ECHO-2: My XM177E2 Clone build! (In Progress)

[halo2304]

I should be getting the barrel back today...hopefully. I'd like to assemble the upper this weekend.
I'll post more once I get the barrel back.

[GRA556]

Still waiting on my tax stamp to come back from ATF for mine. I don't want to do ANYTHING until that stamp comes back ... or the denial.

Interesting they charged by credit card within 10 days of mailing the Form 1 off though ... ???

[MountainRaven]

Still waiting on my tax stamp to come back from ATF for mine. I don't want to do ANYTHING until that stamp comes back ... or the denial.

Interesting they charged by credit card within 10 days of mailing the Form 1 off though ... ???

The first thing they do is cash the check. Or charge the card, in your case. Always.

[GRA556]

I did this with a Trust. How long does this usually take?

[notorious_ar15]

I did this with a Trust. How long does this usually take?

You can check in the NFA forum, but I think the ATF are still working on applications submitted during Feb / March.

[GRA556]

Thank you very much that gives me some sort of time figure to watch for with regards to the mail.

[halo2304]

So, got my barrel Friday... I now know who not to do business with. I gave the work to a local gun smith because he's local and I like to support local businesses. Also, his shop rate seemed fairly reasonable and I had hopes it would be a quick turn around. All in all, it's not completely cringe worthy like some in the Gun Smith Hall of Shame, but it's certainly not worthy of praise. The only good thing I can say about it is the barrel length is ~16.25" measured from bolt face to muzzle.
As it was explained to me, they welded the grenade ring to the barrel and then welded the moderator to the ring and they did it this way because, and I quote, "by pounding the pin in, you run the risk of damaging the rifling in the barrel."


As you can see, there's a slight gap between the grenade ring and the moderator.


My plan now is to cut the tack welds, clean it up and pin and weld it myself, something I thought about doing myself to begin with. Based on what I can see, I would not be the least surprised if they just turned the barrel down so the ring and moderator just slipped on rather than thread on. I'll be absolutely pissed, but not surprised. If that's the case, there will be a perfect barrel candidate for a Colt 733 up for sale.

[GRA556]

This is NOT good, of course unless you can live with it. I'd take him to small claims court and have him buy you a new barrel. Regardless, I'm sorry to hear the news.

[halo2304]

Just cut and cracked the welds. Sure enough, they didn't actually thread the barrel. I'll post pics here and in the gun smithing thread when I calm down some.

[GRA556]

WOW .... what kind of BS is that? I don't want to say too much more now because I know you're very righteously PISSED ... BUT ... I would find somebody with a REAL GOOD BORE LIGHT, and/or maybe a light you can snake down the bore and see if they in any way disturbed the rifling in the barrel. If so, you got a tort claim for sure because you can argue the fool ruined the barrel and created an unsafe condition. If nothing else, you can write a demand for refund and if he doesn't comply then take him to small claims court. This is absolutely ridiculous. For crying out loud, if he cannot do the job right then he should've been honest and said so initially and turned the job down.