There are things that make their presence known only by their absence. Often, it's an unexpected small thing, like an endplate.
Today, I swapped a carbine RE on Colt 6920 for an VLTOR A5 and reinstalled the carbine RE on another lower. A straight forward job that went without a hitch. Big deal, right? As it turns out, yes, it is.
My previous experiences with installing and removing REs involved generic brand parts. The problem I ran into was with the fit of the tongue of the endplate in the groove of the RE. The fit was loose and when tightening or loosening the castlenut, care had to be taken so the RE wouldn't spin. If the RE turns while tightening the castlenut, the RE will be off angle and the tongue will damage the threads of the RE. Both create a disturbance in my CDO.
My experience with removing and installing the Colt and VLTOR REs was different. The fit of the tongue of the endplate in the groove of the RE was much tighter. The fit prevented the RE from turning making it easy to install without damaging the threads and ensuring the RE was properly aligned.
Parts are parts but only if they are made to the proper specs. I thought the poor fit between endplate and RE was normal because of my previous experiences. If I had never worked with endplates and REs made to the right dimensions, I never would have known otherwise.
I have purchased "consumer grade" small parts from other companies and most of them worked for me. I have a fire control group from PSA that hands down has the smoothest and most consistent trigger pull of any of the standard AR triggers I've ever tried. But I've had first hand experience with out of spec parts as well, such as a bolt release with an oversized hinge hole, mag release buttons that the finish wore away quickly, sheared roll pins, collapsed springs and impaired function.
The more experience I gain the more I realize how important it is to be selective when choosing an AR or parts to build or modify an AR. It's important to chose quality, even if it costs more. You pay pay for the brand name, but if it's a quality brand, you will get much more than just the name
Today, I swapped a carbine RE on Colt 6920 for an VLTOR A5 and reinstalled the carbine RE on another lower. A straight forward job that went without a hitch. Big deal, right? As it turns out, yes, it is.
My previous experiences with installing and removing REs involved generic brand parts. The problem I ran into was with the fit of the tongue of the endplate in the groove of the RE. The fit was loose and when tightening or loosening the castlenut, care had to be taken so the RE wouldn't spin. If the RE turns while tightening the castlenut, the RE will be off angle and the tongue will damage the threads of the RE. Both create a disturbance in my CDO.
My experience with removing and installing the Colt and VLTOR REs was different. The fit of the tongue of the endplate in the groove of the RE was much tighter. The fit prevented the RE from turning making it easy to install without damaging the threads and ensuring the RE was properly aligned.
Parts are parts but only if they are made to the proper specs. I thought the poor fit between endplate and RE was normal because of my previous experiences. If I had never worked with endplates and REs made to the right dimensions, I never would have known otherwise.
I have purchased "consumer grade" small parts from other companies and most of them worked for me. I have a fire control group from PSA that hands down has the smoothest and most consistent trigger pull of any of the standard AR triggers I've ever tried. But I've had first hand experience with out of spec parts as well, such as a bolt release with an oversized hinge hole, mag release buttons that the finish wore away quickly, sheared roll pins, collapsed springs and impaired function.
The more experience I gain the more I realize how important it is to be selective when choosing an AR or parts to build or modify an AR. It's important to chose quality, even if it costs more. You pay pay for the brand name, but if it's a quality brand, you will get much more than just the name
