This is not even close to field-staked.
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Admittedly, I sort of dismissed RCA due to the timing of their emergence. If they straightened out their product with proper materials, testing and assembly, they would have a winning product on their hands. I've been wanting one of the discontinued BCM ion bonded carrier groups for a long while. If they could produce an equivalent product, I'd be all over it.
My BCG arrived.
http://i44.tinypic.com/f9fmzn.jpg
I'm on the fence. Mine haven't shown up yet today, but I am not sure what to do. I'm not really an AR guy so much, so I don't want to balk at a non-issue without really knowing if the technique used is inferior to the staking that most known good companies utilize. If there is enough deformation to perform the task properly, is how the staking appears really a problem? It reeks of being a cost-cutting measure. As does the gas key. And they DO charge a premium price for the units as compared to many top competitors. Hmmmm. I'm leaning towards returning mine as well, and waiting for LMT's or BCM's.
Edit - just got a UPS email. Guess mine won't be in until tomorrow.
The entire purpose of staking the gas key is to deform metal into the ridges of, or above (or both) the bolts holding it to the carrier. It is my OPINION that this method I have pictured in my above post, does not.
This is not a cost-cutting measure. This is not a time-saver. This is a transition period from one supply/work source, to another. I am going to call RCA later today.
Every bolt was hand-torqued to 55#. They did not stake them this way "because it was cheap/easy", either. It's just an error, I think.
RCA and H&M are dedicated to quality. They did these each by hand, individually. It's not some shoddy attempt at pushing things out the door. I just don't feel that they view this staking as a problem.
In the end, there are 650 of these out there. They all, each and every one, have a warranty. RCA will see if it's an issue or not, I believe.