I have been reading threads for a few weeks now here and on the other site about PSA. I have been eyeballing a PSA M4gery at a local store here in Southern Colorado, Tri Lake Shooting Supply. Top notch store and the owner is as good as gold. Super nice guy and has great prices. (shameless plug)
On to the review and my initial impressions.
I inspected the rifle before buying it checking for properly aligned feed ramps and if the FSB was canted. They both looked good. Trigger was decent. Finish was even and showed no thin spots or other issues. A sort of matte black. Not the deep semi gloss type seen on Colts or BCM but not bad at all.
It was one of most dry rifles I have ever seen. It had almost no lubrication of any kind visible inside the rifle. There was some in the BCG but that was it. For what it is worth I have seen RRA rifles sealed in plastic bags swimming in lube/preservative. Makes no difference to me since it will be cleaned and lubed before firing any way.
Palmetto logo on upper is subtle and barely visible in most light. The upper is not marked M4.
The magazine it ships with is some sort of GI metal mag with a dark black finish and an anti tilt follower. I will put a picture up later as I just left it in the box and put that away. Doubt I will ever use it.
The manual is a cheap photo copy just stapled together. No big deal to me. A better manual would be useful for users who are buying as a first rifle. The USMC pocket manual would have been a better choice IMHO but this is a budget rifle. My Noveske did not come with one at all and it was the most expensive AR I have ever owned.
The barrel is marked 5.56 NATO 1/7 MP CL Palmetto.
I did not look under the handguards until I got home. When I did I saw a stylized M or W near the barrel nut. Really it look like a stick figure drawing of a bird. Wilson or Mossberg? Don't know. My gut says it is a Wilson barrel and not FN.
The gas key is well staked.
The Castle nut is also well staked.
The bolt carrier is a full auto type.
Now the bad news. The bolt is not marked HPT/HPI.
The extractor has a black insert and a D ring
Feed ramps look good.
Front site is F marked
Over all it appears to be well put together. Nothing rattles or shakes and the upper and lower fit pretty tight and the take down pins require some effort to push out.
My only complaint is the bolt not being marked and I am curious about who actually made this barrel. I hear FN makes a lot of barrels for PSA but it could be a Wilson or a Mossberg from the weird M or W or whatever it is.
I was concerned enough about the bolt that I went back to the shop to talk to the owner about it. He was shocked. He opened another PSA rifle box he just got in and we both inspected it together. The bolt was not marked. We also inspected the bolt on the PSA he had on the rack. Not marked. The owner walked over to the phone and called PSA. I hear the entire conversation. PSA claims that the rifle was part of a shipment sent to Ellet Brothers wholesaler and that some of the rifles in this shipment did not have proof mark on the bolt but that they are indeed HPI/HPT tested. The owner of the store was visibly stunned. He like I was under the impression that all of the bolts PSA put in their rifles had this proof mark. He offered me a partial refund for my trouble. I accepted. I then told the owner that I would buy a Magpul MBUS from him and to take the partial refund out of that price. He decided to just give me the MBUS for my trouble. He didn't have to do that or offer anything to me but he did. Dan is a stand up guy in my book and I WILL buy from him again. If you are looking for an honest dealer in Colorado go to Tri Lakes shooting Supply.
The jury is still out on PSA but other than the bolt it looks good to me. I need to run it hard and see what shakes loose.
For the price I can't complain all that loud about the bolt missing proof marks and since the owner of the store tossed me a bone I am good with them 100%.
I will take it out for a trial run as soon as the state stops catching on fire!
YMMV.
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