You have to cut your feed, ramps and polish.
Upon receiving the barrel I looked at and said well maybe it’ll work so built the rifle . Properly assembled and checked and sure enough would not feed the rounds. The ramps were too shallow and were not polished and I tried three or four times and all I did was drive the bullet back into brass casing.. So I had to cut and polish the feed ramps. I did not want to do this because I knew once I did this I could not send it back so I hope it shoots well but I know now it feeds well but modern days those should’ve been done. It was ridiculous for me having to cut and polish.
Forward assist roll pin hole out of spec
Bought one of these and everything seemed great at first. I installed the rear sight, dust cover, and barrel. When I got to the forward assist, I come to find the roll pin hole is drilled in the wrong spot. I checked it with forward assists I took from other ARs, so it was definitely out of spec. I didn't want to send the receiver back since I already put everything else on it, so I just filed down the bearing surface on the forward assist and then filed down the ratcheting tooth (or whatever its called) to make it fit and work properly. Its fine now, but was a huge PITA because of the spec issue. Hopefully, this was a 1-off issue.
Would you recommend this?
Yes, I would recommend to a friend
A little out of spec, but good enough
Decent build quality, however the one I received had the forward assist retention pin hole drilled in the wrong spot so I couldn't drive the roll pin through. Trying to do so bent the roll pin quite a bit. I'm sure it was the receiver being out of spec because I tested it with a forward assist that I had in another AR (BCM) and I couldn't drive the roll pin through on that one either, but both forward assists worked just fine in my BCM receiver. To remedy this, I had to file down the bearing surface on the forward assist to give it enough clearance to move back and forth. A small amount of bubba smithing later, and it was all set. I normally would've returned the receiver, but all the other upper parts, barrel, etc. were already installed and this fix only took about a half-hour, so I consider the time saved to have been worth it.
If you buy this, make sure to check that everything is in-spec first and foremost. Other than that small issue, I am happy with the product.
Nice retro upper
At gunsmith being assembled with Brownells 12.7 retro barrel now. Happy taking it out of package but...
Tried it on 3 assembled lowers and 2 stripped lowers.
Only fit 1 stripped lower properly. (Rubber mallet needed to take apart on one) Told gunsmith to make upper fit SBR lower and not vis versa. All said and done, glad I bought it.
Good machining, not so good packaging.
This receiver was packaged with several other items in a padded bubble envelope. Lack of protection led to several scratches and scuffs in the black finish of the receiver. Wish it would’ve been in a box with bubble wrap/paper filler instead. Other than cosmetic issues, it’s fine.
I waited a year for these to come back into stock
I have been wanting to build a retro “A1/C7” for a while. Overall I was very happy with the item. HOWEVER there was one manufacturing defect. The pin hole for the forward bolt assist was oversized. I was able to address this by using an oversized 1/8” pin, a $0.33 part . I also had to file down the recess on the forward assist itself to get proper function with an oversized pin. Bottom line: the finish and overall specs on the upper were good to go, but one pin hole was drilled oversized. It was no big hurdle to overcome, but it did create extra work for me to finish the project.
Finish was not very good
This upper has some flaws in the finish. I think it's in the forging as I've seen it on multiple uppers from this batch. It's noticeable and it's in more than 1 place. These should have been sold as blems.
Great upper but a little out of spec
I bought this to make a colt 723 clone and when I received it I thought "wow this is really nice". Once I got into building it I noticed the lug for the front takedown pin was a little too far forward. Does this impact function? Absolutely not but at least on mine I had a gap between the upper and lower by the rear of the upper roughly the size of the thickness of a dime and it's been driving me crazy to look it. That being said it functions perfect and shoots fantastic. My advice would simply be to test fit everything because had I noticed this gap when building I would've returned the upper I wouldn't expect something this far out of spec from Brownells a little dissapointed to be honest
Quality control??
Seems to be a good upper. But while I was showing the pistol to a friend he noticed one side of the rails on the handle was way thinner then the other side. Not sure if this is a universal problem or is just the one I received.
Not bad but definitely a blem
Like others have said it should definitely be sold as a blemish item, mine came with a long visible gouge on the carry handle under the anodizing and has a bit of a ding on one of the carry handle raised sides. The milling is a bit off on the rear of the upper where it should be a tighter mate with the lower. It functions fine but given the blemishes it definitely should be identified as such in the description. I'd still buy another one but Brownell's should call it what it is.
