No personal experience. However, from casual browsing their (DPMS) reputation seems to be about average. A lot of fanboys in the AR clone area so it's hard to really tell. Certainly not a rep as a crap gun, but not a rep as the best polished either.
Now, this is the point where, even though you are talking about the specific rifle you are looking to get, under specific circumstances, I get to tell you which rifle you SHOULD get whether you are interested or not. It is the Internet after all
Go with one of those carbine length FN/FALs in the paratrooper configuration. I was looking at one in the gun shop a few weeks back for about $1500 and it was sweet. Very sweet. And very light, surprisingly. Skeleton rear stock and bipod on the front with a 16" barrel and muzzle brake. Very, very nice.
You can get them cheaper if you have a gunsmith build one up from an Imbel parts kit (or do it yourself with the right tools) on an after market receiver for about $900 the last time I priced it out. A great project if you have the time.
I've just never been too impressed with .223.
Firing an M-16 reminds me of using a nail gun. Plink, plink, plink... It was only really fun if pop up targets were involved. I might produce an AR-15A1 build for nostalgia's sake though. After I get the FAL.
Charon
