Instructor Chad, School of the American Rifle

[scooter22]

Many dont- and thats why you get shit parts.

Are you suggesting that Colt, LMT, KAC, Hodge are breaking out a multitude of different gauges and inspecting to that level of detail?

[26 Inf]

Are you suggesting that Colt, LMT, KAC, Hodge are breaking out a multitude of different gauges and inspecting to that level of detail?

Pretty sure that they are if they are making, bolt carriers, for example.

I'm also pretty sure that they rely on their vendors to do so on parts they source from them.

[Esq.]

IMO that is his niche - the gauging, that is. Seems very meticulous.

Would be interested to see how a well used LEOSA 1033 M16 bolt gauges.

He has one video where he gauges several 60s/70s era M16 bolts. He doesnt say where they came from but 1033/LEOSA guns is my guess....

[lowprone]

Great information here as usual.

[emt370]

I'd be interested to hear from SME's on this board. It seems that he goes a little overboard with all the gauging.

I can't imagine reputable manufacturers doing all of that anal-level inspection before assembly, but maybe I'm wrong.

Interesting and informative videos nonetheless.

Chad had an interview on a blog and he mentions that several manufacturers do excellent QC, and mentioned BCM in particular. This vid shows a bit of that and they say they are 100% QC’ing every BCG.

https://youtu.be/BaFOZAwspYI

[romanowe]

If you watch his videos and all you take away it is meticulous gauging, I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. His symptom-> diagnosis thought process and all of the “I’ve seen X manufacturing defect result in Y problem” is incredibly valuable.

[Esq.]

If you watch his videos and all you take away it is meticulous gauging, I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. His symptom-> diagnosis thought process and all of the “I’ve seen X manufacturing defect result in Y problem” is incredibly valuable.

That x results in y for me makes it worth it. So many times it's just "replace this, then this etc..."...No why, no "check this to see if it's really the issue" sort of thing...

[justin_247]

Generally, when it comes to gauging, his videos are broken into two categories:

"Physical" - this is a new or used part sent in to see if it's within required specs. A lot of parts fail these tests, such as those from PSA. For BCGs, he's said good things about LMT, KAC, BCM, and Colt.

"Autopsy" - this is a part that is sent in for repair because of some kind of issue, and he uses the gauging to see if that's a contributing factor.

I should note that there are a large number of people on this forum, especially SMEs, who have spent a lot of time double-checking various companies to see if their part descriptions are accurate. Grant, for example, looked into Spike's quite a bit and he also bought equipment to test the flatness of upper receiver rails after running into a few parts issues there.

[emt370]

The major downside to watching his videos is that I now want his full set of gauges. It would be incredibly valuable for duty guns to know how close you are to the edge of being out of spec and possibly more likely to see a malfunction. No armorer class I’ve ever taken has put any emphasis on diagnosis and the “how these parts interact” and that’s upsetting.

[Esq.]

The major downside to watching his videos is that I now want his full set of gauges. It would be incredibly valuable for duty guns to know how close you are to the edge of being out of spec and possibly more likely to see a malfunction. No armorer class I’ve ever taken has put any emphasis on diagnosis and the “how these parts interact” and that’s upsetting.

Exactly.