About 2 years ago, I began keeping a carbine in the trunk of my car just in case. It was a BCM 16" LW with an AP PRO. Solid setup. About a year later, my previously crime-free neighborhood began experiencing a rash of thefts and burglaries. I decided I could not bear to lose my BCM or any of my other top-drawer guns - along with all the accessories so carefully chosen and mounted on them - so I decided to replace my trunk gun with something less expensive.
Now I spent my last 5 years at my 150 Officer agency as Rangemaster / Armorer and have 3 Colt factory LE Armorer certs for M16/M4/Subguns, so i wasn’t going to buy a DPMS and feel good about it. I wanted it all and I wanted it cheap. I know - I chuckled too.
I spent a lot of time researching and decided to roll the dice with Palmetto State. I bought everything on sale when free shipping was available, a piece at a time. I bought a blem lower for $129.00 and tore it down within an hour of receiving it. I couldn’t find the blem and I also couldn’t find anything else I didn’t like. Snapped it on a Colt upper and shot it that way for a couple of months while I figured out which upper to go with. I was more than satisfied with the lower. Next, I bought a BCM BCG. 'Nuff said. For the upper I went with PSA’s # 29607. 16" middy, 1/7, CL, 16" chrome lined, Mil-B-11595E, chrome moly vanadium steel barrel, 5.56 chamber, M4 ramps, F marked FSB, etc for $259.00 w/o BCG and CH. This checked all the boxes except “tier 1 manufacturer”. Upper is an Anchor harvey forging. I went ahead and ordered a PSA Premium BCG for $79 with free shipping also - how bad could it be, right. I had the BCM in the safe also.
On close inspection, the upper looked quite good. Everything aligned. Feed ramps nicely mated up to upper cuts. BCG was most impressive - the staking was freaking medieval, proper extractor spring, black insert, O ring. Excellent tension on extractor and ejector. Clean machining.
I assembled this now all-PSA carbine and took it to the range with a good mix of M193, some green tip, and a crapload of Wolf steel case. If I were blindfolded and told this was a DD ( I own 1), Colt (2), or BCM (2), I would have had no reason to question it except, why the heavy / stagey trigger? Perfect function. 3.25 accuracy at 100 with a red dot and my 54 year old eyes off my range bag. 3 mag dumps as fast as I could manipulate the trigger and reload also went off without a hitch - zero malfs.
Over the summer, I took one 700 round weekend carbine course and pretty much shot this sub $500 carbine exclusively to vette it. I have yet to have a failure of any kind and I have mostly shot Wolf Polyformance. I also have not cleaned this weapon a single time after readying it for the range on day one.
I have never owned a $467 dollar AR before, but I do now AND I LIKE IT. Alot. Yes, it’s a sample of 1. Yes, it could disintegrate tomorrow. But given its track record so far, I don’t think I am in for any bad surprises as it goes into my Bocce Ball case in the trunk, awaiting a time I hope will never come.
