lamarbrog
23 September 2011, 12:07
Today my new Palmetto State Armory upper half arrived. I paid $430. It is the 20" flat top with an FN barrel.
I was never able to find any detailed photographs or information before I ordered, so hopefully this will help people currently shopping.
The packaging was simple, but effective. The upper half arrived completely assembled and undamaged.
The first thing that really caught my attention was how incredibly stiff the charging handle was to pull back. I was a little concerned that something may have been wrong with it. More on this later. (If you're hanging on the edge of your seat, the upper is fine.)
The first thing I wanted to check, based on prior problems I've had with another company (High Standard/Interarms) was that the gas key fasteners were not YFS and that the staking was not field expedient. The staking looks good, and the fasteners are not YFS. The gas key is chrome lined.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0779.jpg
The interior of the carrier is chrome lined, too. The carrier is of the full auto variety.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0784.jpg
It does come with a PSA logo on the side of the carrier, but the etching is very thin and isn't really that prominent. I'm glad of this.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0786.jpg
The upper receiver has a similar mark on the port side. Again, it is thin and really doesn't draw much attention. It's classy.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0789.jpg
The front sight base is F-marked. The pins are tapered.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0790.jpg
The barrel has a FN logo, followed by "MP 5.56 NATO 1/7".
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0794.jpg
The rails on the upper receiver are T-marked, and white-filled.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0795.jpg
No idea who did the machining. It does have an Anchor-Harvey Forge mark, though. "M4" is etched into the front of the upper receiver.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0797.jpg
Aside from the identifying marking, the barrel has two other stamps. What appears to be a "U" is near just aft of the front sight base under the handguards. Just fore of the upper receiver is what looks to be a "10"- maybe the year 2010?
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0799.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0798.jpg
Standard A2 flash hider, with a crush washer for timing.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0801.jpg
The sling swivel pin could have been flattened a little better- but it will hold. I'll probably flatten it a bit more myself.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0802.jpg
The bore is chromed, and you can see it has M4 feed ramps.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0808.jpg
The handguards have a nice matte texture.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0809.jpg
Just a stock forged charging handle. It's been machined to remove forging flash.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0810.jpg
Fortunately, they didn't mess with it at the lugs like some companies do.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0811.jpg
Black insert- the spring is not the new gold kind. (Probably not necessary on a 20".)
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0812.jpg
Any idea what the little "F" on the extractor means?
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0813.jpg
They're using the firing pin retaining pin that is cone-shaped at the tip- makes it easy to slip into place. Little details that make me happy...
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0814.jpg
The bolt is marked HPT/MPI. This has definitely not been test fired. There's no indication of a round ever having been fired through this rifle.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0815.jpg
Initially the action was extremely stiff when going into and out of battery. At about this point, it would hang up and required considerably force to lock in. I lubed up with some RemOil (It's what I had handy- don't hate.) and worked the action about 50 times and it is about right now. Probably just some stacked tolerances making it a bit tight.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0816.jpg
Round handguard cap. Makes it a pain to get the handguard on since the tabs are the kind that mate with a triangular cap. If I put them both on with the tab outside the circle, there's a gap between the handguard. They both won't fit inside- So they will either cant up, or down. It's purely cosmetic- but still strange.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0818.jpg
Really nice M4 feed ramps. They're not perfectly lined up, but pretty close.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0820.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0827.jpg
I haven't shot it yet, that will probably happen tonight. Overall I'm happy with it. For the price, I definitely can't complain. If I were to change anything- Triangular handguard cap, little more flattening of the sling swivel pin, and I wish the action wasn't so tight locking into battery. All cosmetic things as near as I can tell, without having the chance to test fire it yet.
I'll run a few types of ammo through it this evening and report back on reliability.
I was never able to find any detailed photographs or information before I ordered, so hopefully this will help people currently shopping.
The packaging was simple, but effective. The upper half arrived completely assembled and undamaged.
The first thing that really caught my attention was how incredibly stiff the charging handle was to pull back. I was a little concerned that something may have been wrong with it. More on this later. (If you're hanging on the edge of your seat, the upper is fine.)
The first thing I wanted to check, based on prior problems I've had with another company (High Standard/Interarms) was that the gas key fasteners were not YFS and that the staking was not field expedient. The staking looks good, and the fasteners are not YFS. The gas key is chrome lined.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0779.jpg
The interior of the carrier is chrome lined, too. The carrier is of the full auto variety.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0784.jpg
It does come with a PSA logo on the side of the carrier, but the etching is very thin and isn't really that prominent. I'm glad of this.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0786.jpg
The upper receiver has a similar mark on the port side. Again, it is thin and really doesn't draw much attention. It's classy.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0789.jpg
The front sight base is F-marked. The pins are tapered.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0790.jpg
The barrel has a FN logo, followed by "MP 5.56 NATO 1/7".
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0794.jpg
The rails on the upper receiver are T-marked, and white-filled.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0795.jpg
No idea who did the machining. It does have an Anchor-Harvey Forge mark, though. "M4" is etched into the front of the upper receiver.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0797.jpg
Aside from the identifying marking, the barrel has two other stamps. What appears to be a "U" is near just aft of the front sight base under the handguards. Just fore of the upper receiver is what looks to be a "10"- maybe the year 2010?
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0799.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0798.jpg
Standard A2 flash hider, with a crush washer for timing.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0801.jpg
The sling swivel pin could have been flattened a little better- but it will hold. I'll probably flatten it a bit more myself.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0802.jpg
The bore is chromed, and you can see it has M4 feed ramps.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0808.jpg
The handguards have a nice matte texture.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0809.jpg
Just a stock forged charging handle. It's been machined to remove forging flash.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0810.jpg
Fortunately, they didn't mess with it at the lugs like some companies do.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0811.jpg
Black insert- the spring is not the new gold kind. (Probably not necessary on a 20".)
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0812.jpg
Any idea what the little "F" on the extractor means?
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0813.jpg
They're using the firing pin retaining pin that is cone-shaped at the tip- makes it easy to slip into place. Little details that make me happy...
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0814.jpg
The bolt is marked HPT/MPI. This has definitely not been test fired. There's no indication of a round ever having been fired through this rifle.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0815.jpg
Initially the action was extremely stiff when going into and out of battery. At about this point, it would hang up and required considerably force to lock in. I lubed up with some RemOil (It's what I had handy- don't hate.) and worked the action about 50 times and it is about right now. Probably just some stacked tolerances making it a bit tight.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0816.jpg
Round handguard cap. Makes it a pain to get the handguard on since the tabs are the kind that mate with a triangular cap. If I put them both on with the tab outside the circle, there's a gap between the handguard. They both won't fit inside- So they will either cant up, or down. It's purely cosmetic- but still strange.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0818.jpg
Really nice M4 feed ramps. They're not perfectly lined up, but pretty close.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0820.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/Lamarbrog/PSA%20Upper%20Half/DSCN0827.jpg
I haven't shot it yet, that will probably happen tonight. Overall I'm happy with it. For the price, I definitely can't complain. If I were to change anything- Triangular handguard cap, little more flattening of the sling swivel pin, and I wish the action wasn't so tight locking into battery. All cosmetic things as near as I can tell, without having the chance to test fire it yet.
I'll run a few types of ammo through it this evening and report back on reliability.