I'd love to have all these tools and gauges.

The videos are enlightening on two levels. First, the quality of PSA AR components, and secondly, on the testing methodology for AR components.

I follow his autopsies quite a bit, and between PSA and Black Rain Ordnance, I'm wondering who can have more.

I am not builder, so I found all the explanations very interesting. TY

Thanks for posting that, Para. I'd heard of him before but had never actually observed his process. That was really informative. That's gotta be well over $1000 just in gauges that he's got there, not to mention the other tooling. I need to get one of those Midwest reaction rods....I like how it indexes into the channel in the upper receiver.

He's done some Autopsies of high end uppers as well. Seems to be very even handed. He definitely takes gauging to the next level.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CD228,

He's the reason I bought this tool to install my barrels and probably why my rifles are so accurate after assembly.


https://www.brownells.com/tool...-upper-receiver-rod/

I made my own sight alignment rod, but bought the really good punch set with roll pin starters.

For some reason PSA over-torques the barrels onto the receivers, but it's the cheapest way to get a barrel from them. I just toss the receiver and use the one I wanted in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
That's gotta be well over $1000 just in gauges that he's got there.

He sells the two bolt tail gauges for $450

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Orndorff:

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
That's gotta be well over $1000 just in gauges that he's got there.

He sells the two bolt tail gauges for $450

Back when you could get the USGI chamber gauge from Bill Ricca, he wanted a similar price.

One of my buddies attended his build class this summer. Cost a lot but he said it's the best he's been to (he's been to a few)

Without access to the TDP how does one get the gauging that he suggests is go/no go.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
He's the reason I bought this tool to install my barrels and probably why my rifles are so accurate after assembly.


https://www.brownells.com/tool...-upper-receiver-rod/

That MI reciever rod was a GREAT buy. What a great tool.

Wow, that's a fascinating feed!

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
Without access to the TDP how does one get the gauging that he suggests is go/no go.

The -30 is easier to get then the TDP. You can also purchase MILSPEC gauges from various sources, Bill Ricca was my go-to guy. Plus, the TDP is somewhat common knowledge in the industry.

quote:

Bill Ricca

I also have several from Bill. But a milspec surplus gauge is not the same as access to the the actual dimensions needed to accurately gauge a whole bunch of dimensions for which there are clearly no public dimensions with authenticity to verify.

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:

quote:

Bill Ricca

I also have several from Bill. But a milspec surplus gauge is not the same as access to the the actual dimensions needed to accurately gauge a whole bunch of dimensions for which there are clearly no public dimensions with authenticity to verify.

As mentioned, the -30 has some of the dimensions, but not all. It's allso possible to reverse engineer MILSPEC components and ascetain the SPECs. Paul Buffoni from BCM mentioned doing something similar when he selected the steel for his barrels. The open-source spec mentioned mentions three types. He got a USGI one and had it analyzed.

That is a lot of info to process and really neat to see how involved he gets into the platform. Not to mention all of the tools. I would love to have a bench set up like that.

quote:

It's allso possible to reverse engineer MILSPEC components and ascetain the SPECs

I don't want to drag this discussion out. While its certainly possible to reverse engineer something like your example a barrel steel (assuming on can get an actual example). Or really anything that is a material property. I don't see how its possible to reverse engineer specification ranges (the nogo/go part that I am discussing) unless you have a really large sample size. And there is at a practical level no way to get a large sample size of mil spec equipment outside .mil.

Damn! Great information but suddenly I feel like I need to check all my builds. Time to buy some more gear...

He did the headspace check incorrectly.

The Spec is to close the bolt on the GO and fail to close on the NO GO guage with both the extractor and ejector removed from the bolt.

leaving those in doesn't allow you to assess whether or not the bolt needed to be forced on the GO guage since significant force is required to snap the ejector over the rim and compress the ejector.

That can be true, but it is not necessarily true. I have several sets that have been made or modified to not need the ejector or extractor removed from the bolt. And if they ones you purchase don't provide for that if you have access to a lathe its pretty easy to solve.