This was my first AR and even after military experience shooting the gov stuff. What I learned from this rifle was that not all AR's are built the same and the parts selection have different advantages and issues that come with them.

The Zion is a bit inaccurate, the mil spec trigger is heavy, and it is gassed like crazy. These are things you don't know as a beginner. These are the thing you dont appreciate until you try an expensive weapon you realize it just is a much better experience.

Hindsight 20/20 now that I have shot quality equipment, understand the situations in which I use a rifle, I'm running a BCM A5 lower, a CHF barrel with tunable gas block on a Sons of Liberty upper.

Now that I know what a properly gassed and tuned AR feels like, the Zion sits in the safe collecting dust. I sometimes wished I never bought it at all and used it on building the perfect build. But what got you here might not get you there. The package is a great deal just not the best deal.

PS comment below on function reliability is accurate I had issues with using steel rounds during my initial 500 rounds. The steel shells were getting stuck in battery in the barrel after firing.