Garand Thumb tests PSA Freedom AR15

[Judamonster]

I love my PSA. If the barrel wears out at 5k rounds I can send it in and they will replace it free of charge. I am not shooting full auto or suppressed. It will likely last longer than I will. My next one will probably be a PSA as well.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

Something like $2400-$3600 of ammo to test out a $300 upper. (actually, they were using the SMK 77gr AAC, so more than that, lol)

I'm impressed.

But honestly one of the higher priced PSA's with a FN barrel and a better BCG it should do just fine.

Hmmm.... you got me thinking.

I love my PSA. If the barrel wears out at 5k rounds I can send it in and they will replace it free of charge. I am not shooting full auto or suppressed. It will likely last longer than I will. My next one will probably be a PSA as well.

Ok, now that **** cray! (and by that I mean awesome, lol)

 

[Brad69]

IME,
Attending and conducting AR classes I have a low opinion of PSA. When run hard PSA is lacking compared to other brands. I keep notes of what AR malfunctions during classes.

You don’t have to spend lots of $$ cash look at S&W, Ruger, Mossburg, Savage, DPMS, Bushmaster.

It is invaluable to attend a AR class if you want actually use your AR. It’s not designed for punching holes in paper.

 

[Refrigerator27]

This is precisely the reason I swapped to a Geissele/BCM. I had about 3k rounds through my PSA but noticed the gas rings were worn. I did enjoy it and it was a gateway drug to the AR world but it did have its downsides. Good gun.

have just concentrated on bolt action rifles...I find them more interesting.

For me it became lever guns and handguns.

 

[BackFromDC]

Wooo! Go Phil making it onto Garand Thumb! I went to Purdue with him!

 

[Ark]

I'm impressed.

How many ARs purchased by the average American ever see 5K rounds? For a typical American who needs to defend home and hearth, and desires to have powder and ball, and a suitable arm, as a member of the militia; and will shoot and train little the PSA appears to be a solid option.

I consider myself somewhat of a power user compared to most gun owners and still haven't put 5k through one rifle. Maybe if I only owned one 5.56 instead of splitting my ammunition, but that's a lot of shooting.

 

[92FSTech]

For all of his humor and self-deprication, Mike actually does some pretty good tests. This was way more practical than watching somebody just dump rounds on full auto until the gun melts down. He still put it through the wringer running it full-auto and suppressed (I imagine that gun would have lasted far longer on semi without the can), but checking benchmarks by shooting for groups throughout was informative, as was the technical analysis by Phil. That was some good stuff!

 

[Kdf101]

IME,
Attending and conducting AR classes I have a low opinion of PSA. When run hard PSA is lacking compared to other brands. I keep notes of what AR malfunctions during classes.

You don’t have to spend lots of $$ cash look at S&W, Ruger, Mossburg, Savage, DPMS, Bushmaster.

It is invaluable to attend a AR class if you want actually use your AR. It’s not designed for punching holes in paper.

What kind of malfunctions do you see a lot of?

 

[Brad69]

@Kdf101

The main ones on PSA failures to extract and eject. One had a cracked bolt I don’t think I have ever witnessed that.

One of the best things about a Carbine class you get to know what works and doesn’t. You also get see other students weapons and set up.

 

[rugertoter]

This is precisely the reason I swapped to a Geissele/BCM. I had about 3k rounds through my PSA but noticed the gas rings were worn. I did enjoy it and it was a gateway drug to the AR world but it did have its downsides. Good gun.


For me it became lever guns and handguns.

Don't own a lever action, but do several handguns.

 

[firecadet613]

@Kdf101

The main ones on PSA failures to extract and eject. One had a cracked bolt I don’t think I have ever witnessed that.

One of the best things about a Carbine class you get to know what works and doesn’t. You also get see other students weapons and set up.

I watched a few videos on their AR10s and many said that was the issue they found with theirs (new BCG should remedy it).

I'll second the class is a great place to test your gear (and watch what works / doesn't work with others).

Still very happy with my S&Ws AR15s... haven't had a hiccup yet.

 

[DadSmith]

@Kdf101

The main ones on PSA failures to extract and eject. One had a cracked bolt I don’t think I have ever witnessed that.

One of the best things about a Carbine class you get to know what works and doesn’t. You also get see other students weapons and set up.

Doesn't matter what rifle make you have.
You have to run them to find problems and fix them if they arise.
If you don't have a backyard range, a carbine class would do the job for you.
I highly doubt any respectable range will allow you to run your AR-15 hard, and from multiple positions without being in a class.

 

[ACR]

So going with the BCG thing, what do you guys think is a better BCG? The PSA premium, or Toolcraft? Or maybe some other recommendations.

I do find it odd that PSA is having these issues, I don't necessarily consider them to be the bottom of budget AR's because the big reason they are cheap is PSA has eliminated all the middlemen in the process of making a gun to selling it. They get the raw materials in and make most all of in house, especially like the freedom line. They don't have any dealers they sell direct to customer. This is something I always look at, when looking at what is the best value for the money spent, or best bang for the buck. So value wise they should be close to the Ruger or S&W.

And on the subject of the barrel. I am still very curious to see, how that barrel would perform with a defouling level cleaning. It would not surprise me to see most of that accuracy come back, especially since with the bore scope it really didn't look that bad, other then fouling. The gun they were comparing it to, with the similar round count, I am fairly confident has had good barrel cleanings.

 

[Kdf101]

Toolcraft seems to have a pretty decent rep in the BCG department.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Doesn't matter what rifle make you have.
You have to run them to find problems and fix them if they arise.
If you don't have a backyard range, a carbine class would do the job for you.
I highly doubt any respectable range will allow you to run your AR-15 hard, and from multiple positions without being in a class.

A good private range will. Proteq is one of them.

 

[pitbulld45]

Something like $2400-$3600 of ammo to test out a $300 upper. (actually, they were using the SMK 77gr AAC, so more than that, lol)

I'm impressed.

Hmmm.... you got me thinking.



Ok, now that **** cray! (and by that I mean awesome, lol)

All business expenses, I’m curious as to how much the video will make him.

 

[pitbulld45]

I watched a few videos on their AR10s and many said that was the issue they found with theirs (new BCG should remedy it).

I'll second the class is a great place to test your gear (and watch what works / doesn't work with others).

Still very happy with my S&Ws AR15s... haven't had a hiccup yet.

I have a psa AR10, no issues with the bolt yet (haven’t shot it a lot), but I could never get it to group at all which I’m guessing is the barrel or head spacing or maybe even the ammo (older military stuff). It’s so bad I kind of just put it in the corner and left it for now.

 

[Hop]

PSA has a lot of my $. I've built and run a lot of AR15 parts from them except for their barrels. My Run-n-Gun rifle is mostly PSA and it sees more abuse than even some .mil issued weapons.

I also have a PSA AR10 in 6.5CR but it's not been abused... yet! Only ~300 rounds and it's shooting ~1 MOA. It's a bit heavy for the type of events I do.

 

[BIGE7.62]

On their website his motto is
Freedom over Profit
Palmetto State Armory’s core principle remains the same, and our commitment to freedom before profit remains unwavering. The idea is simple:

SELL AS MANY GUNS TO AS MANY LAW-ABIDING AMERICANS AS POSSIBLE.
Putting guns into "common use" is an important legal defense established by the Supreme Court that safeguards the rights of the people against tyranny by prohibiting restrictions on firearms found to be "in common use". Putting any gun into "common use" protects against any attempt by the government to further infringe on the Second Amendment right of all Americans.

As it should be !

 

[MongooseLaw]

All business expenses, I’m curious as to how much the video will make him.

He is sponsored by PSA/AAC so he gets the ammo for free