Today I take my first look at the PSA M16 Bolt Carrier Group. It’s been a long time since I have used one of these and they have changed a bit on the appearance side. Quality looks very good from my initial inspection.
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Any range reports on the "premium" you just reviews? I am up in the air vs. purchasing a spikes bcg.
Good material here, but you need an artificial, controllable light source, especially when your subject is flat black!
I was looking at a BCM BCG and upper. They've gone crazy on pricing. I ended up with the PSA CHF upper and it has exactly the same barrel as BCM. Also their complete carbines are $1150 or more for an absolute bare bones model. You can get a Colt 6920 for under $850. They've got to pay for all those endorsements I guess.
Thanks for the video. Do you still like it and what is the o – ring about? . I have a Stag arms for about 5 years and it does not have an o- ring
Are you sure this is a tested bolt? I have it and it has no MPI/HP marks on it.
Thank you for telling why about why they call it a full auto bolt carrier,good to know its quality and legal..:)….My old bolt carrier in my 2004 Armalite ar15 did not not have a staked key,this concerned me….All though no problems with 1200 round shot…My new Palmetto bolt carrier is nickel boron…:)
I think ptac = PSA blems
The bolt on this is really tight. I had to force the bolt to move in and out of the carrier; Thats even after oiling it up. Any suggestions?
The carpenter bolts are indeed hp, mp tested. They are really good bolts.
Very few manufactures make their own product. Most all of them contract out to other large manufactures. Spikes lower receivers for example are made by a handful of different companies. Many of their barrels are made by FN (FN makes barrels for PSA also). Daniel Defense & Noveske are two companies that make some of their own products. Everything PSA sells is made by someone else. PSA advertises it as their own product, so that's what I call it.
Not say its bad, I was just saying that its not a PSA
The BCG reviewed was a 8620 carrier, Carpenter 158 bolt, chrome lined, grade 8 fasteners properly staked. Bolts are MP batch tested not individually tested and since it is not mentioned, we can assume it is also not High Pressure tested. For the price, it is a quality BCG, but not on par with Spikes or Bravo Company.
I guess but in order to put their name on it it must meet certain requirements. Obviously the one you bought didn't.
Well if you want to look at it that way, then nothing PSA sells is PSA. All their parts are made by someone else. Even the BCG's with their logo.
its not a PSA BCG, they sell some other companies brand with no etching. PSA's are all marked, MP tested, mil speced, grade 8 fasteners, staked.
I believe this upper may be a return item, if not, it is the poorest quality upper I have ever seen. Way to go Palmetto!
Or Either they sent me a very bad Blem, Lemon or just didn't care and slapped it together and I am now returning it tomorrow. So disappointed with Palmetto State Armory. I had to wait four weeks to receive this defective item, now I wonder how long before I get a refund? Has anyone else had this problem?
The firing pin also has a bunch of lines going down about 1 1/4 inch towards the front tip. My friends and I have never seen this before, bad machining. We have never even seen a firing pin that is gray in color, is so rough, feels like aluminum. if you hold the BCG and pull the bolt back and forth it is very rough. Maybe the bolt will loosen up after firing, but I have never had this problem with my other bolts. The inside of the upper has bad metal scratching where the charging handle sits.
Received my NON BLEM Palmetto 16" SS12G2 upper receiver. I own a Colt, RRA and a LMT. I have never changed my charging handles that come stock. The PSA charging handle gets stuck on the left side of the receiver most the time, but not with any of my other charging handles. Dust cover is all scratched up,flash suppressor looks used, like it has water marks all over that wont come off. Firing pin is very cheap gray rough matte like car primmer(NOT CHROME)The upper is not anodized anywhere inside
I thought so. I purchased one where the ad explicitly stated MPI and it better say so. I have been waiting 30 days for it to come in. If it comes in engraved PSA and MPI I will be happy, if not I waited 30 days for non-mil spec component. They are most likely batch testing them, meaning they buy from FN or whatever, pull 1 or 2 out of 100, have them MPI and then shipped out. Mil-spec would MPI everyone and mark it so. I saved a screen capture of the ad. I noticed they have changed the ad.
No "MP" markings on any PSA bolts I have seen. I do have a few on order and will check those as well.
Is the bolt marked as MPI? Palmetto claims they are but are not marking them. I think they are batch tested, meaning if not marked, it probably was not actually tested.
I was checking this out cause I just bought the complete lower parts kit with stock and bolt group for $200 from them and wanted to see if the bolt was good quality. Thanks for the vid
On partial build kits (kits that include everything minus the lower receiver), I have seen semi auto bolt carrier groups included but don't know much more than that. You would need to inquire about the specifics, if you were considering purchase one.
What types of bolt carrier groups come stock in the PSA AR-15's? I am guessing not these full-auto carriers?
A week or so. Mostly the upper receivers take 20 plus days.
how long did it take psa to ship it?
That could be or it could be that blems are getting mixed in with the non-blem stuff.
Sometimes i wonder if psa is trying to push out product's too fast. There stuff is good, but no logos on anything now and fit and finish not as good as i have Seen in the past.
The one I took apart for the review did not exhibit any of those flaws you mentioned. Almost sounds like the one you received was a "blem" and probably should of been sold as such.
how was the finish on the bcg? i got one about 15days ago and the parkerized finish is horrible like not uniformed at all alot machine marks like the cutter was dull or not up to speed…
Forgot to thank you for the post and clarification.
This particular BCG is advertised just as I read it in the video. The posts your referencing on arfcom are pretty old and I believe they are in reference to the BCG advertised as "8620 Bolt Carrier Group", which uses a bolt made from 8620 steel and is not MPI. The other BCG's offered by PSA are MPI, that includes this one and the one with the logo.
As for BCM, well there is a easy solution, limit the purchase quantity to 1 or 2 items. That is how other online dealers handle the situation.
Lots of drama on these PSA BCGs in the tech section of arfcom. Check it out. As to BCM, that $270 also include a BCM charging handle ($45 value). I think BCM was just trying to cut down on the gunbroker flippers. Might as well give some of the money to the NRA than to the flippers on GB. I paid $350 for a BCM BCG on GB (I needed it to finish an all BCM gun). Ouch!! The price will come back down a bit at some point-I hope. Please give update an after use. Thanks