TLDR: John Thomas of Retro Arms Works is an outstanding person, has excellent customer service, and builds awesome uppers!
EDITED TO ADD: Retro Arms Works doesn’t do advertising. It’s literally been word of mouth and reviews from people who have used his services. I get nothing out of this other than helping out a guy who takes great pride in his work. One other thing I will add, there is in a fact an off menu list of things that can be done, I highly recommend you ask for the “magic”.
I’m not much of a “reviewer” of firearms and/or builds. I just kinda go with what I like.
A few weeks back I received my MK12 MOD1 upper from High Caliber Sales. This puts me at 5 MK12 and 1 RECCE upper. Yes, I really do like the SPR.
Within that time, I began contemplating I need to update at least on of my MK12 uppers. To what? I haven’t the slightest clue. Parts and pieces pretty much can’t be found in stock. The manufacturers that I like to use have no idea when they’re going to be available. The company I have used the most has really just went and shit the bed with their changes and quality (Colt).
I began searching for upper receivers. Finally hit pay dirt with Weapon Outfitters. They had uppers in stock but I don’t know who any of them are. I only recognized 1 name out of the dozen or so that they had (Aero). However there was one upper that caught my eye and I focused on that one. The only reason for that focus was the aesthetics of it. The lines were great, color was deep black, port door was a minimalist type. It just looked awesome.
Off to the net to search for V Seven…….
Once I read up on them, where they came from, who they worked with, their attention to detail, and the material they use; I bought 2 uppers, 2 rails, and a barrel. For those of you who haven’t used V7 parts, check them out. The machining, build, lines, material are some of the best I’ve seen. Yes, I’m an aesthetics guy, but I also like function at the top.
I took one of my older, less used, put away for emergencies MK12 uppers and came up with a concept. Now to look for some one to put it all together. Sure, I could probably do it, but with my OCD I wouldn’t be happy with the build. Scopes and optics mounting, no problem, staking a castle nut, no problem, building an upper……meh.
Retro Arms Works - John Thomas was the talk on a lot of different gun forums. Some I’m a member of and others I just peruse. Doing some googling, I found hundreds of positive reviews. I figured what the hell, let’s email the guy. I emailed John at 1813 on a Sunday and received a response at 1915 that same day.
I gave a list of what I would like to have done, John confirmed everything with me, let me know his capabilities and what he offers. Sent me a price list for my build request and everything was set in motion. This whole thing took less than 10 minutes to iron out and get setup.
Parts package was sent 6/22/2021, 2 day service USPS. It actually got there a day early. I’ve read a lot of reviews about the fast turn around times with RAW. Some of the comments I read I was kinda like…nah that’s BS. Let me say that the package was received on 6/23/2021 at 1300ish. I got the notification at 1615 that my upper is completed and in the mail on 6/23/2021.
I had particular requests with this build, John didn’t miss a beat. This was my first time using RAW, and the experience has been absolutely awesome. There’s another package on the way for a build.
This build consists of: V Seven GI upper, V Seven keymod 16.5” rail, Douglas SPR barrel, Deadair keymo muzzle device, Colt BCG, Vltor CH, ATLAS bipod, KAC BUIS, and Nightforce 2.5-10x24 MOAR in an A496 mount.
Pictures because I suck at reviewing…….
Deadair keymo
V7 16.5” Keymod rail 2099 lithium aluminum
Anti-rotation pin between upper and rail - gas tube on bottom, pin on top
Diamond FA
V Seven GI upper
Keymod pic rail section with Atlas bipod
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Originally Posted by Uncas47
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