I bought a 5.56x45 Polish Archer off GunBroker for $852 delivered + $25 for the transfer. It’s the semiauto version of the Beryl their military uses.
It looks good overall and appears to be well built. The receiver finish appears to be parkerized. The US compliant buttstock and pistol grip feel better than they look. The sights are decent. I’m not sure what to make of the muzzle brake, but I’ll see how it works. The rifle came with the original store tag which showed $1399. It was then marked down to $899. At the $877 I paid I’m pleased. However, if IO wants this rifle to gain in popularity, then they’re going to have to get realistic with the price. Most dealers who have them are asking around $1200. $1000+ is just asking too much. For that kind of money you can get a Colt AR15. I’m hoping that this works better than the two lemon SLR-106’s that I had. It seems decent from my initial observations. We’ll see…
Did IO build it or just import it? If it’s a build, you might be in for a lot of hassle. My GF bought one at a show and had nothing but problems with it due to poor tolerances and poor assembly. They finally replaced it under duress and the second one was a mess too.
I’m not trying to be a downer, just a warning to inspect it thoroughly and get with them ASAP to correct any issues, because they don’t hurry to fix problems.
IO imported it in “sporter” configuration and the modified it to accept hicap magazines and make it sec922 compliant. Fortunately, the amount of work they look to have done appears minimal. They opened up the magazine well on the receiver, replaced the trigger group, replaced the buttstock & pistol grip, and installed a US muzzle attachment.
BTW, don’t worry about being a downer. Reputations are generally well earned. I appreciate the straight truth. I took a risk on buying a Century O-PAP (Yugo M70 clone) and picked it up Friday. This rifle is built in Serbia and converted to hicap configuration here by Century. Unfortunately, the monkeys at Century magaged to screw it up somehow when they replaced the gas piston. The recoil spring assembly is now captured by the bolt carrier. I don’t even know how that’s possible. I called Century today and to their credit they’re sending me a prepaid label to return it.
Specops is going to making a new magazine for these for 2014. The Radom seem like a good way to get into a 5.56 AK type. A supply of reliable, reasonably priced magazines should only help to make the “Archer” more popular.
