[Bartholomew Roberts]

I haven’t used an LMT in over 10 years; but it was top of the line when I did. The LE6920 is one of the most tested firearms ever built, so its pretty much the benchmark. I doubt you’ll have problems with either one.

The thing to keep in mind is that its a whole system - magazines, ammo, rifle, optic, etc. If you buy a military spec rifle designed to feed 5.56 military ammo and then feed it .223 Tula steel case, you can still have issues. Likewise, if you buy a more commercial oriented rifle with an oversized gas port so it will run the Tula reliably, it may have issues when it gets fed higher pressure military or premium defensive ammo in 5.56.

To give another example, M855A1 has a different ogive than M855. So even though these are both NATO 62gr military ball ammo, you can see a measurable difference in reliability just by changing the shape of the magazine follower.

Think about how you plan to use it. What can you afford to feed it for a 1,200 round training class? But again, I don’t see a problem with either of the rifles you mention - especially if you put some of that money you save towards quality magazines, ammo, and training. Training and a basic carbine gas AR beats a Knights SR15E3 and no training every time.

I’ll also add I’ve seen commercial oriented budget ARs go 5,000 rounds without a stoppage or a cleaning. The main issue with the cheaper ARs is lack of consistency across the product line. You may get the best deal ever or you may get a lemon. But we are in a golden age of AR15s... even the cheap stuff now often runs really well.

And there is such a huge knowledge base on these rifles, that even if you do have issues, you can often troubleshoot it yourself quickly with nothing more than Google and $20 of parts.