My First AR Build

AR/M4 Custom Build Forum
21

I think I need to put some more ammo through it to decide if the upper was at fault. I was using some old ass .223 Norinco that has been sitting in the safe for years.
I am wondering if I was just getting a short stroke/double feed caused by old weak ammo, and a fairly heavy buffer? I am also thinking I didn’t quite have everything lubed as well as it should have been. After I put some EWL 30 on everything that is supposed to be lubed it seemed a lot smoother.

Once the weather improves a little bit I will put some 5.56 through it and see if I have any problems.

As far as the trigger goes, it feels great… Not much creep, crisp break, and not to much over travel. I already am gonna get a spare bolt and firing in, won’t hurt to have a spare fire control group.

22

Okay, just remember that if it’s not working to keep the charging handle and bolt carrier group for a new upper, unless of course the new upper comes with higher quality components. Really you only need to replace the barrel if the upper has M4 feed ramps

23

There is a bit of bad advice being thrown around in this thread.
It needs to stop.
This forum is not about “good enough.”
If you think that DSA, RRA, or any of the other commercial grade AR companies are good enough in a defensive role, then I suggest you post less and read more.

The OP states that this carbine is intended as a weekend plinker as well as a defensive carbine.
The upper in question is nowhere near up to snuff for this role.
It is questionable what steel the barrel is made out of.
It is also questionable if it has a true 5.56 NATO chamber.
I also seem to remember DSA sending out a bunch of upper that they took a Dremel tool to.
This is an unacceptable barrel for a carbine that may be relied upon for defensive needs.

Also, a barrel swap may not be feasible for the OP.
I’m wagering it is not since the upper was bought complete and not as parts.
A barrel swap require a number of job specific tools.

24

That’s true, selling the upper for a higher end upper would be necessary for combat. Defending yourself counts as combat and I shouldn’t have beaten around the bush on that issue.

25

So quick update, DSA upper is getting swapped for a BCM 14.5 with a pinned A2X flash hider:D. Once my upper comes in I will throw on my MI extended rail and put up some new pics.

26

Why not Troy rails though? I do think the MI rails are suitable but the Troy ones are lighter and likely a bit nicer than the MIs. Are they free floats?

27

I got a set of the gen 1 2 piece free floats units from bravo when they were on clearence.

28

What were they priced at?

29

$152.60, they are still on site but out of stock. I don’t think they will have anymore since MI moved to the gen 2 ones

30

What are you still waiting on for your rifle again?

31

So I sent my dsa upper in. Was gonna get a 16, they had it for over 2 weeks and no work was done, asked for a refund and they gave it to me.

I just put in an order to bravo company today for its replacement

32

What kind of work did you ask them to do for you?

33

When I described my issue and the tool marks in the chamber they said the barrel should be replaced.

34

What upper did you pick from BCM? I saw you chose a pinned 14.5" but you didn’t specify anything else on it.

35

14.5 carbine standard barrel.

36

So my upper came in today :smiley: I can’t speak highly enough of Bravo Company. I got tons of awesome free stuff, and this upper is much nicer than my previous upper. Once again I want to say thanks to everyone to convince me to get the BCM upper.
Here are the new pics