The STAR-15 compares favorably with the M4.

You know you're getting old when your kid joins the military, the music you grew up with is now on a classic station and your M16A1 has turned into this: the DoubleStar AR-15.

According to Teresa Starnes, president of DoubleStar, "The design was derived from extensive interviews with front-line police officers. The consensus reached was a lightweight package readily adaptable to almost every situation. We listened to our customers and created a custom rifle, ready to go out of the box."

DoubleStar Inc. is an eight-year-old firearms manufacturer specializing in tactical weapons for law enforcement, military and shooting sports. Looking at its website shows a wide variety of weapons that may be owned by anyone living in one of the freer states.

The current M4/M4A1 series of rifles are direct descendants of Eugene Stoner's "black rifle," the original AR-15. Adopted first by the Air Force for its runway-walking, bomber-guarding Security Police, it rapidly spread throughout the military. Accurate, lethal (more so in its original configuration) and lightweight, it was popular and well liked until a propellant change brought about major reliability problems.

Billy Smith runs and guns. The rifle fired several hundred rounds with no malfunctions.

The current M4-type rifles are as accurate and reliable as anyone has a right to expect. Reports of jamming are directly proportionate to lack of maintenance. Combat arms units as opposed to combat support and service support rarely have the problems one normally associates with this weapon. Discipline in maintenance pays off (as does discipline in every other area of life).

Waiting for this rifle was like waiting for Christmas. When Woody Hogan of Bullseye Precision Tool (www.bullseyeprecision.com) finally called to announce the arrival, we were out the door like it was Friday afternoon. Woody, a master gunsmith, handed me the rifle with the pronouncement, "Very nice." And so it is. Fit and finish is excellent. The Parkerizing on the aluminum parts is uniform and black as an editor's heart. The steel parts are lighter but still uniform. All parts fit well. The rifle was marked "Cal. 5.56mm, Mod. Star-15" in crisp, uniform lettering. This level of attention to detail is encouraging in an increasingly sloppy world. Things were looking up.

Black Hills' 55-grain was accurate, with excellent quality and great reliability.

Clearing the weapon left another good impression. The action is smooth and quiet, no grinding noises or sticking. Fieldstripping revealed well-fitted parts and a bit of brass on the bolt face, indicating a test fire. The weapon was dry. I left it that way to see if it would function. Looking into the action brought no surprises. Excellent fit and finish.

On the business end is the now-famous Phantom flash suppressor. A NATO standard 22mm, should you need to fix bayonets or launch rifle grenades, it now has a solid underside to reduce dust in the prone. This may also help reduce muzzle rise, although I doubt you would notice it in 5.56. The Phantom is incredibly effective, eliminating muzzle flash even when viewed through night-vision devices. You will see more flash out of the ejection port than the muzzle on this one. DoubleStar touts it as a less lethal control device. I would imagine so. Getting poked with that thing would hurt.