I just purchased one of these:




As of this post I have not shot mine yet, but his review definitely made me feel more confident about it. I agree with most of his review and I'm impressed at the accuracy he got.

After unboxing I made some observations:

PROS

1. Barrel is chambered in 5.56. I'm taking their word for it. I understand some manufacturers that claim to have a 5.56 chamber actually have one closer to .223 despite markings. I can't vouch for whether this is true or not, but aftermarket builds always make me suspicious. So I just thought I'd mention that.

2. Bolt is marked MPI, and the bolt carrier screws are staked (although not as aggressively as others I've seen).

3. The blade type brace is marginally comfortable to shoulder. I realize a pistol is not really "intended" for this, but since some people will do that...

4. I love the length. With a Surefire G2 in a VLTOR mount (Old School me!) on a MagPul MOE handguard the balance is just about right.

5. The price was right: Less than $560 out the door for mine from the LGS.



CONS

1. The barrel is not chrome-lined. I need to look at the bolt carrier to see if it is, but since it was at the gunsmith all day today I didn't get a chance.

2. The handguards are single heat shield even though they are the fat M4 type. They look like cheap commercial handguards.

3. The rail on the upper is slightly out of spec. I had to tap a MagPul MBUS onto the rail with a rubber mallet. Also, my Aimpoint in American Defense quick detach mount didn't just automatically transfer to this rifle. I had to loosen the mount considerably.

4. My example's receiver extension was loose and the castle nut not staked. My gunsmith is fixing this as we speak. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

5. The flash hider looks as though it was not torqued on enough to really deform the crush washer as I'd expect. I may replace the flash hider anyway.


When I fire it I'll come back with more impressions (probably next week as I'm going on vacation), but that's my initial once-over. At this point I'm about 75% impressed with it, given the caveat that you may have to "fix" little things yourself.