[benewton]

Anybody playing with one of these yet?

According to the bushie website, they're available....

[TODD3465]

Unless they change the design or the recoil spring/buffer assembly back to that of a regular AR type and the bolt carrier and the gas block, I advise you not to buy one.

Mine was the Prof. Ord. one and looking at the one Bushmaster has I can't see any difference were it really counts.
I had trouble with the above mentioned parts in mine and had to replace all except the gas block, which is a two piece affair that allows an excessive amount of leakage that can impair function.
The gas block assembly cannot be easily replaced as part of it is a type of "boss" on the barrel and not a separate part.
The other part is a metal collar that the gas-tube is locked into. This assembly had gas blowing out around the collar and boss. To compensate for the loss of gas to the sysytem I trimmed the recoil spring a little bit at a time untill I got the rifle to cycle reliably.
I need to add that the original recoil buffer assembly fell-apart and looked to be flimsy in design. So I replaced it and the stock with a fixed carbine type one, which is the one who's spring I trimmed.

Here's a so-so pic of mine at the range.

[Justin]

My understanding is that Pro-Ord's problems were a result of shoddy quality control and parts that were out of spec.

Ideally Bushmaster has been able to take the Pro-Ord designs and refine the manufacturing process in order to make a product that has a consistent level of quality to it.

Kind of crossing my fingers for the Bushmaster version, because Pro-Ord had a really good idea, their execution of it was just really poor.

[TODD3465]

Sorry but I have to disagree here, the design of the recoil buffer and spring assembly is just too flimsy to hold-up to much shooting.
Honestly I think they made this one too light in that area to get the gun to make their desired weight.
If Bushmaster would make one using the regular fixed carbine type stock and re-design the gas-block they would have a decent carbine. It would weigh more than the old design but will be lighter than a average AR Carbine.