I am doing a new 20" build and trying to keep it on the light side. I ordered a delton 20" lightweight kit but have heard they are running a couple months behind on orders. While surfing here I found bravo company sells a 20" gov profile upper. My questions are these:
I know BCM is much better quality than del-ton, but does it make that much difference for a spare rifle not being used in self defense?
is the quality difference enough to justify the increased cost of the bcm unit?(the upper without bolt/ch/handguards is only 50 bucks less than del ton’s whole kit.)
since I am in NY and it will be on a post ban does anyone know if bravo company does removal of flash suppressor and bayo lug?
thanks in advance for your responses
Seriously… on a 20" plinker, I’d go Del Ton. To me, money is a limited asset, and I always economize on toys. Heck, I’d even consider going Model 1 Sales for an even cheaper toy.
The 20" system is less rough on components, and more forgiving on tolerances, etc…
I can tell you from experience because I bought 2 Del-Ton’s back when things were sky high and talked them into taking 1 back for a full refund and took a hard hit on dumping the other to a local person. From that sample set of 2 and others from this forum buy the BCM and don’t look back. I had extreme problems with both of mine from the start. Just don’t do it.
thanks for the input guys! I am going to wait a couple days and see how the opinions stack up- right now opinion is split. 120mm- the cost difference does not matter that much to me, If I knew the del ton was going to show up quickly I’d give it a try, it just looks like the BCM’s from bravo co usa are ready to ship/in stock
Delton shipping and cs has been pretty good for my cousin, but I was not at all impressed with the upper he got from them. I had to stake the gas key screws and it was easily the heaviest upper I’ve ever handled (my cousin’s fault for buying a bull barrel). I don’t own dirt shooting plinkers and have no use for them. If BCM is an option, BCM is the answer in my opinion. YMMV.
Where on Del-tons site did you see a 20" lightweight kit. To my knowledge they do not offer one, and only have the hbar configuration.
I have three 20" upper’s. One is a bushmaster post ban type and I would consider it a bull barrel. It is good on the accuracy department but is a pita to lug around. I also have a del ton upper and it is an hbar type profile, but not as thick as the bushy under the handguards. It is also an accurate barrel, but still too heavy for my tastes. And last but not least, I have a BCM upper. It is easily as accurate as the above two, and much more enjoyable to hike with and shoot offhand. My vote would go to the BCM, as they are outstanding to deal with, and quality is topnotch (as in I could not fine one single flaw with mine cosmetic and mechanical wise).
On a side note the del ton lightweight 16" kit I bought, has taken tons of work to get it to run where it is today, and is the reason I will not buy from del ton again.
Hope this helps, any other questions feel free to ask.
well as it turns out I got confirmation today they shipped my del ton part kit, so we will give it a try. I guess I am just lucky but have not had any problems with any of the 10 or so kit builds I have done over the years. granted most of them have been prior to the big parts rush when qc could suffer due to moving a lot of product. As far as the 20" lightweight kit-when you go to del-ton’s drop down menu to select kit options a 20" lightweight is an option and what I ordered. From what I can tell it has a 750 fsb but is turned down fore and aft of the fsb to 625 diam.
20" is a lot easier on parts, but how much are you really saving by not going with the BCM upper? If you’re going to spend the money you might as well get something that will last. Economizing on everything will get you a giant pile of mediocre stuff.
If you honestly can’t afford an extra $50, or $100 for a quality upper, then you can’t afford to be plinking with .223 in the first place.
This is like rationalizing that you can’t afford a higher end sports car, so you spend $25,000 on a Honda civic with a look-alike body kit and no serious engine mods.
You can build a Del-Ton or M1S for $500 -550. ($460 + 85 stripped lower) Which is more like saying you can’t afford a $20,000 Honda, but you only need to drive a car once a month anyway, so you by a $10,000 Hyundai.
It took me 30 seconds to get those numbers. What made you think you could just throw shit out there, number wise, and get away with it?
And you know what? A Del-Ton, which will probably run just fine out of the box, will last a plinker-dude a lifetime. Plus, when you consider that Plinker-dude will never shoot $500 in ammo through it, he avoids having $1050 tied up in a safe-queen.
IF he decides later on to get serious with AR shooting, that initial $500 he spent on a cheap AR will mean relatively little to his overall AR expenditure. Bottom line, there really is no huge loss to starting out with a cheap AR.
Sweet, I wonder how long they have had that option. I ordered my 20" kit during the big rush, and it took over 6 months to get it. And back then the gov’t and lightweight 20" options werent available, or I would have went that route. Post some pics when you get it built, and take some measurements of the barrel diameter if you have a caliper.
regarding 120mm and bolt catch opinions, I do have cash for better quaility if I want it- if I want to do mag dumps all day long with green tip and my noveske, I have the resources. But at the same time spare plinkers are good to have around. To loan to friends just getting in the game, for new kids to shoot etc.Besides living in NY makes me even more worried about worsening gun restrictions and this started as having a spare lower around as a contingency, then realized it was silly to have a empty lower laying around- you guys/gals probable all understand this
I gotcha. Sometimes we get locked in the “What is your life worth, anyway?” error.
Not all items we purchase have to be “the best” or even “top tier”.
Last summer I bought a couple crappy guns; one in order to spend an afternoon with a pretty girl, teaching her how to shoot a gun her company will issue her downrange and one just for fun, because I always wanted one. Both had utility and were worth the money spent.
Now, that is entirely different from saying Del-Ton is as good as BCM.
the delton kit came in today- looks pretty nice for a budget kit- the lightweight barrel still is 750 at the fsb and is thin fore and aft of this-but wow what a difference in balance- it feels lighter than my 16 inch guns- looknig forward to getting a few shots off in the next week or so-will report back results
took to the range- only about 200 rounds fired but perfect reliability. only had a cheap knockoff buis so was not trying for great accuracy but my 25 meter zero target groups were classic rounds touching cloverleafs- about a 1/8" group. when my new buis comes in will range it to 100 yards (longest distance at my club) but so far satisfied with the del ton
Glad to hear it’s working good so far. Keep us updated on how the build works out for you. I’m tempted to get the same kit as you and build it into a predator/varmint gun, but I’m still a bit nervous about buying a del-ton kit.
i would recommend a 50 yard zero if you have one, best overall zero for 16" barrel. If you dont have a 50 yard zero you can zero it for 1.3 inches low at 25 yards, which will be dead on at 50.