Comments from Rock River Arms owners?

[Seth Harness]

I love my "entry tactical", I've had it for several years now. I dont clean it nearly as often as I should and I sure as hell dont baby it. Every time I pull the trigger it goes bang accurately. That sounds like a good gun for fighting or home, personal and family defense to me.

[tinman44]

The reasoning behind the model with the tactical handle was that it gave me an iron rear sight as well as the ability to mount glass without having to remove the handle.....as well as just looking cool imo. I don't think i'd ever use the handle to actually carry the rifle (a sling would take care of that). However you make a good point about mounting issues and i'll look into that more carefully. I did think about just a flattop which would cost about $100 less but i'd need to get a rear site and those cost around $100 anyway so i figured I wasn't losing much with the tactical handle. I'll eventually mount a scope but i want to get proficient with iron sights first.

i weighed this out same way you did. i came to the conclusion however that i have more options mounting a buis that i choose. if you add a scope you can add a flip down buis if you want. you have more options without the perm buis. i decided to go with flat top for that reason. i'm a noob and thats what how i made my choice.

[Nathan_Bell]

I owned an RRA 16" and the main beef I had with it was the extractor tension, or lack thereof. I could push the extractor out to the point it was coil/insert bound and could not move any further. This was below 500 rounds. The lesser problem I had with it was the buffer spring was out of spec within those rounds as well. Cheaply fixed (Thanks Granthawk) and it would run anything I threw at it after that point. Sold it and ...can't remember what I bought after that one, think it might have been a scope for my .50.

WHich leads me to the next point, you are reducing your options by going with a carry handle instead of just a bare flat top. You are correct, you will end up with the same amount of $$ involved, but it gives you the option of mounting any glass you might chose to run, at a proper height.

Just my, it's been a long week (even if I did get to play paintball in the middle ), and I am tired $0.02

[mark5pt56]

From my experience, I would say if you build a gun from a stripped lower, that's it.

I spent good money on a NM based on what people seemed to be the most happy with vs. Bushmaster DCM.

Huge mistake.

7 minutes of windage to zero, verified from 50-600. (front sight canted bad) I looked at another that a local shop got in, asked the owner to look at the sight--what do you know, canted! How this got out of the shop is beyond me, say what you want-that is negligent, period, especially in a match gun. (not that it's accepatble in any gun. The trigger is horrible. I didn't have faith in thier ability to fix it so I spent the money to have the front sight set screwed and right now, I have a standard trigger in it. Debating on which trigger to go with.

Next time, I will have a custom one done, not much more and worth it. I would not go with a standard "M4" have Grant or whoever build one.

Mark

[Low Drag]

I've got a RRA. I got a great price on a lower from a buddy after the elections last year and figured why wait......

Got my hands on a RRA complete upper mid-length with heavy profile barrel (love it) and have been happy.

I don't use it for duty, I'm now a PFC. The most use it will see is a class or matches (I hope).

I've had it since Jan of this year and just went over 1000 round with it. No problems with the weapon. I have had failures due to ammo, popped primers on 1999 lot ADCOM ammo but that's it. The popped primer landed in the locking lugs.

The accuracy is not too bad, with a 1.1-4X optic I can hold about 1.5" if I do my part. It seems to prefer the 55gr stuff (Serb) over heavy ammo though.

It is great up close. With the optic I have and heavy barrel it does not move! I can keep all rounds in the A zone of an USPSA target at CQB ranges as fast as I can manipulate the trigger.

So far so good.

[mmike87]

I have two RRA rifles, one carbine and one middy.

I have mixed feelings about them. Before I ever visited this site, I thought they were the cat's ass so to speak. After doing a lot of reading here, I know that is not really the case.

I ditched the commercial tubes for milspec tubes, I staked the castle nuts, installed the BCM Extractor upgrade kits. I need to get the BCG's staked properly, still. I will probably just replace the BCG's with BCM models and keep the RRA BCG's as spares.

My feed ramps are "nicely dremeled" in that 1) they seem to work well enough and 2) they seem to be even and neat. I guess it's a "well executed butchering".

Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't buy another one. There is no reason to since a little more $$$ gets me a rifle that's properly assembled and avoids me having to re-work and replace things to make them "right."

This all said ... neither rifle has ever failed and both work perfectly. One survived a carbine class without issue, and both have functioned with all ammo fed to themn so far. So I cannot complain too much as both rifles have performed as advertised, so far.

[ST911]

I have two RRA rifles, one carbine and one middy..

If it's not too much trouble, which models in particular do you have? And could you look at the code stamped on your barrel and post it?

[Lucky Strike]

thanks for the comments...think i've decided to go with buying the complete upper and lower separately and instead of the Elite model just get a regular RRA midlength A4 upper with a lower.

This should put me well south of $800 which will let me get a good flip up rear BUIS and put me in good standing to get higher end optics down the road.

Also going to send the BCG to randall @ ar15barrels to do some reliability upgrades like proper staking, extractor spring, etc. I could likely do it myself but prefer just to let someone that knows what they're doing stake it since he's offering a very reasonable price.

[RD62]

Skintop,

I'm not MMike87, but thought this might be of some help to you:


Applicable "codes" for 223 barrels:

Old Codes:
Three characters side by side over the chamber.
First Character: N or W...N for NATO chamber or W for Wylde
Second Character: 8 or 9...8 for 1:8 twist and 9 for 1:9 twist.
Third Character: A, S, or C...A for moly (chrome -moly Alloy), S for Stainless, and C for Chrome-lined alloy.

New Codes:
The actual base part number from our parts system/catalog, located over the chamber. These are the most common. Unless indicated otherwise, all stainless barrels are 1:8 twist and all moly barrels (chrome-lined or not)are 1:9. All 16" moly barrels have a NATO chamber, while the 20" moly and all stainless barrels have a Wylde chamber.

200 =moly CAR
200CL =Chrome-lined CAR
202 =moly R4
204 =Chrome-lined R4
205 =Chrome-lined light-weight R4, 1:7
206 =Stainless CAR
208 =16" varmint
210 =moly Mid
212 =Chrome-lined Mid
215 =Stainless Mid
218 =18" varmint
219 =Chrome-lined light-weight R4, 1:9
220 =moly Std (rifle)
221 =Chrome-lined Std (rifle)
222 =Stainless NM(rifle)
223 =Stainless NM (rifle), unthreaded
226 =20" varmint
228 =24" varmint (1:8)
229 =24" varmint (1:12)

YOU MAY START TO SEE SOME "S" AND "C" MARKINGS AFTER THE NUMBERS...THE "S" FOR STAINLESS ANDTHE "C" FOR CHROME-LINED...PRIMARILY TO HELP PEOPLE BOTH IN-HOUSE AND OUT TO KNOW AT A GLANCE WITHOUT HAVING TO REFER TO A CATALOG.

Steve/RRA

Edited 07-07-06 to include chrome-lined 20" rifle bbl (AR0221).
Edited 01-04-07 to include chrome-lined lightweight R4 bbls (AR0205 and AR0219).

This list is from RRA.

-RD62

[mmike87]

If it's not too much trouble, which models in particular do you have? And could you look at the code stamped on your barrel and post it?

The carbine is the "Tactical CAR A4" and the Middy is the "Midlength A4". I cannot see any barrel markings under the quad rails.