I've been debating for a while about geting a 6.5 Grendal AR bt lately I've been looking into the Springfeild SOCOM. But I don't know anyone that has one are they really worth the price or overrated?
I have a friend that's in my National Guard Unit that stresses to just buy the parts and build one yourself. Buying the complete gun outright is a waste of money. You could buy the parts twice and have to guns for the price of one complete gun. I'm not familiar with either brand, but I'd look for SOCOM parts as its seems to be more popular, or at least in Idaho it is. You could try Gunbroker.com for the parts, just type in "ar-15 upper" and "ar-15 lower".
Go with the AR. The M1A is IMO over-priced and the SOCOM is probably one of the most over-rated and over-priced non-HK firearm in history.
I have heard some people complain about reliability on the SOCOm possibly because of the short barrel and possible gas system problems. I would lean more toward a full sized M1-A. 6.5 Grendel has alot more punch than the 5.56 X 45, but the uppers cost more and ammo is MUCH more difficult to find (plan on reloading if you are going to shoot much). 6.8 SPC is good too. With the support of Remington behind it, it should be more available 9for a longer period of time). For my money, there is nothing wrong with the 5.56. In FMJ form the round leaves much to be desired in terminal performance. With good soft point ammo is works well on soft skinned vermin. 7.62 X 51 (308 Win) is far better than any of the above (IMHO). The main problem currently is cost and availability of ammo.
