Are the best years for AR15 innovation and developments behind us? 2005 to 2017 The Golden Age

Some things I was going to mention, the Keymod vs Mlok battle. Modern coatings like nickle boron, Melonite, DLC all came from this era. URGI upper came in right at the end.

Great video!!!
I'm just a recent hobbyist so I don't have the decades of experience a lot of folks have. To me, AR's are still very popular primarily due to its modularity.
Now a person can do some research, slowly pick up parts hear and there, and build a very respectable rifle.
I guess you could say entry level rifles are like a gateway to building your own custom rifle. The more you know the better you can customize it.
Maybe I just got lucky, but I have built a rifle that is a lot more accurate than I am. If someone is capable, this rifle will give sub one inch groups.
To me, what's so amazing is that the original platform was designed to deliver 2 MOA.
Now we have calibers that let the AR reach out to long range pretty accurately.
As with any hobby, one must do the research for safety and best results.

Im an AK guy through and through i just dont like how they became so expensive and PSA marketing a pos AK and thier AR products. I wouldn't mind having a AR today, especially attaching a under barrel shotgun "masterkey" looks attractive to me.

Truth is then that a Democrat administration is better for firearms sales than a Republican one. Go figure …

I own a DDM4 V7 and it’s a good rifle. But I believe my Sig Spear LT 5.56 is most likely the superior rifle. Sig just needs to make rail a little different so it’s more comfortable if you like running one C clap style. Also the full size Sig Spear in 277 fury is good but Sig needs to figure out a way to make it about 2 lbs lighter.

I think we've still got a few good years. The market has somewhat moved on from funny new attachments, decided on a standard for handguards (MLOK), and seems to be converging around the idea of addressing the ergonomics of the AR-15. Ambi bolt catches are finally becoming prevalent, multiple companies are making buffer-free systems and their reliability has come a long way, and many of those same companies are moving the charging handle to the correct spot at the left side of the receiver.
We know what works, now we're raising the bar for how readily accessible the controls should be, the next step is to hone these AR-18/ACR imposters into the most refined products they can be. I'm very excited for what the future holds with these variants of the "AR-15" platform.

I think the only thing truly innovative to come out recently for the AR is the Law Tactical ARIC. Someone finally decided that the AR needs something every other service rifle easily provided.

Wow great video made me remember brands that you just dont hear or see often. Thanks for all your hard work putting these videos together. Best of luck hitting that 100k subs

I think we have hit the point of diminishing returns. At this point, I don't think you can make an AR much better than it already is at this point. You can do pretty much everything for less than the absolute premium rifles at this point.

Great video and channel. Just subscribed!

Hey Jeff. Love your channel, and one MFG you can't overlook as a really solid AR is Bravo Company!! I have been shooting these rifles for about 9 years and they are accurate and their QC is top notch!!! They just run and run really well. On top of that they are accurate as it gets! I would put a BCM rifle up against a Daniel Defense any day!

I kindof wish you had talked about the why piston AR's have won the military's preference. Its seems to me that there are really only 2 advantages to a piston AR, they run a bit cleaner and its easier to control the gas for adding and removing a suppressor. Neither of those seem to be worth the weight and complexity disadvantage for typical civilian use.

I've thought a little on how the AR became so popular, even going back further into it's history and certain geopolitical and industry occurrences. The TLDR, at least how I see it goes something like: the fall of Westerns and rise of the action movie, Pre Clinton era bans, Colt leaving civilian market and the GWOT Rennaissance.

Just finished a 14.5 Block II clone assembled with all colt parts. Quads have always been king imo. Big fan of the URX 3.1 as well and everything that was coming out of that era of KAC.

I don't know if I ever said this before, but I didn't even realize til last year or so that YOU were the guy that wrote those Defense Review articles all those years ago; I stumbled across part 1 and 2 of those, and the "slings" one just a year or two after getting into ARs. Then when I moved into gear more seriously, lo and behold, there was the Ifak and 'top gear picks' ones…
Between those, and a few other key informative articles around that time (anyone remember "The List" for ARs?) it either gave me better ideas than I would have had, or validated information I was getting elsewhere… but didn't know what to believe as I was so new to the whole scene (and broke! Lack of money has saved me from more bad ideas than anything else. haha).
Still have the padded VCAS I got all the way back then because I didn't like the 'tail' on the old Vtac sling…
Ah, the good ol days when I thought this would be a 'fun' hobby. haha

Luv all the comments so far!

Aside from the end of the AWB/ 20 years of GWOT…. thank John Wick for the boom in 2014 and on. Came out right as the rush of 2013 panic buying was petering out, and and at a time when the AR market as we know it know had mostly moved on from the experimentation phase of the early-2000s, and was staring to solidify around what we see today.

I ended up building a silly amount of ar15s after Trump won in 2016. I think manufacturers really ramped up production in preparation for Hillary. There were tons of overstock sales and a lot of good parts were available for cheap. So why not build another one?

Got my Doublestar AR around 2017. And it was patterned around the Flat top M4A1s of the GWOT. So it’s like I have both the tail end and the beginning of this gold age of ARs

Honestly this, even if you have a Frankenstein AR, I have not seen anything by that makes me want to upgrade the one I built back in 2009. Sure I have changed just about everything on it other than the main rifle but it just works. Any more I am drawn to the pistol innovation, would you consider this the golden age for 2011’s?

Short answer NOPE – we are in a time of even more innovation for the AR15 – the suppressor market is innovating like crazy now – the new calibers and rounds being developed is more innovating today than before to maximize the ar15 platform – the AR15 is coming to life more than ever now.

I think the Golden age is dependent on who you are. I picked up an LWRC-DI and Black Rain Ordnance and found them to be quite interesting. And I’ve been in the AR platform for many many years. With the AR being the LEGO of rifles you can pretty much create whatever your heart desires and that makes the Golden Age carry on.

Trumps administration banded Bump Stocks. This is a revisionist history. 😂

I also think we should disregard 3d printing and it's overlap with the AR-15 🙄

I really don’t agree.
First off is piston, most piston Guns require forend to be removed to clean pistonsystem.
That screws up zeroing of laser.
Is it worth that?

The whole problem about Accuracy is forgotten/missed.
A std AR with so called free floating barrel have great issues with poi shifts due to various tension on forend and that affects the barrel.
So when good Accuracy is required a solution like LMT, LWRC, Colt C20, seekins enhanced reiciver etc is a must.
It’s a must to convert the gun from a cannonfoddergun to a DMR.

Quad Rail Gang 👐

Also diminishing returns. I purchased a Centurion Arms CM4 for about $1400. Excellent rifle and worth the money but $1400 is still a lot. Once I added mounts, optics etc I was in for over 2k.

It’s hard to justify a more expensive rifle that may marginally perform better.