Charlie98
Member
I've always found my AR's to be pretty well assembled and reliable. That changed yesterday...
I traded into a DPMS Oracle AR-15 a few years ago. Nothing scientific... I pumped about 1000 rounds through it to prove it, and then I gifted it to my brother a year or two ago. During my test run, I did note the accuracy fell off pretty good when the barrel was hot, and really went to pot when I put sling tension on the forearm. I put it down to a chezzy barrel and called it a day. He wanted an AR, but I also knew it would likely sit in the safe for most of it's life... so the bottom-end DPMS would work pretty well in that role.
About the same time, I started to build my own AR's... from parts. Understanding how everything went together, and how easily everything assembled (and disassembled...) was a quick learn, and even fun. To that end, I built my brother a new upper... to replace the noodle-barreled upper on the DPMS. Nice mid-weight middy barrel, low-pro gas block, freefloat forearm. Easy peasy. I brought the DPMS upper back to disassemble it... and decide what I wanted to do with it... and then I realized what was wrong. The DPMS had the standard barrel locking nut/delta ring assembly. Once I pulled the gas tube... I was actually able to unscrew the barrel nut with finger pressure! Good heavens.
Of course, I've heard of loose barrel nuts... but never thought I'd see one. As I learned to assemble AR's, I also found it was easy to have a look at an assembled AR and fairly reasonably diagnose problems with them (most of the time, there is always an exception.) As soon as I pulled the handguards off this thing... I knew what was wrong.
Without turning this thread into an AR-bashing thread... what other things have you found amiss with your AR's? What things do you check when you pick up a new (or new to you) AR? What's the worst thing you have ever found that was not wear-related? Say... poor assembly, or poor parts match? The best teacher is often experience... what say you?
I traded into a DPMS Oracle AR-15 a few years ago. Nothing scientific... I pumped about 1000 rounds through it to prove it, and then I gifted it to my brother a year or two ago. During my test run, I did note the accuracy fell off pretty good when the barrel was hot, and really went to pot when I put sling tension on the forearm. I put it down to a chezzy barrel and called it a day. He wanted an AR, but I also knew it would likely sit in the safe for most of it's life... so the bottom-end DPMS would work pretty well in that role.
About the same time, I started to build my own AR's... from parts. Understanding how everything went together, and how easily everything assembled (and disassembled...) was a quick learn, and even fun. To that end, I built my brother a new upper... to replace the noodle-barreled upper on the DPMS. Nice mid-weight middy barrel, low-pro gas block, freefloat forearm. Easy peasy. I brought the DPMS upper back to disassemble it... and decide what I wanted to do with it... and then I realized what was wrong. The DPMS had the standard barrel locking nut/delta ring assembly. Once I pulled the gas tube... I was actually able to unscrew the barrel nut with finger pressure! Good heavens.
Of course, I've heard of loose barrel nuts... but never thought I'd see one. As I learned to assemble AR's, I also found it was easy to have a look at an assembled AR and fairly reasonably diagnose problems with them (most of the time, there is always an exception.) As soon as I pulled the handguards off this thing... I knew what was wrong.
Without turning this thread into an AR-bashing thread... what other things have you found amiss with your AR's? What things do you check when you pick up a new (or new to you) AR? What's the worst thing you have ever found that was not wear-related? Say... poor assembly, or poor parts match? The best teacher is often experience... what say you?
