I'll start with the good: The trigger is single stage but clean and light. The machining overall looks good and the safety positions/setup is solid as well, that's about it.
I cannot understand all the rave and ogle about the AICS magazines. I wont ding them on price, I knew going in they would cost more. What I will ding them on is just about everything else. Excessively bulky/chunky for their capacity and cartridge size. Being a single stack/single feed they have to be loaded from the end and your fighting the follower the entire time because the follower is not an anti tilt/anti jam design. Internally there is about .250" of excess space on the fore-aft dimension so the cartridges when loaded in will slide front-back which causes jamming/double feeding.
The magazine interface/engagement to the receiver is sloppy and installing into the rifle is a clumsy operation. It has to be tipped forward like an AK or mini-14 and then pulled back to lock in. Your fighting the mag catch the entire time. Part of the sloppy loose fit allows the magazine to tilt front-back and if tilted forward when you go to push the bolt forward it will ram the cartridge into the receiver below the feed ramp again causing it to jam up.
It has the mauser style extractor but does not catch the case rim at all, pushing the bolt forward lets the case pop up/out of the magazine and its functioning like a el cheapo push feed rifle. Continue to push forward and to the get the bolt fully closed/locked up that last little bit your fighting it until that extractor bends out of the way and you feel it snap around the rim Wonder how long that will last until it breaks off ?
I bought the scout rifle as I wanted a less expensive caliber to shoot vs 8mm or .30-06 and with the straight wall cartridge allowed for hunting that was an added bonus to take the plunge and get a .350 caliber. For the $1300 I have invested into this POS so far I would have rather picked up a shot out mauser and spent a small fortune to have it re-barreled to .308
I cannot understand all the rave and ogle about the AICS magazines. I wont ding them on price, I knew going in they would cost more. What I will ding them on is just about everything else. Excessively bulky/chunky for their capacity and cartridge size. Being a single stack/single feed they have to be loaded from the end and your fighting the follower the entire time because the follower is not an anti tilt/anti jam design. Internally there is about .250" of excess space on the fore-aft dimension so the cartridges when loaded in will slide front-back which causes jamming/double feeding.
The magazine interface/engagement to the receiver is sloppy and installing into the rifle is a clumsy operation. It has to be tipped forward like an AK or mini-14 and then pulled back to lock in. Your fighting the mag catch the entire time. Part of the sloppy loose fit allows the magazine to tilt front-back and if tilted forward when you go to push the bolt forward it will ram the cartridge into the receiver below the feed ramp again causing it to jam up.
It has the mauser style extractor but does not catch the case rim at all, pushing the bolt forward lets the case pop up/out of the magazine and its functioning like a el cheapo push feed rifle. Continue to push forward and to the get the bolt fully closed/locked up that last little bit your fighting it until that extractor bends out of the way and you feel it snap around the rim Wonder how long that will last until it breaks off ?
I bought the scout rifle as I wanted a less expensive caliber to shoot vs 8mm or .30-06 and with the straight wall cartridge allowed for hunting that was an added bonus to take the plunge and get a .350 caliber. For the $1300 I have invested into this POS so far I would have rather picked up a shot out mauser and spent a small fortune to have it re-barreled to .308