Makasi, Carmel, Both, or Neither?

[u/yummybunnybear]

Both non-restricted 5.56 short-stroke gas piston semiauto accepting Stanag mags. Both taking orders with similar delivery dates. What is your choice and your reasons?

Edit: So to summarize what y'all are saying: - Makasi for AR aesthetics and compatibility, - Carmel for reliability, - Both if you hate money, - Neither because of potential bans.

[u/number75]

IMO, each rifle has their own pros and cons. I'm not going to gauge aesthetics, since that's personal.

The Makasi MK15 is a less well known and less reputable manufacturer. It's a lot more basic in its feature sets. However, a lot of it uses standard parts. It uses AR triggers, it uses an AR Bolt, it uses a Picatinny interface for the stock, and it uses a slightly tweaked AR barrel. It's also made entirely of metal. So while the quality of the manufacturing is undeniably worse than IWI, it's also a lot more customizable and repairable.

The Carmel is obviously made by IWI. The quality of the manufacture, components, and finish are almost certainly going to be better than the Makasi. It will almost certainly be more reliable. However, almost all the components are proprietary and the aftermarket for the rifle is pretty much non-existent. It's also made mostly of polymer, which some people might be worried about. If you don't like the rifle out of the box, then you're likely stuck with it as it is.

So those are the two main things to consider. Personally, I'd prefer the Makasi MK15 for aesthetic reasons; and because it seems like it's the most easily repairable/customizable of the two.

[u/Agile-Delay-8770 → u/number75]

Hey man, what do you mean by slightly tweaked ar barrel? I called them and they said it uses a standard ar barrel nut.

[u/number75 → u/Agile-Delay-8770]

According to the SmallArmsSolution review, the gas block location needs to be drilled for the gas block pin to pass through. I'm not experienced enough with modifying barrels to know how much work that would take, but I imagine it's not a lot. But it does need to be done to use another barrel.

[u/Agile-Delay-8770 → u/number75]

Ahh I see. Thank you for your reply. Pretty much you can use any AR barrel as long as the outer diameter of the barrel is the same as the inner diameter of the gas black. The Makasi uses a government profile barrel and the gas block is installed on the position with a 0.75 inch diameter which is really standard for aftermarket barrels with a heavier and better profile like socom.

The only tricky thing is the Makasi uses a carbine length gas system and finding any socom barrel or heavier profile barrel that is non restricted length will be difficult in this configuration as they mostly exist in rifle length configurations. This is due to carbine length gas systems having more recoil as the gas is bled off near the chamber where pressure is the highest. This combined with a longer barrel keeps that pressure contained behind the bullet for longer so recoil impulse is relatively strong compared to a rifle length gas system and as such in a non restricted 18.6” + configuration most barrels are going to be a rifle length to limit recoil and increase longevity of the rifle. This is why you don’t typically see carbine length gas system barrels that are 16+ inches in length. Since we don’t have the luxury to be picky I really hope Makasi went with a rifle length system or intermediate length for us since it’s a longer barrel but I’d have to call and find out. Also if you were to convert it to a rifle length gas system you’d need a new op rod and likely new recoil springs as pressure of gas bled off will be less so you’d need a lighter recoil spring.

As for the roll pin install its quite simple and can be done with any barrel as long as the diameters match. It’s really just on the outside of the barrel and doesn’t need to be really deep.