Armalite improvements

AR/M4 AR Technical Discussion
1

i picked up an armalite upper after seeing some improvements over their old ways, and decided give it a chance and pair it with my mall ninja lower with an umbrella logo. i realize that regardless, i won’t see people here clamoring for armalite. i’m personally a noveske and sabre (so long) fan, but figured i’d give a first impression review and list some of the improvements armalite has made… some as recently as a few months ago.
some of these are known, other things i haven’t seen anyone mention.

they now stamp their barrels so you know what you’re getting and now use cmv barrels, and carpenter 158 for bolt material.
no hpt/mpi except with the initial design, but they are shot peened. i suppose that’s a discussion that’s been beaten pretty well on here anyway.

front sight. this and the stamped barrels are the most recent changes.

side staked, and not slotted gas key


shrouded firing pin… still just a modified ar15 carrier though.

complete with the lower which would probably be considered awesome at tos. the lower was made by a place local to me, usa tactical firearms, with a cmt lower parts kit. everything is snug and clean, and the upper has no play when on this lower.

they’re also making mid length. i’ll eventually see how well this setup does, i spent about $750 total, so if it performs well, i’ll be ecstatic. like i mentioned, i don’t expect to sway people from colt, bcm or noveske, just figured i’d give armalite a chance on this one, and share my findings as i go, since it seems they’re making an effort to make a better rifle than they have in the past. if i deem it worthy, i’ll probably throw a simple setup on it, consisting of a dd 12.0 fsp, afg, and aimpoint pro. thanks for viewing.

edit: forgot to mention, they also offer 1:7 twist which a lot of people don’t seem to know.

2

Shot peening the bolt is much more important than HPT/MPI. Looks like Armalite is making the right changes

3

Outstanding. That means someone’s listening.

4

I still have to wonder why they can’t just do it right the first time. Why use a semi auto BCG? What not use taper pins instead of what appears to be straight pins?

Does it have a commercial receiver extension or Milspec? What buffer does it have? When you say 750.00 you mean 750.00 plus tax, correct?

5

Umbrella corp lower is sweet. Sell it to me:D

6

i agree after hearing what some of the respected guys say about it over the past couple of years.

yeah, it took them a little longer than i figured, but glad to see they’re doing it.

i don’t have one of their lowers, but they said they are using milspec receiver extensions, and have h buffers, but i don’t know if they use them in all applications. the ar15 bcg group is a gripe of mine, but i may use a bcm carrier eventually anyway.
the whole package ended up at about $750 after taxes. i cheated a little with leo discount here and there :smiley:

ha, i always liked the games, and figured i was getting that lower for a pretty good price, so why not.

7

wesessiah, how long ago did you get that lower engraved? Are they still offering this?

8

i’ve actually had it about a year and a half or more… so it’s been sitting for a while :smiley: i would imagine they still are offering custom engraving of anything. at the time you could email them a picture of whatever (after payment of the lower) you want, they’ll send you a picture of a proof, and you tell them if anything needs changed on it. i believe since then, there’s been a company to assume the trademarks for the logo on firearms. i also noticed they took the proof they used to make mine down from the website since then.