AR Build- The Seeds of Doubt

[Ponder_MD]

I've got School of the American Rifle in my FB feed.

He posted how some students are having to bring multiple lowers to class because many of them have a defect of one kind or another. He chalks it up to insufficient QC as suppliers are racing to meet demand.
He is of course, insanely detail oriented and can spot the smallest flaw and explain how it will affect the rifle now, or even after long term use.

So now, I look at my own AR that I made from an 80% lower and Del-Ton parts as if it were a snake about to bite me. Ok, that's an exaggeration but he's so good that it does make me doubt myself a little.

 

[smokey]

Does your rifle function? Has it proven to be reliable in your time using it? If those are both "yes", minor tolerance variances are somewhat academic right?

 

[ToBeFree]

Keep shooting it until it stops or melts down!

 

[jrumann59]

If the rifle fails to fire, eject or feed after 500 rounds then worry. THe issues and I am not Chad is the tolerance stacking. There is a lot of junk everything out there even the big boys are not immune to it and when you start stacking things on the tight side of the spec here and the loose side of the spec there it can be twisty rabbit holes to chase. And most gun owners are not well versed enough to chase all the rabbit holes. So having in spec receiver may not aleviate those issues it can move the troubleshooting away from the receivers themselves.

 

[Ponder_MD]

Does your rifle function? Has it proven to be reliable in your time using it? If those are both "yes", minor tolerance variances are somewhat academic right?

So far, yeah. I've put maybe 100-200 rounds through it. I just mean that after watching an expert and the small but important details that they point out, you scratch your chin a little.

He's sort of the Charlie Maloney of AR's.

 

[Ponder_MD]

If the rifle fails to fire, eject or feed after 500 rounds then worry. THe issues and I am not Chad is the tolerance stacking. There is a lot of junk everything out there even the big boys are not immune to it and when you start stacking things on the tight side of the spec here and the loose side of the spec there it can be twisty rabbit holes to chase. And most gun owners are not well versed enough to chase all the rabbit holes. So having in spec receiver may not aleviate those issues it can move the troubleshooting away from the receivers themselves.

 

[RFBfromDE]

I never ignore the law of deminishing returns.

 

[clandestine]

I've got School of the American Rifle in my FB feed.

He posted how some students are having to bring multiple lowers to class because many of them have a defect of one kind or another. He chalks it up to insufficient QC as suppliers are racing to meet demand.
He is of course, insanely detail oriented and can spot the smallest flaw and explain how it will affect the rifle now, or even after long term use.

So now, I look at my own AR that I made from an 80% lower and Del-Ton parts as if it were a snake about to bite me. Ok, that's an exaggeration but he's so good that it does make me doubt myself a little.

The things I look for are based on failures. The more things wrong, the more likely the issues will pop up.

I don't adopt the just run it bro mindset. Lots of guns run just fine until they don't, or have a serious failure.

I own several Deltons. They needed some replacement parts and some work, but overall we're not bad.

What questions do you have?

 

[Ponder_MD]

What questions do you have?

(hands rifle to you)
Did I do it right?

OK, I'm kidding. Uh, the cheap trigger kit was junk. I replaced it with a Bravo Company ACT. The BCG I bought was a blem on sale from PSA, If I recall. Bad idea?

I'm probably fretting over nothing. It's never so much as hiccupped on me. I put 10 green tips through it and surprised myself by doing well.

 

[clandestine]

(hands rifle to you)
Did I do it right?

OK, I'm kidding. Uh, the cheap trigger kit was junk. I replaced it with a Bravo Company ACT. The BCG I bought was a blem on sale from PSA, If I recall. Bad idea?

I'm probably fretting over nothing. It's never so much as hiccupped on me. I put 10 green tips through it and surprised myself by doing well.

If you want me to inspect the gun I can for a fellow MDS Member. You would have to meet me at my shop one evening during the week. Overall inspection could take as little as 30 mins if nothing needs to be addressed, to 3 hours of things need replacing or reworking. I have a test fire trap so you would have to bring at least 20 rounds of ammo to do a basic live fire test.

That being said it sounds like you made some good changes thus far. If the PSA BCG is Chrome lined it may be good quality. If it's NiB or Nitride it could have unseen issues.

Here is where cheaper guns tend to benefit from "upgrades". Most of these you can do yourself except maybe the ramp work:

Sprinco or Colt Extractor Spring
Sprinco Buffer Spring
Sprinco Ejector Spring
420 Stainless Spiral Roll Pins
Good Buffer (H Buffer or H2 Buffer)
Feed Ramp Job
Carrier Key and Screw Swap (if it has questionable screws or a bad seal)

 

[Ponder_MD]

Interesting! I get up that way once every month or two. I'll make it a point to contact you in advance.

Your recent FB post about cleaning the rifle was thought provoking. I clean the rifle but I suspect I'm missing important details.

 

[clandestine]

Interesting! I get up that way once every month or two. I'll make it a point to contact you in advance.

Your recent FB post about cleaning the rifle was thought provoking. I clean the rifle but I suspect I'm missing important details.

The main things I see are people being aggressive with cleaning and underlubing the gun.

 

[Ponder_MD]

If you want me to inspect the gun I can for a fellow MDS Member. You would have to meet me at my shop one evening during the week. Overall inspection could take as little as 30 mins if nothing needs to be addressed, to 3 hours of things need replacing or reworking. I have a test fire trap so you would have to bring at least 20 rounds of ammo to do a basic live fire test.

That being said it sounds like you made some good changes thus far. If the PSA BCG is Chrome lined it may be good quality. If it's NiB or Nitride it could have unseen issues.

Here is where cheaper guns tend to benefit from "upgrades". Most of these you can do yourself except maybe the ramp work:

Sprinco or Colt Extractor Spring
Sprinco Buffer Spring
Sprinco Ejector Spring
420 Stainless Spiral Roll Pins
Good Buffer (H Buffer or H2 Buffer)
Feed Ramp Job
Carrier Key and Screw Swap (if it has questionable screws or a bad seal)

Question: Can I upgrade the extractor and ejector springs without bringing the rifle up for evaluation?

From what I'm reading, you would want to fire the rifle to evaluate which buffer spring and buffer to install, so I get that.

 

[clandestine]

Question: Can I upgrade the extractor and ejector springs without bringing the rifle up for evaluation?

From what I'm reading, you would want to fire the rifle to evaluate which buffer spring and buffer to install, so I get that.

Do you have experience replacing the ejector on an AR? If the answer was no, I would advise you to have someone teach you how to do it or have someone do it. I've seen many people mess up their bolts by breaking punches trying to remove or install the ejector.

Test firing to see what buffer and buffer spring is the best way to go about it. Few people have a large variety of buffers and springs though.

I don't have that problem.

 

[Ponder_MD]

Do you have experience replacing the ejector on an AR?

Ah, ok. I'll hold off on doing anything until I get to you.

 

[trickg]

I've got School of the American Rifle in my FB feed.

He posted how some students are having to bring multiple lowers to class because many of them have a defect of one kind or another. He chalks it up to insufficient QC as suppliers are racing to meet demand.
He is of course, insanely detail oriented and can spot the smallest flaw and explain how it will affect the rifle now, or even after long term use.

So now, I look at my own AR that I made from an 80% lower and Del-Ton parts as if it were a snake about to bite me. Ok, that's an exaggeration but he's so good that it does make me doubt myself a little.

I am not Chad. I do not have his experience. I do, however, have experience when I was in Army basic training in 1989 shooting an M16A1 that was manufactured in 1972 - SN: 4786107.

Talk about a loose, rattly rifle! That thing would be good for about 35 rounds, and then it would start to have feed/ejection issues. About the only time I got through 40 rounds where I didn't have to perform SPORTS was my actual qualification at the end of BRM, and I suspect that's because the drill sergeant was standing there with a big ol bottle of CLP, and they were making sure everyone was good and lubed up before going out on the line to fire.

My basic training rifle was not the exception - it was the rule. There were others that were actually exceptionally bad. A friend of mine wound up getting a whole new rifle issued to him because it was so godawful that there was no way any human being could have successfully qualified with it.

At the end of the day, the AR15 is the civilian version of a rifle that's designed from the ground up as a battle rifle. It's designed with the idea that it's going to get dropped and banged up, and fired relentlessly in the worst of physical conditions.

I'm pretty sure your 80 lower parts rifle is going to be fine, all things considered.

 

[jrumann59]

I am not Chad. I do not have his experience. I do, however, have experience when I was in Army basic training in 1989 shooting an M16A1 that was manufactured in 1972 - SN: 4786107.

Talk about a loose, rattly rifle! That thing would be good for about 35 rounds, and then it would start to have feed/ejection issues. About the only time I got through 40 rounds where I didn't have to perform SPORTS was my actual qualification at the end of BRM, and I suspect that's because the drill sergeant was standing there with a big ol bottle of CLP, and they were making sure everyone was good and lubed up before going out on the line to fire.

My basic training rifle was not the exception - it was the rule. There were others that were actually exceptionally bad. A friend of mine wound up getting a whole new rifle issued to him because it was so godawful that there was no way any human being could have successfully qualified with it.

At the end of the day, the AR15 is the civilian version of a rifle that's designed from the ground up as a battle rifle. It's designed with the idea that it's going to get dropped and banged up, and fired relentlessly in the worst of physical conditions.

I'm pretty sure your 80 lower parts rifle is going to be fine, all things considered.

Sounds like my BRM as well, or as we called it Battle Rattle Management

 

[trickg]

Sounds like my BRM as well, or as we called it Battle Rattle Management

Yep - sounds about right.

I do find it interesting sometimes how people with throw all kinds of money at these Gucci ARs, all while pontificating how this or that "needs" to some expensive whizbang part or accessory, and if you aren't holding your mouth just right when you do the install then it's going to be curtains when you have to depend on it to save your life during the zombie apocalypse or the imminent home invasion!

But then there are the military issue M16s and M4s for those of us who have had the opportunity to experience them firsthand. Not long before I retired from the National Guard my unit got in a bunch of brand-new Colt M4s. I'm talking new in the box, never been fired. Talk about suck! Heavy, gritty, unpredictable triggers, and a bunch of them had selector switches that were so tight, those who didn't have the finger strength couldn't even get them to move! I was pretty surprised - I would have thought they'd be better than that.

 

[spoon059]

Talk about suck! Heavy, gritty, unpredictable triggers, and a bunch of them had selector switches that were so tight, those who didn't have the finger strength couldn't even get them to move! I was pretty surprised - I would have thought they'd be better than that.

Military grade!

 

[trickg]

Military grade!

Mil-Spec!