Posted by on 2/16/2022 to
There are many great things about AR-15s, and a couple of those are availability and modularity. Availability is not hard, simply check out our website. Once you find all of the different parts, modularity allows you to put them together into one magnificent machine. With so many options out there it can be difficult to figure out which part to get. In the world of AR-15’s, Mil-Spec is synonymous with quality. When you first start looking into buying an AR-15 it might be one of the first things you hear about. “You wanna get a Mil-Spec AR-15, it’s better.” Although this is not technically true, Mil-Spec is a good guide for getting AR-15 parts of good quality. Because of these existing preferences, it is easier to find some Mil-Spec parts. Not all parts will have Mil-Spec versions due to legal reasons as well as cost-effectiveness. This can be important due to compatibility factors because some, but not all, parts will only fit together if they are either Mil-Spec or non-Mil-Spec.
Mil-Spec is an abbreviation of Military Specification. It is impossible to have a 100% Mil-Spec AR-15, due to it being a civilian sporting rifle and not a military rifle. As many of you probably know, the AR-15 and the M16 are similar. The AR-15 was created first by Eugene Stoner and Armalite in 1958. Then the U.S. Military made some changes to it and the M16 was created. The M16 is completely Mil-Spec, the AR-15 is not because the changes made by the military to create the M16 did not go into the AR-15. The most notable difference between the two is probably the fire control mechanisms with auto or burst fire on the M16 (auto on the A1 and A3 and burst fire on the A2 and A4 versions), and semi-automatic on the AR-15. This difference is the main reason that it is impossible to have a completely Mil-Spec AR-15, because if it has burst or auto fire, then it is not an AR-15.
The difference between Mil-Spec and other parts may vary, and though Mil-Spec does imply consistent quality, it does not mean that it is always the best part out there. These standards involve such things as the kind of material used or the threading on buffer tubes as well as stakes on the gas key screws in the Bolt Carrier Group and a bayonet lug. It can be difficult to find true Mil-Spec parts in the civilian market, even if it has nothing to do with automatic fire. There may be a lot of reasons for this, but cost efficiency and the free market have much to do with it. The Mil-Spec part may be better, but the cost of making the part to the specifications required may not seem to be worth it for the civilian market. It’s not as if it is illegal to make civilian gun parts that are identical to many of the military gun parts, as long as it is not illegal. If you were making rocket launcher parts, or a part of the trigger that is just a little bit different but makes the gun fire automatically instead of semi-automatically, that may be problematic.
The buffer tube seems to get a lot of attention when it comes to the difference between Mil-Spec and commercial. This is definitely a case of Mil-Spec being better. Better quality aluminum is used, 7075-T6 rather than 6061-T6. The threading is created differently as well, with the Mil-Spec threading rolled into the metal, producing taller and stronger threads as opposed to them simply being cut into the metal. You can definitely expect to pay more for Mil-Spec buffer tubes. The dimensions are also slightly different, a fraction of an inch wider on both ends. This may not sound like a lot, however these differences require compatibility with the parts it attaches to, so you need to make sure that you use exclusively Mil-Spec parts or non-Mil-Spec parts for the buffer tube and everything actually connected to it. Not so much for the parts that go inside of it though. Since there is no threading involved with the buffer, the spring, or the bolt carrier group these do not need to be Mil-Spec or otherwise compatible.
In conclusion, whether or not to use Mil-Spec components is definitely something that deserves your attention. While they are not necessarily “better” than many commercial civilian options, they occasionally are. With Mil-Spec, you know you are at least getting parts that are functional and have been shown to provide reliable service for years to come.