Today, we are blessed with dozens of choices
when we seek to buy a quality AR-15 style rifle. Almost every
one of them are good rifles. While some are better than others
in fit and finish, they pretty much all work very well, as the
AR-15 is an excellent design that has been with us for around a
half-century, and shows no sign of obsolescence approaching.
The major difficulty that I have when
reviewing a new AR-15 style rifle is finding a fresh approach to
the review, as I have reviewed so many. At the major industry
shows, I visit with many different makers of AR-15 rifles. It
was at the NASGW Show last fall that
I ran across a booth that was manned with workers from The Arms
Room in Orlando, Florida. These fellows seemed to be having a
great time, showing their wares to firearms distributors, along
with the very few members of the firearms press that cover that
show. We spent
several minutes jaw-boning with the friendly folks in the booth,
not only about their rifles, but about the way in which they are
built, and the relationship of the owners and staff at The Arms
Room.
The Arms Room is a one-hundred percent
veteran-owned and operated company. Many of the employees served
with the owner in Afghanistan, and most of the armorers are
combat veterans. They have used similar rifles in combat, and
they know what works well and what doesn’t. The way in which
the rifles are built is different than in most high-production
facilities. At The Arms Room, instead of running a production
line, each rifle is built from start to finish by one single
armorer. The Arms Room also sells direct to the final customer.
The customer can order the weapon on line or over the phone, and
the rifle is shipped through the customer’s preferred licensed
dealer for legal transfer.
The Arms Room has several models from which to choose,
and the one featured here is their top-of-the-line Scout Rifle.
The Scout Rifle is chambered for the
5.56x45mm NATO cartridge (300 AAC Blackout available as a
special order), and wears a sixteen inch chrome molybdenum
barrel with an M-4 exterior profile and a one-in-seven-inch
twist rifling rate. The upper receiver has an integral 1913
Picatinny-compliant rail. Along with the four rails on the
free-floating aluminum hand guard, there is about forty-four
inches of rail upon which to mount optics and accessories.
The muzzle is fitted with a unique and effective Phantom
spiral flash suppressor. The Scout uses a carbine-length
direct-impingement gas system, and an M-16 bolt carrier group.
The Scout Rifle wears an excellent set of Magpul MBUS folding
sights and a Rogers Super-Stoc buttstock, which is one of the
best telescoping buttstocks on the market. It also wears a
Magpul pistol grip, and comes with one Magpul thirty-round
magazine. The buffer tube and internal parts are mil-spec. The
Scout Rifle weighed in at six pounds, thirteen ounces with an
empty P-MAG in place. The trigger resistance measured 4.8
pounds.
The TAR-15 Scout Rifle arrived just in time
for me to take it to the NRA
Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico to do some
long-range shooting. As a member of The Shootists, I go to Raton
every year in June for our annual gathering, and the WC is an
excellent place to shoot a rifle at extended ranges. For
long-range shooting, I mounted a Leupold Mark 4 8.5 to 25 power
variable scope in a rugged ArmaLite mount, and attached it to
the flattop receiver of the Scout Rifle. Resting the rifle in a Target
Shooting, Inc. Model 500 rifle rest, it was very easy to
make solid, precise hits out to 800 yards using the graduated
reticle hash marks in the Leupold scope. I used Israeli
NATO-spec ball ammunition, Lake City green-tip NATO-spec
ammunition, and Buffalo Bore 69 grain Sniper ammo at distances
from 100 to 800 yards. Every round fed, fired, and ejected
perfectly, with no malfunctions of any kind during all phases of
testing. I fired the Scout Rifle using the Magpul P-MAG
provided, as well as two twenty-round Vietnam War era Colt
magazines. I prefer these shorter mags when firing from the
bench, and the rifle functioned perfectly with them, as
expected.
I fired the TAR-15 on paper at one hundred
yards for accuracy testing. Accuracy was very good at the
beginning, and as is often the case with a new rifle, accuracy
improved greatly as the bore became seasoned a bit, firing some
sub-half-minute groups at that distance. Accuracy at extended
ranges was also superb, hitting the same spot on distant steel
and rocks out to 800 yards with ease.
The TAR-15 Scout Rifle is my favorite of the
several rifle packages offered by The Arms Room, but they offer
rifles to fit most any budget, and all are priced quite
competitively for the features offered.
As mentioned at the beginning of this review, there are
plenty of choices when selecting a quality AR-15 style rifle in
today’s market, but there are a couple of intangible features
that make this and other rifles from The Arms Room special, at
least to me. Those familiar with Gunblast.com know that we have
a high regard for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines,
and especially for combat veterans. The Arms Room has special
discounts for veterans, active-duty, and retired military, as
well as for first responders such as law enforcement, emergency
medical, and firefighters. The Arms Room sells direct, either
online or by phone, but to get these special discounts, you must
call in your order. One
very special discount of one-hundred percent is offered to any
serviceman or woman who has received The
Congressional Medal of Honor. Any CMA recipient can have the
rifle of his or her choice, free of charge. This is very generous of those fellows at The Arms Room, and
shows where their hearts are. To me, this makes a difference,
and if it does to you, give them consideration when selecting
your next AR. The Arms Room builds rifles that are built right,
priced right, guaranteed forever, and built in the USA.
Check
them out and order online at www.armsroom.com,
or call to order at 407-282-3803.
Jeff Quinn
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