Received a brand spanking new upper today (AAC 9in w/URX 300 BLK). I always field strip and inspect. Never seen this before, but the roll pin in the bolt head is not seated correctly and is sticking out (easily feel it with my finger. Ever seen that before?
Note: While I have a roll pin punch and could probably do it myself, to be on the safe side since it’s brand new I called AAC who are sending me RMA info. I am hoping I can just return bolt. Not complaining, these things happen but it’s a first for me.
I now some AAC people frequent M4C and was hoping you’d chime in. Pics (can’t get my damn iPhone to focus well) are attached but it’s pretty obvious. Thanks!!
Yes, right in line with the roll pin sticking out, you just can’t see if in my poor photo. I am assuming that denotes this as the OEM bolt (who makes it, btw?)
The question is: Should I send it back to AAC, or should I just tap this in with a pin punch? Anything special I need to know if I were to attempt this? Wouldn’t think there’d be anything to it, but would rather know before I attempted it.
I have reached the same conclusion. Gonna send it back to them, and keep as replacement or sell it. When you want an example of Quality Control…there ya go…
I am sorry that your roll pin was not pushed all of the way in. That was assembled at AAC, and it was AAC’s mistake. I have not seen that before, but it should have been caught before shipment. I recommend that you just push it in. We are showing the person who assembled it the photo so they will be aware that it happened.
AAC has picked every part on that rifle - so many of which were custom designed by me and several other people at AAC.
This bolt was assembled at AAC in GA, not DPMS. It was also not machined by DPMS. The “D” has no relation to DPMS whatsoever. It is a letter code for the machine shop that made it, and we QC the bolt components that we get from them to our own drawing. Someone at AAC simply made a mistake, and didn’t push the pin in far enough. It is a high quality bolt and a good choice to continue using it.
If I am wrong, I will freely admit it. However, the markings I saw look exactly like the ones from the DPMS carbines I examined. Here is one from 2008 that was being used in Iraq by one of the PSD teams. This appears to be exactly the same ones I saw here in the U.S.
What I don’t like is AAC’s secrecy about where they source their parts to the point where they have been unwilling (in my experience) to even discuss how their parts are marked when you call them for technical assistance.
That being said, it would not surprise me if the bolt is indeed DPMS, AAC is probably just afraid of people starting to talk shit about their product because it is made with what is not seen by the AR community as a “top tier” part.
I can tell you for certain (sorry for letting the secret out) that AAC barrels are made by Green Mountain. I purchased a handful of Green Mountain “factory blemish” 300blk barrels and guess what? They are profiled and marked the exact same as the barrel on my 16" factory AAC upper.
If someone wants to post a better picture of a DPMS bolt, I can provide a hi-res picture of my AAC bolt so we can settle this.
Thank you sir for responding. One of the reasons I really like M4C is I knew I’d get someone from AAC’s attention. This has been very enlightning. Sorry for the poor pic. I feel it important to provide product feedback so you can help improve your product(s). I’m not angry or anything, shit happens. I wanted to point out my experience and wanted some guidance before I tried to fix it myself.
I also posted to make sure this actually WAS the original bolt; the seal on the box was broken when I got it. This comes from a reputable dealer which I will not name, but in the outside chance someone removed the bolt and put another one in it’s place…well, it was worth asking.
P.S. I’m still your satisfied customer; I’ve got an SDN-6 on order, and if I could ever get it out of NFA jail, a M42K is sitting in my dealer’s safe right now…If you’d like the serial # or some better pics so you can track down the issue for training/feedback, PM me and I’ll be glad to provide it.
Question, do I need to hold the ejector down when I move/fix the pin, or not?
Follow up: I received a PM from AAC, immediately offering to replace the bolt. While everyone makes mistakes, it’s how they are dealt with that really counts. I am very grateful for AAC’s immediate follow up, and one of the reasons I appreciate M4C is that the industry reps who follow here.
He said if it was advertised as theirs and showed up with the D then the one that he got SHOULD be theirs. Doesn’t sound like they are taking exclusive ownership of all bolts marked with a D.
I bet AAC is ordering from the same machine shop that DPMS uses (make sense) and they probably are the same bolt that you’d get with a DPMS. This also makes the D not exclusive to DPMS as RSilvers said.
The word “Their’s” implies that they (AAC) sent them the specs for the item (drawing, etc). From my experience, when this is done, the manufacturer will mark them however YOU WANT.
My guess is that these Bolts are spec’d to the ORIGINAL ordering companies specs.
We have one bolt-body drawing - not one for each vendor. The vendor picks their identifying mark for this part. If when we inspect the bolt to our drawings they don’t pass, then we would return them for credit. The vendor would want to know that they made the bolts and not someone else. You can’t tell from the shape because they are of standard dimensions.
