Keep in mind things change.Originally Posted by Dan Lehr
PSA absolutely did get where they are today buying other companies reject parts and selling them as PSA “PTAC” and “Freedom” parts / guns.
They also had very inconsistent assembly.
I don’t know that either one of these is still true today.
BCM is not making Mercedes. They are making Toyotas.
KAC would be a better analogy for Mercedes.,
Could I offer that Colts are the Toyotas, BCM are Mercedes, and KAC/ Hodge etc, are the tactical Ferraris and Lambos? Overseas, Mercedes cars and trucks are very utilitarian; cabs, work trucks, etc.
Can you own an AR-15 in those places ?
Ferraris and Lambos are useless toys.
KAC / Hodge guns are made to be hard use working tools. Though in the case of Hodge most of the hard use units are complete uppers on Colt or FN GOV lowers. Exactly like a Diesel Mercedes taxi that will have 500k miles on it.
Nor is BCM > Colt quality wise. Quality wise they are a wash and despite Colt fan boi / gun fondler fantasies, they source many parts from the same suppliers.
I think that the SIG M400 Tread offers a good package and value; I've been pleased with mine, which has been upgraded with SIG and BCM and VTAC components. There was one assembly QC issue-the firing pin retaining cotter pin was improperly installed, resulting it splitting apart and wrapping around...
Nicely reinforced my protocol of field-stripping, cleaning and lubing any gun before any use....
Best, Jon
Sponsored by Check-Mate Industries and BH Spring Solutions
Certified Glock Armorer
Work guns aside, the average consumer would be best served with a Smith Sport (maybe a Ruger). Add Magpul furniture to take and put a Vortex or Sig dot on it and roll on.
PSA ends up looking good on paper with features, but they usually end up with more issues than it’s worth.
Food Court Apprentice
Semper Paratus certified AR15 armorer
PSA within the last year or two has gotten noticeably better, but they still take illogical shortcuts. They’re making receivers barrels and hand guards in the house now and they’re buying their lower parts from Schmidt tool but they’re still using the black Chinese springs to save a few cents.
From the small sample size I’ve seen S&W has noticeably better / more consistent QC and assembly than Ruger.
Although this is not a complete answer, I thought I should mention it. At the current time, if you look around on Gunbroker you can occasionally find a complete Colt 6920 upper for as cheap as $400 with BCG and charging handle. Considering that's only a little more than an SOLGW East India upper that doesn't have a BCG or CH, that's probably the best deal for a quality upper I've seen. The only question then would be an equal bargain for a quality lower.
May I ask which springs you’re referring to? Things like takedown pin and buffer retaining springs, mag release button springs? Something else?
I have a Form 1’d PSA lower with a Geissele trigger, and would like to feel confident that all springs essential to reliable function are of good quality.
Also open to recommendations for quality springs for those deemed essential to reliability.
The obvious ones being the trigger hammer spring. I haven’t taken a recent one apart and looked at the others but I can’t think of a reason they would source lower Springs from different places.
Since you said you have a Geissele trigger, I'm guessing it's using the Geissele trigger and hammer springs, so you should be fine with that.
As far as other springs and small parts in the lower, I'd say the main thing would be the buffer spring. Other than that, most of the others in the lower are not as critical. The fitment between the grip, safety spring, detent, and safety can be a bit of an issue but, not usually one that's going to deadline your gun.
As far as small parts sources, here's some I can recommend:
FN America - Primary Arms tends to have a fair amount of their small parts which I haven't seen elsewhere. They're quality, and some of them are quite inexpensive.
Expo Arms - Primary Arms' house brand. I have some of their barrels, handguards, and small parts and have been impressed with their quality. Here's their small parts kit if you want something cheap that's not a full LPK.
Forward Controls Design spring kit - Their stuff is always GTG and they only source from quality manufacturers. Here's their detents and small parts kit.
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