I should have known by now, not to count my chickens before they hatch. Or in context, don't say the trigger guard fits, unless the fat lady pin has been driven in. Because I can promise you as much as I thought the holes in my KAC stripped lower and the holes in my KAC trigger guard matched up - in real life they did not.
Not by a long shot in reality. Before I ever got my KAC lower, I already decided how I was going to build it. I wasn't going to treat it "special" Truth is, my KAC lower, isn't a whole lot more $$ than I spent on my Noveske lower. So my intent was to follow my build SOP, like i did my Noveske, like I've done with every lower. Only exception was the KAC trigger guard. I thought it would be cool to use the KAC trigger guard on the KAC lower. I had the trigger guard long before my lower arrived from smallarmsales.com. so when the lower arrived at my FFL Tuesday, I was ready like Freddy.
I had read there were fitment issues with the trigger guard, but I was hoping that was a one-off isolated incident or two. Maybe it's my bad for not digging deeper. But when I picked up my lower, the first thing I did was try the trigger guard - sans the pin. I eyeballed and it looked good. I figured I'd take care of it as I was building it out. So when I started the build and got to the part where I wanted to finish the trigger guard, I was thinking standard procedure for trigger guard. Brace in such a way you don't risk damaging or breaking the tabs. Lined up the pin using my roll pin punch, and started tap it in with my nylon hammer. After the 2nd strike I heard the sound that tells me that I'm not driving a roll pin through something, but instead striking against it. I checked the alignment of the pin, it was in straight. But by the amount of pin still left to drive in, I knew I had not even penetrated the trigger guard holes. So I pulled the roll pin out. I have some pics that shows where the trigger guard was being struck. What you see on the tabs of my lower was some slight damage to the finish trying to get the roll pin out.
But wait! There's more!
What good AR builder encounters a problem without trying out other parts? None in my book. So I took out my de facto standard trigger guard that I use on every AR I build - the ever faithful and NEVER uninstallable DSG Arms billet trigger guard. (did you catch the"never uninstallable" part?) The DSG Arms trigger guard snugged and and in just a few whacks, I had the trigger guard installed on my KAC lower. In a way this is great right? At least I know my lower isn't out of spec. Right?
But wait!!! There's MORE!!!
What good AR builder stops there without at least trying the KAC trigger guard in another lower? None in my book. So I take my KAC trigger guard, and almost already believing it will fail, simply installed the KAC trigger guard in my Noveske lower. I Popped the pin out, and grabbed my normal lower receiver, an Aero Precision. I installed the KAC trigger guard in the Aero also!
At this point I am glad I don't have any more stripped lowers of a different brand (They could have been from the same manufacturer) because at that point, I only had one new trigger pin left. (Thank goodness for my spare parts bins!)
But this really gave me pause. And irritated the freaking crap out of me. Thinking to myself...."So this #$&(@$?! trigger guard from Knights Armament will install in EVERY #$#*Q$^ lower receiver I have except the one made by the same company that made the trigger guard?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?! I think I actually said that aloud.
But the story doesn't end where so many ill-fated stories end. A tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship....oh snap. Sorry. I've lost a little bit of sanity over this thing!
Now to the pictures....
Divot in trigger guard, off-center from the hole.
I checked from the other side and the misalignment was still visible. But at this point I have to be honest. I'm still having a hard time believing that I've got a KAC Lower and a KAC trigger guard and the two are acting like they not only were NOT made by the same manufacturer, but not even to the stand specification standard.
This pic is a close up of the trigger guard with annotations.
This is just a close of up the shavings and anodizing that came off during the install.
So after talking to a friend, I decided to try and drill out the hole. I happened to have a bit slightly larger than the hole. I secured the trigger guard in my vise, stuck out my tongue like Michael Jordan, and drilled through it. Success! I was finally able to drive the fat lady pin through the rear trigger guard holes and secure it.
So in the end, I have a nicely built lower. I'm going to be making a post in the Custom Build thread because it really turned out to be a really nice AR. I have yet to truly test it on the range though, so for now it just looks good. But it is built with quality parts and I know for a fact, the upper runs like a 3 legged dog in a fox chase.
Since we are on the topic of my VERY FIRST encounter with KAC firearm parts, I'll throw a couple of observations out regarding my lower.
- This lower was the most difficult lower to get my simple as pie CMC drop-in trigger installed. It seemed like the trigger pin holes were not perfectly aligned, because it took a lot of effort to get the trigger pin in. The hammer pin went in without much fuss. But I will say there are 10 AR's before this one, that did not even give me half of the difficulty this one did.
- My magazines do not drop freely when I hit the mag release. I double-checked the mag release - it is sub-surface in the magwell when the mag catch button is depressed. I even adjusted it outside of the normal "7" turns or so I give it. Again, of all the lowers or AR's I've built, this is the FIRST time, a loaded mag would not fall from the mag well. I tested two mags. One was an older OKAY mag, loaded with about 10 rounds. (This mag is in my shop for this specific reason). I also tested a fully loaded Lancer mag. Neither mag would fall out of the mag well. They weren't stuck per se, as when I grabbed it, it took nothing to get the mag out, but again....and all I have is my experience and the knowledge that has been passed to me, but this is a first.
Everything else was solid. It was an immaculate lower (Operative word "was".) even now, there isn't any real damage - just a little on the outer rim of the trigger pin hole. I don't even care about that. BecaUse this lower was not not built to be special, I built it to run the ever living **** out of it. I used Battle Arms enhanced pivot and take down and they installed well. It marries up to my upper (a good quality upper) and locks in just fine.
So these kinds of things, excepting the trigger guard, could just be part of the build process, although I would have expected to run into these issues, especially using what many consider to be inferior lowers in the Aero. They aren't inferior to me because they have all built out nicely and they have all ran perfectly.
I'm hoping my KAC lower runs as good as they do. Don't anyone get all offended by that statement. It is meant exactly as I said it. I still am happy that I bought this lower. No spilled milk or sour grapes or whatever that saying is.
I just wanted to correct my previous statement about a good fitment of the trigger guard and lay down my other experiences.
Good luck with yours! I can't wait to shoot mine. Custom build post coming soon.
Originally Posted by RobertTheTexan
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks