They do seam kind of cheap, but the factory front sight is spring loaded so that it won't stay down if it's bumped.
I bought this a few years ago and it's been a safe queen ever since. The FDE version (or at least this particular one) came with no sights whatsoever, so I added the MBUS sights. Also, try as I might, I've never been able to find an FDE dust cover for the bottom rail, if they ever existed at all.
I swapped out the factory sights but then realized they are just aesthetically challenged but functional and light. Hoping to avoid throwing $ at my ARXs as the price point is really it’s huge advantage over other contemporary piston rifles.
I actually like the back up sights. Definitely function over form. Of course, I think the plastic magpul sights are the absolute ugliest, but again, I have a bunch of those on rifles because they are cheap and they work (other than pin walking issues).
Let those who are fond of blaming and finding fault, while they sit safely at home, ask, ‘Why did you not do thus and so?’I wish they were on this voyage; I well believe that another voyage of a different kind awaits them.”
Christopher Columbus
Greg Bell,
Since you got a good example, would you be willing to check the barrel and see if you can detect any movement in it? I want to see if there's any test a prospective buyer could perform in-person to weed out good shooting examples from bad.
The ARX100 example I handled at my local dealer was much tighter than the one I owned, with only minimal movement detected at the front end (up/down) as could be felt with a finger while torqueing the barrel. The rear of the barrel was also very tight, unlike my original example.
I told my dealer my horror story dealing with Beretta and he told me he'd be willing to take the rifle back and handle Beretta if I have issues, so I'm considering rolling the dice again.
Last edited by Aries144; 05-31-21 at 23:15.
Looks like the FDE ones may be back in production too. They’re trickling out on gunbroker for $1,600-$1,699. I found one elsewhere for $1,299 last week.
I rolled the dice and picked up a new ARX100 to see what BUSA had accomplished with 7 years of production experience with this rifle.
Compared to my 1st production year example:
The polymer upper and lower no longer show signs of shrinkage, which caused parts of the upper to flare out and the magwell to be too tight. The front barrel retention cylinder fits tightly in the upper receiver and does not rattle. The barrel fits much more tightly into the receiver at the rear and shows no rotational wobble when locked in place, though it does still exhibit detectable movement in the up/down axis at the front.
Moving onto the barrel, its roll mark indicates that it was produced in the new Gallatin, TN factory, and interestingly shows longitudinal flats all across the length of the barrel that would seem to be hammer marks. The crown is lopsided, with the termination of the bore being farther forward on one side than the other, and looks like it was made with a hand drill (LOL). It isn't even close to perpendicular to the bore and can best be described as "lumpy" or maybe "jagged." The included photos don't well capture the crown being off axis, but do show its poor quality.
The exterior of the barrel where it steps down in front of the gas block shows the same lopsided geometry as the crown. What sort of CNC problem could result in one side of a taper being 60* and the reverse side 65*? What else is lopsided on this barrel that I haven't found yet?
This example shoots 4 MOA with 55gr and 75gr Prvi Partizan, as measured at 25 yards with a 5x scope, and requires sights adjusted far to the left. It shot worse with some '08 Lake City M193 at about 4.5 MOA. It's an improvement over my original 6+ MOA gun at least.
Gallatin has had QC problems in the past, but I had thought they had all that sorted out by now.
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