Originally Posted by
MistWolf
Fit & finish is one of the most misunderstood aspects of gunmaking, especially on this site. How pretty a rifle looks doesn't help it shoot better or make it more durable or reliable. But fit & finish does. Not adhering to the proper fit & finish is one reason some of the lower quality ARs are unreliable. Fit and finish are specified on the build drawings. Fit is how well the tolerances are held. A poorly fitted rifle means it has parts that don't mate properly and leads to malfunctions and even jams. Finish is much more than cosmetics. It specifies how rough surfaces are allowed to be and what kind of coatings are to be used. Parts with surfaces that are rougher than allowed drag against each other. Parts incorrectly coated or incorrectly hardened can gall, wear, drag, corrode, crack and have other problems. Fit & finish is very important and folks who really understand firearms know this.
Attention to detail is what separates a finely built firearm from one that merely assembled. So many are spoiled by the fact that ARs afford us the luxury of being able to assemble from parts, a well running rifle with minimal tools and effort, they lose sight of the importance of how much difference that attention to the little details make and how much extra time and cost it adds to a production rifle. No one seemed to catch on to the fact that the selector of the Hodges AR moves smoothly, like it was on bearings. Do a bit of research on this site how many have asked about the mushy and/or overly stiff action of their selector switch. The usual "fixes" range from "Normal" to "It will get better with use" to "Try another selector". Everyone seems to have missed just how amazing it is Hodges got this one little detail right!- and it's only one little detail. These are the kind of details folks pay thousands of dollars for when having a custom firearm built.
It may be possible for anyone to build a rifle with the same features for the same money or less. But can anyone specify an interference fit between barrel & upper and install it? Set up a selector to run smoothly and positively without slop? Fit an upper to a lower so there is no play without having to use excessive pressure to move the pins? You also have to ask yourself what other details they got right, such as gas port diameter, buffer weight and spring rate, that make the shooting experience that much better. No offense to anyone, but there is a definite lack of understanding of gun-making on this site and people should educate themselves before making such foolish criticisms I've seem in this thread. We should all listen to what our respected members such as SMGLee and F2S have to say and when we have questions, or challenge what they have to say, it should be done respectfully and with the realization they are respected for a reason.
We have seen many knowledgeable people stop participating on this site and we are much the poorer as a result. One reason is the disrespect they have been subjected to by the unwashed masses.
It's times lie this I really miss the wisdom of AC