actual any budget list: 1. AK 2. PSA JAKL 3. Mini 14 4. Galil Ace 5. VZ 58 6. SKS 7. M1 Carbine

2:27 FN Scar 16 7:09 M-1 Carbine 12:19 CZ Bren 2 MS 17:29 B&T APC Pro 21:24 IWI Tavor X95 26:13 Sig MCX spear 31:29 Henry big boy X

Cant buy an AR? Just drop 3x the price of a serviceable AR on a scar!!!! Why didnt i think of that!? Lmao

I guess this are alternatives... though im not sure on the "any budget" claim in the video title.

I like wood. I like 5.56. I think the Mini14 is neat. I like how it is unassuming. I like how it just looks like a hunting rifle to the uninformed when I transport it. I like how the A-team theme music plays inside my head whenever I touch it.

No Mini 14 or 30, 300 blkout, or Ak? Nothing besides the lever gun under $1800.

My grandfather carried an m1 carbine in the pacific. He stated the obvious. It didn't have the power of the Garand but it got the job done. I had one myself and I enjoyed it. I wish I hadn't sold it now because they were cheap in the 80's. Not so much now.

M1 carbine is a short-stroke piston system. The M1 carbine had 15 and 30-round magazines, not 20-round ones. I haven't bought any in a few years but the ammo is sold in pistol quantities of 50 rounds to a box instead of rifle rounds that are 20 rounds to a box, so I was paying $25 for 50 which is actually quite reasonable (probably cost more now).

Not sure I agree with the “any budget” you can get a decent AR for under 700 and these are all way above that.

Glad you listed the Carbine. There was zero issues with the wood stock as proven in the Pacific Theater and Viet Nam. Mine was carried by a radio OP for 2 tours. Excellent for fun and defense. Spend time with it and you will be a believer.

M1 Carbine is and always was a cool rifle.

Ultimak makes a replacement hand guard for the M1 Carbine that has a section of picatinny rail on top, which enables you to mount lights, red dots, long-eye-relief scopes, etc. I have an Ultimak rail on my Mini-14. And speaking of the Mini-14... no Mini-14 in this video? It's a wonderful AR alternative, especially in ban states. Solid, reliable, and much more accurate than it is often given credit for.

The carbine 30 cal was a replacement for the 1911 amongst artillery corpsman/ medics radiomen. My pops carried one in Guam Saipan tinium and pelilu

No SKS? That's craaaaazy

The M1 carbine is and will always be my favorite rifle. That rifle is so accurate, it’s amazing.🇺🇸

Are there any affordable alternatives? I’m Biden broke and can’t afford $1000+ on a gun!

I love garands or carbines, great guns I also love the 1903 Springfield

Awesome video 👍👏

Just found your channel... Great content. No hype, just info and facts. Awesome work.

one big advantage of lever guns , they are legal everywhere in the US even DC and Chicago , two is its extremely familiar to everyone and in court (god forbid you have to kill anyone) its much easier to convince others your just a poor guy defending himself. Last you can find good condition used around 500 a more budget friendly price

nice demo and appreciate the info!

I love my m1 carbine. Such a fun little gun, if you can good mags.

M1 carbine is short stroke piston, war time mags might not be as reliable as say Korean mags. Ian had an excellent interview with Ken Heckathorn about the carbine.

Much like a shotgun, the trick to reloading a side-loader is to continually top off as you shoot. Not as complicated as it sounds. Especially when you consider you're not gonna be standing out in the open no matter what gun you're packing.

I have handled several M1 carbines over the past 50 years and I think one of the best makes ever made was made in the late 60-70s by Plainfield. They started with surplus parts. But ran out of parts and had to start making them from scratch in the 60-70s and were not rushed by a war. They were marketed to law enforcement and have been the most reliable and accurate M1 carbines I have ever used. I still own mine. As for the 30 Carbine round, out of a carbine, it is one of the best defensive rounds I have seen. I worked a lot of shooting during my days in Law Enforcement and worked and reviewed cases where M1 carbines were used, and there can be no doubt that it is a very effective weapon at ranges from 0- 200 yards. Especially with soft or hollow point projectiles. True the 30 Carbine rounds are getting to be costly compared to 9mm or 5.56 Nato/223 Remington. But the M1 Carbine round is also easy to hand load with a Lee Hand loader, which is not that expensive. By hand-loading, you save a lot of cost per round. And you can pay for the reloading equipment and supplies in a year or less. Depending on how much you shoot. Plus, with extra Dies and bullets, you can also reload other calibers such as 357/38spl, 9mm, 380, 45acp, 44 mag/44spl; and others. Reloading can save you a lot of cash in the long run and it is fun when done safely! You can work up very reliable and accurate loads for your weapons. You simply need to pay attention to what you're doing, and never push, or exceed the recommended loading limits! I always weigh my bullets after loading to find any that I may have under or overloaded by accident.

Great video, and thank you for posting! Wondering if it would be possible to do a video on the best AR alternates for New York State and/or other states which require a featureless version?

Thank you for the presentation. A bunch of cool guns! Not that it matters at all, but the SCAR 16 runs just fine with the stock folded. At least mine does; and it’s a very early example with the reciprocating charging handle. The same for the 17.

Things I'm not crazy about concerning piston vs direct impingement is more felt recoil and added weight so I'll stick with my DI driven AR.

Many of the rifles discussed in the video are several thousands of dollars. You can get a base model AR15 from Palmetto State Armory for around $450.00. If you have lots of money, you can buy whatever you want.

Keep up the good work !!!!!

I love that a side gate lever can be reloaded while still in the fight. Fire 3 top off mag while staying on target.

My first rifle was mosin 91/30 and a have SKS. Saving for WBP poland right now.

you forgot about the styer aug that can take p mags and the Robinson arms XCR. And a gaili ace. Beretta ARX 100. It probably is a few more, but that’s what I can remember right now. But it’s a pretty good list. I’ll like to see one on the side arms next like best alternatives to Glock.

Mr. Hackathorn ( I am sure I missspelled it), an expert on this rifle, said the magazine is a one time use by design. You could reload 1 time if needed but after that not reliable.

I'd give my left hand for an M1 carbine

On the MI Carbine, just change out the top wood handguard for a metal picatinny rail for a good scout rifle platform. If you do a little work like changing out all the springs etc., they are stupid reliable.

Great video!

Keltec SU-16c should have made the list. 100%. They are freaking awesome. They have everything you could want except pic rail space. Folding stock / fires folded. AR-15 Mags. Integral bipod. Super duper light weight. Threaded barrel. Reliable. Good customer service. Can get em 600$ or less.

The m1 carbine gi mags are the best. Aftermarkets have a long history of problems. If you can get the 30 round korean military mags, they are legit and used to be really cheap.

The Robinson Armament XCR-L is a great alternative too, especially for folks who are used to the controls on a FAL or SLR but want something that shoots intermediate calibers. It even has a SLR like aftermarket foldable charging handle available for it. Internally it's similar to an AK and eats cheap steel case ammo like a champ.

For me, my first gun purchase was a Springfield XDM .45 ACP, but when I got out of the Army, I wanted the AR-15 (milspec), because the platform is similar to what I trained with and had downrange during my deployment to the Gulf. But I have now been open to looking at alternatives, not because I don't love my AR anymore, but just would like to perhaps purchase firearms in other calibers.

I bought one of the initial 10,000 unit US made IWI Tavor TAR-21's. I love it but I gotta admit the X-95 has a few advantages. Surprised not to see the IWI Galil ACE on this list, especially since the "budget" part didn't play into the selections.

Until these boutique guns come down in price, there will never be an alternative. Its reliable, modular, inexpensive to maintain and accurate.

The M1 Carbine is a short piston design, not a long rod design like the M1 Garand.

The first rifle/carbine I ever fired was an M1. I am 64 and not that old but definitely older and really appreciate the classic firearms

The M1 Carbine is an American classic, Without it the country and it's Allies would've not won World War II

As a historical weapons collector I have a couple of M1 carbines. One in a museum and one in my house.

Great guns!

I spent over 20 years in the Army and retired 3 years ago. In that time I had contact with many operators, from Rangers to Delta. I never saw any of them carrying a SCAR, whether stateside or in a combat zone. When I queried any of them each of them said that the SCAR sucked and they hated the rifle. As for the M1 Carbine, I Choate makes multiple synthetic stock versions and there are companies that produce a replacement upper hand guard that has picatinny for mounting sights and accessories.

Scar 16. Owned and ran one for 7 years. Pros: shoots smoother than an AR. Side charging and bolt release is nice, you can clear most malfunctions without taking a hand off the pistol grip. Runs cleaner than an AR, just clean your piston after every 2k rounds. Cons: heavier, and bulkier than ARs, twice as expensive. Gen 2 pmags are not compatible, and have to have a notch cut out of them to stop prevent damage to the bolt catch. One of the reasons for gen 3 pmags was to make them compatible with the scar. Charging handle and buttstock latch have to be replaced with better aftermarket parts right out of the box. Spare parts are available, but expensive. Sold my scar during the big rush during covid(got all my money back😊) bought a quality AR and a bunch of other gear for the same price.

Marine Corps for 12-yrs and 28-yrs retired cop ....I have had several personal owners AR platforms, all solid excellent weapons, when I first entered law enforcement our department allowed us to use several weapons platforms at our discretion, we just had to qual with them, I used and M1 Carbine for a few years until the department's new policy was no more variety long guns , only Colt AR's....I really missed using my M1 Carbine for work....

You always explain clearly and that’s good and welcome.

Another alternative one might consider if you happen to be on the more budget side is the KelTec SU-16. I have one and its fantastic.

Mini 14 would be my 1st choice as an alternative. Ak is also a no Brainer. Bother very reliable gun. Psa jakl would be another good option.

ARs AKs IWI Tavor X95s My favorite rifle at the moment is my Fulton Armory M14 Delta version in .308 Even better tuned then the one I used in the military way back when ✌️🇺🇸

Do you think an SKS model M would be a good alternative? Its an SKS that takes AK mags

A Scar. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 Just wow. The most overpriced, overrated rifle on the market.

So the scar light is interesting, It’s the cost of a high end ar but in my opinion it’s a lackluster. The ugg boot is notorious for destroying optics and stringing ammo. The bolt used to also be an issue but I’m sure they fixed a lot of it but still. For the price I’d rather have a Galil, or a BRN 180 upper. Your .30 choice I feel is spot on! However I felt as ar- alt being your man topic it’s all gonna be 556/223 etc. Other than that / even with that I loved the video, and how you give your non bias perspective on top of a hint / bit of history and understanding! Great work! The Bren

Dealing with the M1 Carbine you can do some modification to bring it up to some what date. First a ww2/Korean War one will cost you up to or more the 2K price. Auto Ordnance makes a reproduction around 1K. They make a pic rail to replace the top handguard you can put a light, red dot on it. You can do the same to the mini 14 as well.

Mosin Nagant SKS AK Keltec

My uncle Leo was in recoconsist in the pacific during ww2 in the Philippines and the m1 carbine was his carry weapon

I had room for one more rifle in my gun safe and the one I chose to complete my collection was the m1 carbine with choate side folding stock.

Good video and everyones interpitation of budget is different but none of those are below $1200

The only carbine style rifle available to buy brand new is the mini 14 or 30 in the state of Connecticut, except to apply for a special license which is not easy. So sucks for me. Mini 14 is not bad but again the state of. Connecticut only allows 10 round mags too. Many extra mags is a must.

For the cheapest quality upgrade........look into the wolf a1 upper. $600 piston ar upper, used by taiwan military, it's pretty legit. or the brn 180 piston upper, it's $900, or my favorite, the faxon ARAK upper, about $1000. the arak is a whole design around the piston, it's not just an ar with an added piston. I dont have a ton of time on it, a couple hundred rounds, but so far, it is freaking awesome. The faxon upper will fit on an ar lower. they make it in 5.56, 300blk, and 7.62 x39. The 7.62 works great so long as you use mags that will feed it right.

M14 all day long.

As Brazilian our new president thief of cleptocracy has banned citizens for owning semi auto rifles so a lever gun is the best rifle we can have also a 12 gauge shotgun but only pump action too

My complaints with the Bren are the pistol grip and brace, which needs to be removed for breakdown. Not a big fan of the sights, but they are tritium. I've got the 8" and love that it fits into all of my backpacks.

I have a Beretta ARX 100. I’m a lefty, and the firearm excels in that respect. Sadly, it’s not produced here anymore. A Ruger mini 14/30 would make sense for a part 2

I can think of one direct gas impengment rifles that wont dirty the action. The MAS 49/56 with the gas cup mounted on the top front end of the bolt assy. The MAS needs a manual gas regulator.. One detractor is the 7.5 french cartridge

I think I've got all the AR platform I want/need, including the IWI Zion15 SPR. The X95 is very sexy but.. don't need another 5.56 platform. For a long time, I had a serious interest in the Tavor 7 because I was interested in .308 but someone said (before you) that, while you can suppress the Tavor 7, you'd have to come to terms with getting some hot gasses in the face. I don't want to pay for something I'm not gonna love to shoot. But, if you're gonna go bullpup, I love that PS90. (I mean.. I'd LOVE a P90 but I can get what I can get. ;-) I don't love the trigger on the PS90 but I haven't decided if I'm going to change that or not. In fairness, the PS90 is not suppressed and _could_ run into the same issue with the Tavor 7 or X95. I'm guessing that's a matter of suppressing a bullpup.

Personally I would take a Kel Tec RDB over an X95. It has a better trigger, ambi ejection, and due to the fact that the bolt travels double the distance back to accommodate the downward ejection feature a lot more of the felt recoil is soaked up compared to the X95. Plus it’s lighter, and cheaper.

Highly recommend staying away from the Bren 2. Even if you get one that works perfectly (I got two, one a 2S, that would FTE every 3-5 rounds) the ergos/accuracy are mid and CZUSA offers basically 0 parts support 6 years after first importing them. My PWS Mod 2 on the other hand feeds even the most corroded steel case trash ammo and whenever I’ve lost a part PWS will send out a new one same day free of charge!

there is no ar15 alternative. you can get a AR for like $400 now

I like the keltec plr16. Cant hate anything about it. So simple, effective, robust..

Those are nice guns ill stick to my ar15 i got 2 ar 1 thats 5.56 and capable of firing .22lr by simply swaping 2 parts and 1 dedicated to a .50bmg upper, super nice i just wish i can buy or make a belt fed .50bmg bolt action upper lol i think its not a good idea its beyond that its superb excellent in my humble opinion.

My favorite alternative is an HK91/PTR91 based system. Its a pure mechanical system

@Hegshot87 what brace do you have on your Bren2?

Not on "ANY" Budget but Robinson Armament XCR-L & H, and Sig MCX Virtus & Spear LT are great AR alternatives, and the PWS UXR looks SUPER promising if's reliable.

I don't have direct experience, but I've heard that next to GI magazines for the M1 carbine, ones made in South Korea tend to be pretty reliable, too. Those are "GI," too, I guess...just different GIs than ours. :-)

I have a bren 2 in 556 . The 762 looks cooler with the 762 mag . However . CZ had alot of issues with the 762 version and really good results with the 556 The sights are Troy sights so thats a plus

Love the scar but the 17 and 20 (especially the 20) are the ones that are somewhat worth the $. The he 16 is awesome but at $3500 it’s about $1500 over its competitors. Been 2 is great… its on my list to get this year. Not sure it will replace an AR but it’s a scar lite for a lot less. Spear is really nice also but the Bren 2 is the better rifle IMO.

M-1 carbine is best. Right next to it you have any AK. For hunting you can use a bolt action just fine which is cheaper. You can use a mosin nagant even. Old rifles work really well still. Basically get a gun that is easy to service and fix.

Love my M1 carbine great little gun

M1 carbine has the best safety

They have the lever actions now in different calibers and with magazines

You can run a lever like a pump shotgun. Quiver up and top off as you go. I love my Remington 7615P.

Windham Weaponry makes very fine ARs. Have a huge variety too.

I grew up with a 30 carbine. Many deer acouple bear alot of predator hunting in the Ozarks. It had been sent home from Korea. Would love to have that one back. Since I ve owned others. True story on the mag qualitys. But I ve not seen 20s? Only 15s mostly and a few 30s

7 best AR alternatives 1. AR 15 2. AR 15 3. AR 15 4. AR 15 5. AR 15 6. AR 15 7. AR 15 YOU'RE WELCOME!

4 choices I really liked.. and 3 I really didnt ... But its better than alot of other lists ive seen lol.. My top 7 non ARs would be (with prices I can find on gunbroker) 1. Steyr AUG A3 (1600-1800 new) 2. B&T APC300 Pro (2700-2900 new) 3. CZ Bren 2 or Bren 805 (1600-1800 new) 4. IWI Galil ACE (best AK ever made hands down 1600-1800 new) 5. IWI X95 or Tavor SAR (1500-1700 new) 6. FN SCAR L (2800-3200 new) 7. I would love to say Sig 553/551 but they are so god damm expensive now new... And I would love to say HK G36 .. but for over 3k I want HK quality not a clone that has had mixed reviews... So ill say a used Beretta ARX100 that you could snag for 1200 bucks ...

Give me 800$ and I’ll build an affordable AR that’s accurate, lightweight & have an adjustable gas system. The platform can not be beat tic for tat

Really surprised to not see the Keltec SU-16, PSA JAKL, or Ruger Mini-14 or even Springfield Hellion on this list. That's a $400 to $1,800 price range especially if you're looking at used stuff. There's definitely some AKs too but those could be a video to themselves.

8:25 the m1 carbine is short stroke gas piston, not a major difference, but it is noteable

Don't underestimate the man with a lever action rifle! He probably knows how to use it and doesn't mind blowing someone's face off!

1) Ruger Mini 14 Tactical 2)Zastava M90 3)Zastava M77 4)Zastava M70 5)Marlin 336 Trapper 6)Marlin 1894 357 7)Ptr 63

I think this just boils down to personal preferences

AR15's are the cheapest reliable semi-auto you can get in 2024. Base Mini-14s and Remington 7400 retail for more than a base AR15 from Remington. No reason to pick a Mini-14 over an AR. 7400 is a real alternative because its a .308.

I had a Underwood M-1 carbine in the 90's.

20 years ago, a Mosin-Nagant or Yugo Mauser was going for 80$, while a budget AR-15 was going for 700$. Today, you can get an AR-15 for half the price of a Mosin or Mauser. The AR-15 is today’s budget rifle.