I ordered a rifle kit from DPMS recently. I was looking at the parts and looked down the barrel to find that there is a bur right where the gas port was drilled. I have always bought complete uppers and never really built an upper. Should I try and run a bore brush through it and see if I can knock off the bur? Run a few patches through it? I assume I should not build and shoot it before I knock this bur off? Is this something normal to find or should I try and send the barrel back? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I would like to be able to fix the issue myself, but if you guys think I need to send it back just let me know. Thanks folks…
Thanks for the helpful info. I already have 1 Noveske, 1 DD, 3 LMT, 1 Spikes, a few others…well you get the idea. I bought this DPMS kit for $400 to have a beater gun I can throw in a ranch truck and beat the heck out of it. I did not expect to get a beautiful weapon for that. Does that make sense to you guys. If you wise guys can show me where to get another Noveske for $400 I’d be all over it…but we all know that isn’t going to happen. The DPMS was a labor day special they had, everything to make a complete rifle minus the stripped lower for $400. I had extra lowers laying around. I take too good of care of my other guns to be throwing them around and mis-treating them like I will this turd.
Guns are for using not looking at. I have all kinds of scratches just on my SB Short-Dot (2300 optic), and its got sand in the turrets so they don’t turn as smoothly as they did before. Got scratches on my Mk12 which the total setup is around $5500. I think every gun I have has scratches and wear marks on them. Gives them character. I still remember the scratches on my issued M16A4, and its been a few years since I last seen it.
I know it’s far from a top tier gun…I thought I made that clear. Understand that I will be beating the living crap out of this thing. I did searches and got mixed results. I have been around AR’s for a while and know that the dpms is like the “bottom of the barrel” but for only $400 I figured what the hell. If you have some first hand experience I would love to hear it. Not trying to be a prick here guy, I usually just buy my uppers and rifles complete and never really had to think about looking for flaws because I usually buy higher end toys. By all means buddy if you have some knowledge to share please do.
The majority of people Ive seen on the range with issues have been guys with DPMS guns. Even for a “beater” gun you can still get something like a BCM base upper for under $400.
But its your gun, and you do what you want with it. Im not walking in your shoes so I dont care to say whats best for you. Im just saying theres nothing wrong with putting scratches on a pricey gun or piece of equipment.
I’m having trouble getting my mind around someone having “1 Noveske, 1 DD, 3 LMT, 1 Spikes, a few others…” and then going out at getting a DPMS to use as a beater. Any one of those other rifles would make a great beater, and certainly one better able to standing up to being beaten.
If I put it together and it does not run perfect after a reasonable amount of tinkering I will dump it to someone cheap and let them know it has issues. I did not realize I could get a complete BCM upper for under $400. This was sort of an impulse purchase, where I said what the heck I’ll try one. I was barbecuing and drinking and saw the dpms deal posted online and now hear I am with folks telling me I screwed up before I even assemble and fire the thing. If it doesn’t work out I’ll trade it to someone for beer and a brisket.
Maybe I baby my others too much. I really prefer to shoot my SBR the most, and the others get taken out rarely and are safe guns. The “beater” gun was a good excuse to tell myself to justify another AR.
What do you guys think my odds are that this thing will run fine. Total 50/50 toss up? Most likely not work without tinkering? Run perfect? Maybe I should have designated an LMT to be the beater.
Consider yourself lucky, last time I was drinking and did something impulsive I ended up with a kid.
You can have DPMS fix the barrel or (my choice) send it back as a return and eat the 12% restocking fee, just chalk it up to a stupid tax from the beer fund.
Schroedinger’s Cat. There is no way to answer your question without observation, and once you observe, the question is answered. So shoot it or sell it. Or try to shoot it, then sell it.
I’ve owned 2 DPMS guns, both of which were non-functional. This was before I knew anything about ARs, so I just dumped them.
Ya know, for $400 plus the price of a stripped lower, it’s worth the experience you will gain from building & troubleshooting until it runs right. It will teach what works, what doesn’t and help you see through the Fog of Internet. From what I’ve seen, a used AR will go for at least $800. That gives you a $400 buffer before you start losing money.
Build it! If you got kids, get them involved. If it doesn’t run right, it will be an exercise in critical thinking-an important skill-to get it to do so. Your knowledge will be based on what you’ve done rather than what someone told you
that DPMS kit was the entire rifle minus the stripped lower, its not just an upper. I saw it on slickdeals the other day. It was pretty damn tempting for $400. They raised the price now.
When I consider a beater gun it is something that I plan on running the hell out of and being able to pull it out and have no problems with it at all. That means it has to be 100% reliable or as close as possible to it. Why have a weapon that may or probably won’t go bang when I pull the trigger? Why have a weapon that I have to do a lot of work on to get it to run properly?
It sounds like the weapons you have already would be great “beater weapons”.
Guy asks a simple question about a burr in a bbl and he gets hounded about the choice in brang he made. Why not just answer the question?
As for the OP. Is hard to say, does it look like siple metal shavings left from drilling the gas port or is it a huge hunk of metal hanging there?
You could try and remove it with a bore brush, if not send it back for a replacement.
I understand the OP’s hesitation in using a quality rifle as a beater. I have a car which sits in the garage because it has thousands upon thousands of dollars into it making a low 10second high 9 second 1/4mile car. Can I drive it every day? Sure. But I drive a POS '96 Maxima so as to not put miles on the one in the garage. Same principle.
If I were to keep the DPMS I would send it back and have them fix the burr. That way if it became more of a problem afterwards that would be on DPMS and not the OP. If he were to fix or attempt to fix it himself and new problems arose he may have difficulties with DPMS. My philosophy has always been to have the producer fix the problems. That way I have someone to go to for further problems. Basically maintaining the warranty.