Few gun scribes have spilled more ink on the AR-15 subject than Patrick Sweeney. In addition to being a respected law enforcement armorer, he’s authored thousands of articles, columns and dozens of books, including the popular title Gunsmithing the AR-15: The Bench Manual—specializing in AR-15 maintenance, troubleshooting, upgrading, gunsmithing and shooting.
GD: So, you’re this world-renowned AR-15 expert, you’re an AR-15 armorer.
SWEENEY: [laughs] You’re gonna give me a swelled head if you keep this up.
GD: OK, but you find a good deal on a $700 AR-15, and you get it home.
It used to be that if you spent $600 for an AR-15—and I’m dating myself here—that you were spending your money at the top of what you would be spending for an AR-15. Nowadays, you say to somebody that you got an AR for $600, and they go, “What’s wrong with it? What kind of cheap Chinese whatever is it that you just bought?” And people
