Windham polymer?

[kilotanker22]

In the market for an AR style rifle. I was dead set on a S&W MP 15T. Until today I got to handle a rifle Made by Windham Weaponry. It had a polymer upper and lower. It was incredibly light.

What's the scoop on these rifles? I have only ever owned S&W and Colt AR platforms.

[Rangerrich99]

I have one, bought it about 5 years ago now.

Honestly, mine is a basic plinker for me, so I haven't tried to run it through a training class or anything, but I've run a bit more than 2,500 rds through it, with as much as 250 rds in one session without any hiccups. Used primarily my reloads (55 grain soft points, middle-of-the-range powder charges).

Out to 100 yards it's acceptably accurate. At 50 yards standing off-hand I can easily put every round into a 1-lb. propane bottle with iron sights. And I'm not a great rifleman. A bit better than average, I'd guess.

Again, I have no idea how it would do under hard use, but as a casual range gun it has worked just fine. IMO, Windham makes a better than average rifle.

[kilotanker22]

Thanks for the reply.

I do a lot of shooting. But aside from a without rule if law type situation. It would likely never see hard use.

Although at the local gun shop. The Wii ham is only around $200 cheaper than the S&W MP 15T

[bfoosh006]

IMHO, a polymer framed AR is not worth it.

Sure LtWt... but at the cost of durability.

Google the polymer lowers... they break.

I bought a Carbon Firearms years ago... it is now regulated to a 22LR.

Aluminum uppers and lowers have been the mainstay for a good reason.

[Rangerrich99]

Originally Posted by bfoosh006

IMHO, a polymer framed AR is not worth it.

Sure LtWt... but at the cost of durability.

Google the polymer lowers... they break.

Now I'm no expert in the area of polymer anything, but if the above is true, why should anyone buy a Glock/M&P/Canik/Ruger/etc? Shouldn't we all be staying away from these types of guns and buying only steel/aluminum frame pistols?

And I did a quick Google search, and did find some photos of broken carbon fiber ARs. Almost all Bushmasters (as we know, Bushmaster decided to make certain adjustments in their production to become less expensive many years ago), and a few ATIs. So far, I haven't found any pics of a broken Windham Carbon AR (I specifically typed in "windham AR-15 carbon breaks" with no results).

Of course, I'm sure there's probably a couple out there, but I'd have to ask, just how did the operator break it? Through the course of typical range time? Or were these people throwing/dropping/rolling over/diving onto their weapon in some kind of high intensity training class?

As I stated above, I've put several thousand rds through my Windham Carbon with flawless results. And with several tens of thousands of rds total through all of my ARs I can't imagine that the recoil energy of a typical .223 round could ever break my Carbon example. At least not before I shoot out the barrel, sometime in the year 2043.

However, as a light-use range/HD rifle (basically what the OP was asking about) which is essentially what mine is for, the Windham Carbon is a fine gun. YMMV of course.

Just don't jump on/drive over the thing and it should probably give decades of reliable use.

Sidenote: the rifle I use for carbine training classes is an aluminum Windham Weaponry AR-15 example which also has performed flawlessly through rolling over AZ dust/dirt, banged on the ground, and general abuse. Just under 9,000 nearly perfectly reliable cycles (didn't like steel-cased ammo).
Windham makes a good rifle.

[Fishbed77]

Now I'm no expert in the area of polymer anything, but if the above is true, why should anyone buy a Glock/M&P/Canik/Ruger/etc? Shouldn't we all be staying away from these types of guns and buying only steel/aluminum frame pistols?

These pistols were designed from the start to have polymer frames (and there are quite a few rifles designed with polymer receivers in mind).

The AR-15 was not designed to have a polymer receiver, as evidenced by the numerous photos on the interwebz of polymer AR-15 lower receivers broken near the buffer tube.