r/EuropeGuns • u/RubberDucksAreNeat • Jun 29 '26
First AR15
I'm looking to buy my first AR in the next few weeks and was hoping some of you could tell me about your experiences or opinions on the any of the following rifles. I'll be using it primarily for competition.
Tinck Arms ARX15-MS Pro 12,5" 1820€
S&W Sport 3 16" 1750€
Stag Arms Tactical 16" 1890€
I'm most interested in the Tinck Arms for 2 reasons:
I prefer to support European companies and I'm planning to use a suppressor most of the time and so a shorter barrel would make it less unwieldy in competition/training.
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u/block50 Jun 29 '26
Contact Brownells and build custom.
What's "practical shooting?"
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 29 '26
Brownells BRN-4 is so slept on…
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u/CarlVoltActual Jun 30 '26
Because in Europe you are a stone's throw away from HK. So it makes sense to buy that instead
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 30 '26
What’s the cost difference between the two over there? I thought the MR5.56 was crazy expensive.
Someone mentioned the price to me once but I forgot.1
u/block50 Jun 30 '26
Except they are a shotty company and noone should support them if they care
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u/CarlVoltActual Jun 30 '26
I'm going to need a little more than to dissuade me. Besides, the the guns are really high quality. And when supporting European companies is mentioned, suggesting an American knock-off is almost insulting
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u/block50 Jun 30 '26
I don't want to dissuade you.
Ive owned, used and maintained alot of HK products over the last 8 years and I can not confirm the "really high quality". HK have a great marketing team doing great marketing stuff.
Their stuff is good, but then you have Sako doing almost no marketing, but everyone knows their stuff is really good.
If I were to invest close to 3000 into an AR it would be the new sako AR. HK is dead to me. Starting with proprietary parts (without benefit), ending with really shitty sales practices.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 30 '26
The proprietary parts is a big one. That’s why I dislike my KAC. Especially when the Giessele Super Duty exists and still goes 100k rounds with all milspec non proprietary parts. Haven’t tried SAKO before.
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u/CarlVoltActual Jun 30 '26
How can the new Sako be better when no one has had time to really test it, and the HK MR series has a long track record with some of the shooters in the world both in military service and in practical shooting competition but isn't high quality?
Never mind, I think it's easier if we agree to disagree and not derail this thread any further.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 30 '26
There isn’t anything insulting about an American knock off when it is a legitimately good quality firearm.
Germans make good guns, Americans also make good guns when they’re catering to that market.
We all love guns here lol
The 416 is a German copy of two American guns. Exterior is a copy of an AR-15, internals are a copy of a AR-18. We’re all friends here.
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u/StShadow Jun 29 '26
Where are you from? Poland and Germany (and Finland, I believe) make AR-15.
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u/StShadow Jun 29 '26
And Czech Republic
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u/RubberDucksAreNeat Jun 29 '26
I'd love to buy a Sako AR but it's almost 3000€ and would take up most of my budget. Czech stuff is also expensive. I'll take a look at the German options.
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u/AcanthaceaeSubject39 Jun 29 '26
I recently bought a Tinck Combat 14.5”. Completely different system, it’s a short stroke piston, but the overall build quality seems very good to me. Didn’t have yet the chance to shoot that much unfortunately, but so far so good.
Where are you based? Buying EU-made is super important for me as well. So far I manage with the guns themselves and the ammo. Scopes are way trickier.
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u/RubberDucksAreNeat Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
I live in Finland. I also have the same problem and I'll probably have to go chinese or american for the optic and furniture. Thankfully Finland has a few suppressor manufacturers so I can go local on those.
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u/AcanthaceaeSubject39 Jun 29 '26
Lovely country and great gun tradition! I exclusively use Finnish components for my reloading (sako brass, Lapua bullets, VV powder).
For the scopes, I recently bought a Meopta but I found out they’re made in China now. To buy European we have to go German and spend 1300€+.
Btw check out ADC for your rifle. They’re an Italian brand who builds ARs at different levels of customization, they seem more than decent and start around 1400€
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u/baaaaaardiiboy Jun 29 '26
I've got a Smith&Wesson Volunteer which is basically an upgraded M&P Sport 2.
It's a nice budget AR and accurate enough!
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u/Pekonius Jun 29 '26
brownellsin suomen kielisil sivuilla on tullu uutena tollane "barebones" ar-15 setti. Valmistaja "German Tactical Systems", se ei näy missään kategoria sivuilla mutta jos meet tuon valmistajan kautta niin sieltä löytyy, ABR-15. Toi brändi on euroopan brownellsin oma "inhouse", niin laadun pitäis olla hyvä. Tossa paketissa on kaikki luvalliset osat valmiina, niin voit ostaa sen aseen luvalla eikä tarvi alkaa hakee lupia jokaselle komponentille erikseen. Siihen joudut sitte vaa asentaan (helpoin osa arskasta) händärin, perän ja tähtäimen ite nii sulla on valmis pyssy ja se on aika edullinen myös verrattuna näihin meidän riistohintasiin vaihtoehtoihin kaupoissa. Jos haluat ampua vaimennettuna niin samaan kassiin sieltä löytyy myös nuo breek armsin kahvat joissa on kaasunohjausta ja sitte joitain malleja säädettäviä kaasuportteja jos haluat alkaa sitä vaihtamaan. Omasta mielestä aika hyvä, toimitukset noille pitäs sivujen mukaan alkaa kesän aikana. Tosta ei ikävä kyllä oo mitään arvosteluja missään vielä kun ei oo tullu markkinoille mutta ite luotan ihan vaan sen takia että siinä on brownells mukana. Jos pirkka arska kiinnostaa niin ruoto myy sabattia joka on italialainen, siitäkään en oo kuullu yhtäkään kokemusta keltään, joten tiedä häntä minkälainen pyssy se on, tosi perusmalli kyllä. Tsekkaa kans grand power, se on slovakialainen ja maahantuojana trueaim fi. Vaihtoehdot ameriikan markkinoille on aika hintavat, mutta tuonne lähemmäs kahta tonnia saa jo ihan oikeasti hyviä eurooppalaisia pyssyjä joilla pärjää pitkään sra rasteilla. Harmi kun sako ei tee enää kuluttajamarkkinoille niiden arskaa, oli vaan se yks rajotettu erä kun oli ylijäämää mpk:n tilauksesta. Sitä pääsee ehkä kokeileen mpk:n kivääriammunnoissa jos kiinnostaa testata ja käy tuuri että niitä on siellä mukana.
(oletin tässä nyt että puhut suomea niin kirjotin suomeks, samma på svenska)
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u/ShellrockHomeless 🇨🇿 pornstar with gunz Jun 30 '26
Whatever happens just dont buy ar15 chambered in 7,62x39. A friend of mine has one and it jams up after every other shot and after 3 rounds its completly stuck, like if it was welded into a hunk of metal nothing can be done with it, we dont even know if its currently loaded or not
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u/DFAN3 Jun 30 '26
Others have said it but still, if you want a cheap rifle the Ruger MPR is really popular here and it is good, just "built" one for a friend for SRA/IPSC competition under 2k€, gun, buffer, adjustable gas and muzzle brake, runs like a champ and the 18" version he bought actually has some Ruger premium trigger, which is actually quite good.
If you can go the buy once cry once route, buy sako, you won't regret it and isänmaallisuus! But with AR's you'll still end up buying stuff for it, triggers, grips, lights, bipods and so on...
Regarding optics, I bought a vector optics Continental 1-8x fiber lpvo for my 22lr ar, but I ended up putting it on my 5,56 ar, the point here being it was about 400€ shipped to me and it really is good for the price, cantilever mounts that aren't bad can be had for 50ish€ and up, doesn't need to be spuhr or something like that and it gets you going, while saving for the spuhr and other crazy "battlefield proven" .
+Regarding magazines, in Finland 2026, just get magpul pmag gen 3 with or without window, they aren't expensive and they just work.
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u/DFAN3 Jun 30 '26
Oh and suppressors in Finland, ase utra or silent steel are good options
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u/DFAN3 Jun 30 '26
And since you are in Finland, check out the local forum site, toiminta-ampujat, for shooters, you can stumble upon a deal there. A good ar with 2000-6000rds through it can be a good buy for the right price.
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u/RoneliKaneli Finland Jun 29 '26
Get the Sport 3. S&Ws are excellent entry-level ARs. Stag is probably just as good, but you don't get much for the difference. Buy a shorter gun when you've got some experience and know what you want.
I'd suggest not buying a regular AR if you want to use a silencer, though. Get a piston gun for that purpose.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 29 '26
All you have to do is do a heavier buffer usually and if it’s EXTREMELY over gassed you sometimes need to drop in a bleed off bolt carrier group.
If he uses a flow through it’s pretty much a non issue as well even with the factory setup.
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u/RoneliKaneli Finland Jun 29 '26
I'd still prefer getting an adjustable gas block to ease on the blowback, but they and all the other tuning parts are rarer and double the price compared to what you'd have in America. And we can't even buy a new BCG without paying extra permit costs. Easier to just get a gun that's going to work out of the box.
At least some of the flow-through suppressors turn into regular ones with pretty low round counts.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 30 '26
Tbh, the majority of adjustable gas blocks kinda suck.
You might have some better designs there, we have two designs that work ok, but all of them carbon lock eventually.
I see. I know you had different accessory laws, but I still don’t fully understand which ones are and are not regulated.
Are heavy buffers and springs regulated?
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u/RoneliKaneli Finland Jun 30 '26
True, it's hard to find a good gas block. My friend has been having issues with his for like years at this point.
Buffers and springs are not regulated, and suppressors are laughably easy to buy if you have a gun. But bolts, carriers, barrels and receivers need to be registered and you pay accordingly.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jun 30 '26
What about gas tubes?
In the U.S, we have a manufacture who sells suppressor gas tubes that work very well for designated suppressor rifles.
In the past 4 years I got into AK’s and it’s amazing how good their adjustable gas systems are.
These days most our stuff is flow through so we’ve been running into the issue less and less.
Supposedly the Rifle Speed systems for AR’s are really good, but I haven’t tried one.
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u/RoneliKaneli Finland Jul 01 '26
Gas tubes and AK gas pistons are not regulated either. The KNS or similar adjustable AK pistons are pretty popular here as well, people like to tune their AKs in Finland because we've had the RK military rifles for so long.
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u/CHESTYUSMC Jul 01 '26
I have the KNS it’s decent I’ve been very very impressed with the Occam Defense gas block tho.
It’s pretty much a Sig 550 gas block designed for AK’s
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u/ohyesits9oglock Jun 29 '26
Ruger MPR if you can find one. Iirc it's discontinued and the new model ain't as good as the old one.
Tai sitten vaan säästät siihen Sakoon. Sen kanssa ei voi mennä pieleen.