Let me start off by saying that I am in no way endorsing or tied to these in any way. I do not even plan on buying it cause I have a BCM. Just stating my observations on the first one of these I’ve ever seen. I am aware that there is not much love for Remington here and have seen the corny Remington Defense video. This carbine however was just a basic M4A1 style rifle though, nothing like the rifles in that video.
I was at my LGS and was browsing the racks of ARs (mostly commercial, like bushys and other “just as good” brands, though they do have a few 6920s and used to have some DDs) when I saw “Remington R4” on one tag, priced at $1050 if I remember correctly. So out of curiosity I asked to see it. The barrel was stamped 5.56 NATO 1/7". Did not specify HPT or MPI testing. Underneath the handguards it was an M4A1 profile with the cut for the 203. It did feature an F marked FSB. Somewhat disappointed, I popped it open to inspect the key areas. Much to my initial surprise, it had a M16 carrier with a properly staked gas key, as well as an MP marked bolt. It was not HPT marked, but to be fair, neither is my issued Colt. The barrel was chrome lined and showed copper tracks on the M4 feed ramps as well as brass marks on the shell deflector, indicating that it had been test fired. Moving back, it featured an H2 buffer as well as a staked castle nut, though only one notch was staked. Odd to say the least. It featured a removable carry handle as opposed to a flip up buis.
Again, I am not endorsing anything here, nor am I arguing that it may be as good or worse than anything else out there. Just stating what I saw as I could not find any threads anywhere with hands on observations on these particular rifles. If anyone is really interested, I could go back and see about getting some pictures.
There is love for the Remington of the past but not the one that makes the 870 express, I hear that the 700s aren’t too affected but you can only trust so much second hand information. The Remington R4 is one of the rifles that is supposed to be based off of their recent wins and near wins for military contracts. I’m just glad to see that they’re coming in at a reasonable price and may get one when I see one around or the RGP model comes out. I’m really looking forward to their CSASS model myself but I doubt it’ll be released anytime soon.
I was able to go back and get some pictures. The price was just under $1050.
Remington Defense roll mark
Carbine features an F marked FSB.
Gas key staking
Castle nut staking
Comes from the factory with an H2 buffer.
And a M16 carrier
Bolt is MP marked
Barrel roll mark
I attempted to call Remington to ask some questions but ended up getting transferred to a Bushmaster product representative that was unable to answer all my questions (barrel material, testing, etc.) He is said he’d get in contact with RD to try and get some questions answered so we’ll see how that goes… He was able to tell me that the bolt is Carpenter 158 steel that is shot peened and MP tested, though he wasn’t able to specify whether it was batch or individually tested…
In the meantime I’ll just keep rocking my BCM.
I forgot to mention that Daniel Defense also doesn’t stake the castle but more than once on their rifles. My guess is that if both of these companies do it then it’s okay to have only one proper stake but I personally don’t see the harm in having two on the rifle.
Interesting. I’ll have to take a look at my buddies DDM4V4 cause I never noticed that. I see your point, but I personally would just stake the other myself. At least they didn’t just slather it in locktite and torque it down.
The fact that Remington has legit staking on the gas key and castle nut is a big step forward in the right direction.
It may be a baby step, but it’s still a step.
So when will they start selling their monolithic gas piston rifles? I have needed one of those for 2 years now.
It seems like Rem Defense is making efforts to sell more of their products to you and me. I wonder when they will start shipping the MSR/PSR. I saw the dealer price and it makes the AI PSR seem like the affordable starter package in comparison.
I was surprised. Maybe this is a one hit wonder but if more examples show up that are built like this one, they could be onto something. Also the fact that these ship with an H2 buffer is impressive as well. A carbine buffer in every rifle saves a lot of money and a properly weighted buffer shows they’re trying to reach past the average beer can shooter, in my opinion. I’ll be watching out for more examples.
I still haven’t seen or heard anything. I just happened to see this rifle at my LGS
Was the barrel chrome lined?
Yes, it was. I didn’t get a picture of it however.
I searched all over the interweb and couldn’t fine one…who sells these?
It was here at a LGS in OKC. H&H shooting sports. I have only seen one. There is nowhere online that I’ve seen that you can order one. It is based off an M4A1 and as far as I know Remington has access to the TDP. Whether they can build commercial rifles off it I do not know but I doubt it. They supposedly have hammer forged barrels though, according to their website.
So tell me, is it just a(nother) ‘basic’ AR15 right?.. So far I see nothing special about it (i do like the 158 steel and the staking looks good). The price is way over a S&W AR-15 at the moment anyway. I really dunno, but I’m kind of looking at S&W and Remington to be about on the same level of ‘quality’ as far as the basic AR-15’s goes.
Now adding a piston w/monolithic rail might be something to look into, that’s IF your into that kind of AR?
OP… Thanks for posting the pix along w/ your info.
I sure hope that these R4 rifles are higher quality than the S&W rifles. From what has been said about them so far it certainly seems as if the big green has put more love and care into these rifles than S&W. While we have yet to see actual testing on these rifles of any kind, I would like to think that these guns are built properly and not just a 870 express of an AR15. However I can’t say anything one way or the other unless I find one for a good price. The only one I’ve seen so far was on gunbroker.
Those S&W rifles you are mentioning run pretty damn well.
What kind of reliability are we talking about here? I don’t say that to be confrontational but I am genuinely curious since the S&W rifles are not built to the same material standards as the milspec requirements. The material requirements are mostly for durability though so proper dimensioning should be more important for reliability but at some point durability issues can be considered reliability issues as well. I don’t have a link to a thread on here that says S&W doesn’t use milspec materials for everything but it can be found in old threads.
Why does it have an H2 buffer? Is is because it is overgassed?
If it is an M4a1 clone then the H2 buffer is correct
It’s probably to be more tuned or to feel as if the recoil is smoother. It’s not as if this can’t be changed if one so desires.