Charlie’s Customs, VA

[MSW]

Anyone here have much experience? They have a SOCOM barrel that’s 11.5”

Any owners?

[veeklog]

The only thing I ever bought from them was a Colt Ambi safety. It came as advertised and was happy with their customer service

[Mr McSimon]

The only thing I ever bought from them was a Colt Ambi safety. It came as advertised and was happy with their customer service

Same here, bought a Colt Ambi Safety from them through GunBroker and everything was fine. Since then (about the last 6-8 months) I've noticed them trying to take their small business to the next level with online presence, blogs, etc.

[longshot2000]

Hi @MSW,

This is my family business. I took a very active clone building business to a fulltime job after loosing a corp job last Summer. I am now making 1/20th the salary and have 10x more fun. We work with only the best quality material. When we get a complaint, we fix it. We can be slow to ship at times. I know what we need to work on. For expensive items with a nice margin, we have an M4Carbine discount. Scopes are an area where we have some great deals, but we cannot advertise.

We have spent many months developing supplier relationships with some of the leading brands we carry. Since we are a high quality niche short barrel combat rifle and long-range sniper rifle shop, we are best served with a nationwide customer base. Local gun shops sell what the average buyer wants (bubba ARs, cheap pistols). We cater to military, SWAT, LE, veterans, clone collectors and builders, and the guy who bought the bubba AR, and now wants to move up to a really nice rifle, like an M4, Mk12, Knights Armament Colt or Daniel Defense rifle.

Feel free to IM me for what you are looking for. We want to put some pics on the website of great builds. https://charliescustomclones.com .

Also, we have scaled by using some of the best craftsmen and manufacturers in the business to help us in our builds. As I look at some of the sponsors on this site, we work with a bunch of them, and names you would know in the Colt, KAC and barrel business. On Charlie's site, we feature our own builds, which are handled by our sister manufacturing company, Potomac Armory, and also sell custom builds from other great craftsmen. Our goal is to be your go-to site for the best in rifle builds and uppers that are in the military, CQB and long-range shooting / sniper market segment.

@veeklog, @Mr_McSimon, thanks for the kind words

Cheers

[MSW]

@longshot2000 , I’m waiting on a front swivel & rivet from you

[R.O.U.S.]

I placed an order for a colt ambidextrous safety recently with Charlie's custom. Seems like a great store, everything is going smoothly, and they have quite of few unique parts like the 11.5" hrt barrel.

[MSW]

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[MSW]

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[MSW]

I paid for an upper that was supposed to be Colt parts. The FSB wasn’t installed properly and the front swivel wasn’t installed at all. I requested a refund of the $30 I was charged for a Colt swivel & rivet, but was sent a PSA swivel & rivet instead, and no refund, as requested. I was offered $50 in store credit, it since I had to properly install the FSB myself and the front swivel/rivet myself, I just wanted my $30 back. My thread in the Technical Section is because the taper pins were 0.068” too short when compared to genuine Colt taper pins.

My emails weren’t being returned, so maybe John will notice this...

Caveat emptor.

[longshot2000]

My mother told me if I cannot say something nice, say nothing at all. @MSW, it is not good to air your problems in public, but you force me to at least respond.

1) the customer is always right. I have spent over 5 hours with you trying to get this situation fixed. You have a right to the correct item you ordered, and I have endeavored to correct a small problem -- part of my job in a small quality shop to do that.

2) There comes a point, from time to time when no matter what one does, it is not good enough, and now you have decided to post your grievance for a refund. I thought getting the matter fixed was what was important. I will refund your $30.

3) the item you ordered specifically did not come with a sling loop. Your post leaves the reader to believe that somehow it did, and that it needed to be Colt: "The upper is all Colt, direct from the factory, with customization with a new Colt barrel. We start with a Colt Commando 6933 upper, and have custom made the upper for the Executive Protection Service. Thus, very similar to the Colt 6933 Enhanced Commando upper, but is made for suppressed fire, where the operator uses a carry handle and custom bolt carrier group (not included). The Colt Enhanced Commando upper features the newer heavy SOCOM profile barrel (without M203 grenade launcher cutouts), known as the FBI HRT barrel, at 11.5” with a smaller gas port size of 0.70, which is optimized for suppressed fire and no sling loop. " emphasis added. see GB listing 746476437. You wrote and asked us to add the sling loop.

4) We failed, and did not add the slip loop, like you requested. I admitted we screwed up in several notes to you, many times with suggestions and empathy. I told you that some of the "exception handling" we have missed, given the very large volume in the last month. We exchanged emails, and I sent you a sling loop and rivet, and a tool for you to install. I offered for you to return for us to fix, and you agreed that sending the tool would be fine. There was no objection from you. We source sling loops and rivets and other parts from PSA, CMMG, Stag, RRA, Colt, LMT, and so forth. These are generic products. Colt does the same. I never promised the sling loop would be from Colt. To be honest, I am not aware if I can order a sling loop from Colt. Colt is so far behind in sending me basic parts like receivers and barrels.

5) You pointed out to me, after the sling loop issue that the pins were the wrong size in the FSB. Probably, neither of us would have noticed, except that your eyes were drawn to the sling loop. There is nothing functionally wrong with the barrel (100% Colt) or the FSB or the pin job. I offered to send you a different barrel, and you declined. and took pictures for you of the dozen or so Colt boxes containing upper receiver groups and barrels. Honestly, I think I know more about the dimensions of taper pins now that I ever thought I would have to know. We found that certain years had different pin sizes, and we are returning some of our barrels for re-pinning. I am sure there is nothing wrong with the current pinning, but you correctly pointed out that the pins were not the correct size by 0.07." Who knew?

Oh, and the $50 off on our website was not in lieu of a refund. It was for the inconvenience you incurred, and I regret that everything did not go 100% according to plan.

@MSW, your refund will be on its way, and I hope you can post a pic of your final Commando upper and show it off. It is quite a shooter with the Colt FBI barrel.