy behind the gun counter, (who knew everything ever considering he almost went to Vietnam), told you to throw away the non-MIL-STD Bushmaster bolt and buy i made by Colt.

In the former days, for shooters who really wanted to do a lot of shooting, there may have been some truth in that. Those days are gone. I popped the pins on the Bushmaster and pulled out the BCG and compared it to ones I pulled from my Filly ARs. And then I called the Bushmaster representative to confirm what I was looking at.

Bushmaster left, Filly right (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Yup, the XM-15 QRC'south carrier is chrome-lined 8620 steel and the bolt is Carpenter 158. They are well-nigh identical. I say most, because the gas key staking on the Colt bolt is a piffling bit deeper, but the staking on the Bushmaster bolt has been done well and would certainly pass inspection. Staying with the MIL-STD theme, the budget Bushmaster XM-fifteen rifle's upper and lower receiver are forged 7075 aluminum alloy.

The barrel is the familiar Melonite-coated 4150 Chrome-Moly steel, with a 1:eight" twist and topped with an A2 birdcage wink hider. The 16" barrel contour is defined by the Bushmaster website as "Superlight", and information technology certainly is.

I'm not a fan of pencil barrel at all. I know a lot of folks are, and it'south advisable on this "Mil-Spec" themed burglarize. I find a thin barrel heats upwards fast, whips too much for precise shooting, and I'll sacrifice a few ounces of weight to proceed the cage downwards in fast fire whatsoever day.

Bushmaster XM-15 right side (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Obviously, because of the traditional hand guard set-up, the butt isn't gratis-floating. You lot'll see the result that the thin barrel profile and traditional handguard/gas tube set upward has on accuracy.

Using the supplied ruddy dot optic, my groups at 100 yards never got beneath 4 inches. In this case, it's the arrow, non the Indian. The red dot is quite large, I'd gauge close to 4 MOA, That'south suitable for CQB work, merely not ideal at 100 yards or farther.

Every bit advertised, it came bore sighted right out of the box. Using the supplied quick-detach mount, I found it shot center for elevation and 2 inches right at 25 yards with the first round fired. That fabricated adjustments quick and easy, which was much appreciated. If you wanted to pound targets correct out of the box, you'd exist pretty close just picking upward the gun, loading it, and having fun at the range.

Bushmaster XM-15 scoped (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Replacing the red dot optic with a custom US Optics 10X scope, the burglarize was capable of much more than precise shooting. Placing the burglarize in a Caldwell Stinger shooting rest and shooting five-round groups at 100 yards, the best shooting round was IWI'due south M193 55gr FMJ printing an average of two" groups for four-shot strings.

Non all 55gr FMJ surplus shot quite that well, but surplus M855 and Winchester's 64gr Super X shot not even ¼" larger groups. Blackness Hills 77gr OTM actually produced the worst groups, which was a get-go for me, at two ½".

For those of you who cringe at anything more Minute of Angle precision, I'll remind you that is better than what whatsoever service burglarize, M16A2 or M4-blazon, I was deployed with achieved. My deployment guns simply happened to be Colts, and the standard there was closer to 3 or iv inches. It was a rare solar day that I could get to two MOA with any of the guns I was issued, even with a telescopic sight.

Every bit it is, a competent shooter with the XM-fifteen is capable of striking a xix" silhouette reliably upwardly to 600 yards, the same altitude the maximum effective range our drill sergeant at Ft. Benning told us our M16A2 service rifle was capable of. Folks, he was being generous to usa Privates and those worn-out guns, both.

Bushmaster XM-15 chamber (epitome courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

When it comes to reliably sending pb down range, the Bushmaster performed flawlessly. I lubed the gun with Rem-Oil prior to shooting and passed a diameter serpent down the barrel. At no betoken did I lube the gun or disassemble it in any mode again until the shooting portion of the review was over.

I shot surplus M193 and M855 from multiple vendors. I shot commercial soft point hunting ammunition from two vendors. I shot 77gr OTM rounds from two different vendors. I used both the supplied 30-round Magpul magazine as well equally a standard metallic USGI style mag.

At no point did I always have a failure to load, fire, or eject any round, even with mixed rounds inside the mag. I never had a magazine fail to lock or drop when the magazine release was pushed. The commodities never failed to lock back on an empty magazine, regardless of type or weight or round used. The gun ran perfectly.

Information technology besides ran hot every bit hell. Unusual for me, I spent almost of my time shooting this gun in one drill. I have a longer range match coming up where targets volition exist engaged using almost entirely alternating positions. So I shot continuing, kneeling, and off a bipod at a 100-g target.

I merely shot the entire magazine at the fastest pace that would allow me to consistently strike the 12" circular plate. I'd and then get back, reload the magazine, and shoot over again. I never loaded more than one mag at a fourth dimension, and I did all loading by manus without the use of an help device like a magazine loader or Uplula. This went on for 400 rounds, the better part of a cold afternoon.

The handguard got pretty hot, simply never too hot to hold. I wasn't wearing gloves, and if my support manus inched forward, the heat from the barrel and bayonet lug let me know it. I should have been paying closer attending.

Bushmaster XM-xv melt (paradigm courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

I didn't notice anything was incorrect until the next day, when I pulled the gun out for accuracy testing. The front department of the hand guard, where it butts upwards confronting the gas block, was melted. Not a lot, merely definitely melted. Now, the just way to get the hand guards off is to break them. I didn't want break them, so they were left on.

Who's the nerd, or who merely stood for their first promotion board? What is maximum sustained charge per unit of semi-automatic burn down for your M16 or M4? I hope y'all said 45 rounds per minute. That's the charge per unit of fire your rifle should exist able to sustain indefinitely. Plain, equally I was loading a single magazine by mitt each time, and only shooting thirty rounds of aimed fire each time, I was shooting a lot slower than 45 rounds per minute. I likewise wasn't shooting an M16 or an M4.

Bushmaster XM15 hand guard (image courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

The manus guards didn't melt considering they're poor quality. They are fine quality for an A2/A3 burglarize. They melted because a thin barrel and a carbine-length gas system heat up rapidly, fifty-fifty at that rate of burn down. Clearly faster than I was expecting.

I contacted Bushmaster and asked them what a customer should exercise if this happens. The answer was the right 1; contact customer service and Bushmaster will fix it.

Swapping out for new manufacturing plant hand guards is pretty simple. 1 can choose to see this equally a failure to business relationship for the heat from a carbine-length gas tube and a thin barrel and remind yourself to let up when the hand guard gets warm. Conversely you lot could meet information technology equally an opportunity to justify the replacement of the plastic hand guards and six-position stock with some new forest furniture for a very swish look. I know what I'd practice.

Wood carbine foregrip (image courtesy blackgunswood.com)

And then I approximate now I have to say information technology in out loud. Remember this TTAGers. Remington Outdoor Grouping is getting better and making proficient guns.

Last yr one of the employees in the organization told me they were taking the adjacent couple of years to pace back and improve quality on all of their lines, including Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin, and others. I was skeptical. So I saw the Remington 700 5R, a new Marlin 1984 and the new Remington Model Sevens. And now this. Their rifles are definitely seeing the quality command improvements I was promised.

I'chiliad not sure what'due south going on with the $796 MSRP, but it doesn't look like anybody is selling it for almost that. A gun shop virtually downtown Austin notorious for high prices sells the XM-fifteen QRC for $672. Other shops within an hour's drive sell it for $579 and I can chop-chop discover it online for $509. Brownells has it for $539 ($499 without the optic) . For a complete burglarize from a reputable company, with mil-spec guts and an optic, consummate and set to shoot out of the box, that's swell at all.

The XM15-QRC is a fine rifle for the coin. It's a lite weight burglarize at five lbs, like shooting fish in a barrel to shoot, and next to nothing to carry. The fact that it comes with a workable red dot optic is merely gravy.

Bushmaster XM-15 at remainder (paradigm courtesy JWT for thetruthaboutguns.com)

Bushmaster XM-15 QRC (Quick Response Carbine)

SPECIFICATIONS: Bushmaster XM-fifteen Quick Reaction Carbine

Type: Burglarize: Semi-Car
Caliber: 5.56 NATO|223 Remington
Finish: Matte Black
Action: Semi-Automated
Stock: 6-position collapsible stock
Sight: None
Barrel Length: 16-inch Superlite Contour Melonite Coated 1-8 Twist
Overall Length: 35 with Stock Extended
Weight: 5.18
Capacity: 30+1
Mags: 1 PMAG
Receiver: Aluminum A3 Upper, Aluminum Lower
Cage Device: A-2 Birdcage Flash Hider
Mini Red Dot Optic, Forward Assist, Bayonet Lug
MSRP: $769 (found online easily for $509-$579)

Ratings (out of 5 stars):

Style and Advent * * *
Welcome to MIL-STD, which is ok. Just only ok.

Customization * * * *
Y'all tin change everything on this gun, merely because of the traditional handguard prepare up it'south non nearly equally easy as a total length rail and free-floating hand guard.

Reliability * * * *
It ran 520 round without any trouble firing whatsoever round. The front end of the handguard melting is an upshot, just a minor one.

Accuracy * * *
Good enough for government work, and ameliorate than nigh issue rifles.

Overall * * *
If the hand baby-sit didn't melt this would be a solid 4-star budget priced AR. Merely it did, so points off there. Either swap those guards out or ease up on the rate of fire and y'all're left with a rifle that's got a whole lot going for it at a great retail cost.

mckimoldle1937.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-bushmaster-xm-15-quick-response-carbine/