http://vuurwapenblog.com/2013/05/04/pretty-much-the-worst-ar-15s-ive-ever-seen/
Today I was wandering around the NRA show and saw a few AR manufacturers I wasn't terribly familiar with, so I decided to check out their wares.
At "Battle Rifle Company," I was invited to dry fire their triggers.
So I did.
After four distinct and palpable points of creep, the trigger broke at a weight of somewhere upwards of six to seven pounds (by my estimate). I tried another rifle, and it did the exact same thing. Hey, at least they're consistent, right? I told the BRC employee who was showing me the rifle that I didn't think it was very good, and he responded that I was the first person to say so.
Looking at another rifle, I saw that the railed handguard - to which the front sight was attached - was noticeably crooked. I pointed this out, and the rep said "Well, it might have gotten dropped."
I checked out a third rifle, a .308, and saw that it had a midlength position gas block and a carbine length rail, exposing approximately two inches of the gas tube. I asked why, and the employee said it had been put together like that by accident, but once it was together, they liked the way it looked, so they left it that way. Another employee saw me looking at it and asked why I thought it was a problem. I said, "It might get damaged," and he said, "Yes, that could happen," with no followup.
Sensing that I might be skeptical about the quality of their rifles, the first employee told me that they had given a rifle to a former Top Shot contestant, who had fired 4000 rounds through the rifle in a year, and that he had encountered no problems. As a point of reference, here is a small example of my experience with the platform.
He also said that another rifle had accidentally been dropped 50 feet from a helicopter and still managed to function, which was a testament to how tough their rifles were. When I inquired what made their rifles more durable than any other AR, they described how tight the fit was between the receivers and the railed handguards. This is an example of how some AR manufacturers intentionally confuse the attributes of the platform with the attributes of their particular product.
At this point, I had had quite enough, and decided to walk away.
To summarize my trade show observations:
- Their modified triggers were, in my opinion, of lower quality than a standard AR15 trigger
- Their firearms were improperly assembled, both from workmanship and design standpoints
- They have no concept of proper quality control or testing and evaluation procedures
Not confidence inspiring. So I checked them out on the internet...
On their website, they describe their products:
We make the finest, most functional battle worthy tactical rifles and work hard every day to make sure our quality is never compromised. We also bring added value to every rifle we field, from M4 to M16, because we know - you need reliability on a budget. Whether you are patrolling the streets of a big American city, or moving house to house in a busy foreign village, you can count on the reliability, functionality and performance that a BATTLE RIFLE gives you, wherever you might have to end up fighting the good fight.
...yeah, okay.
And how their rifles are put together:
Each Battle Rifle is put together by a Master Armorer with years of experience. Proprietary components are fabricated to tight tolerances so that the fit is cleaner and enhances functionality. Upper and lower Receivers are matched and fitted to maintain tight fit. All of the internal components are buffed, filed, polished or smoothed to make them fit perfectly.
Mmmmhmmmm.
There's also a list of what makes their rifles special. Among things like "Butstock Pad" and "Rail Covers" are gems like "Polished Feed Ramps," "Polished Chamber," and "Resized Gas Port."
Given their inability to get very basic things like railed handguard alignment - and even proper handguard length! - correct, I shudder to think of how poorly done their polishing and resizing might be. Not to mention the fact that resizing gas ports is generally something to avoid without a specific reason, and "polished feed ramps" end up wearing prematurely.
I cannot think of a single reason why anyone should consider purchasing a product from this company.
Today I was wandering around the NRA show and saw a few AR manufacturers I wasn't terribly familiar with, so I decided to check out their wares.
At "Battle Rifle Company," I was invited to dry fire their triggers.
So I did.
After four distinct and palpable points of creep, the trigger broke at a weight of somewhere upwards of six to seven pounds (by my estimate). I tried another rifle, and it did the exact same thing. Hey, at least they're consistent, right? I told the BRC employee who was showing me the rifle that I didn't think it was very good, and he responded that I was the first person to say so.
Looking at another rifle, I saw that the railed handguard - to which the front sight was attached - was noticeably crooked. I pointed this out, and the rep said "Well, it might have gotten dropped."
I checked out a third rifle, a .308, and saw that it had a midlength position gas block and a carbine length rail, exposing approximately two inches of the gas tube. I asked why, and the employee said it had been put together like that by accident, but once it was together, they liked the way it looked, so they left it that way. Another employee saw me looking at it and asked why I thought it was a problem. I said, "It might get damaged," and he said, "Yes, that could happen," with no followup.
Sensing that I might be skeptical about the quality of their rifles, the first employee told me that they had given a rifle to a former Top Shot contestant, who had fired 4000 rounds through the rifle in a year, and that he had encountered no problems. As a point of reference, here is a small example of my experience with the platform.
He also said that another rifle had accidentally been dropped 50 feet from a helicopter and still managed to function, which was a testament to how tough their rifles were. When I inquired what made their rifles more durable than any other AR, they described how tight the fit was between the receivers and the railed handguards. This is an example of how some AR manufacturers intentionally confuse the attributes of the platform with the attributes of their particular product.
At this point, I had had quite enough, and decided to walk away.
To summarize my trade show observations:
- Their modified triggers were, in my opinion, of lower quality than a standard AR15 trigger
- Their firearms were improperly assembled, both from workmanship and design standpoints
- They have no concept of proper quality control or testing and evaluation procedures
Not confidence inspiring. So I checked them out on the internet...
On their website, they describe their products:
We make the finest, most functional battle worthy tactical rifles and work hard every day to make sure our quality is never compromised. We also bring added value to every rifle we field, from M4 to M16, because we know - you need reliability on a budget. Whether you are patrolling the streets of a big American city, or moving house to house in a busy foreign village, you can count on the reliability, functionality and performance that a BATTLE RIFLE gives you, wherever you might have to end up fighting the good fight.
...yeah, okay.
And how their rifles are put together:
Each Battle Rifle is put together by a Master Armorer with years of experience. Proprietary components are fabricated to tight tolerances so that the fit is cleaner and enhances functionality. Upper and lower Receivers are matched and fitted to maintain tight fit. All of the internal components are buffed, filed, polished or smoothed to make them fit perfectly.
Mmmmhmmmm.
There's also a list of what makes their rifles special. Among things like "Butstock Pad" and "Rail Covers" are gems like "Polished Feed Ramps," "Polished Chamber," and "Resized Gas Port."
Given their inability to get very basic things like railed handguard alignment - and even proper handguard length! - correct, I shudder to think of how poorly done their polishing and resizing might be. Not to mention the fact that resizing gas ports is generally something to avoid without a specific reason, and "polished feed ramps" end up wearing prematurely.
I cannot think of a single reason why anyone should consider purchasing a product from this company.
