I had thought this was a Schofield BB firing replica, there are several of those available some with fancy engraving. I did not notice that the frame latch was the old style S&W top strap mounted type rather than the side mounted lever of the Schofield.

 

In 30 years, I've never used it. In fact, with all of the drills I've used throughout the years, we never had a drill involving it. The last AR I built had this side charger. I really like it.



There are several uppers with no forward assist listed on Midway. I have a number of AR Stoner parts (a couple of uppers, also) and I've never had any issues. There is a DPMS upper, also.

Side charger:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/8...-assembled-ar-15-223-remington-556x45mm-matte

AR Stoner stripped:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/286536/ar-stoner-sporter-upper-receiver-stripped-ar-15-a3-matte

AR Stoner assembled:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/8...-assembled-ar-15-223-remington-556x45mm-matte

AR Stoner stripped .308:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/429782/ar-stoner-upper-receiver-stripped-lr-308-a3-matte

DPMS stripped:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/138383/dpms-upper-receiver-stripped-ar-15-low-profile-matte

There are several other choices - Lantac, Vltor, JP Enterprises, Yankee Hill (9mm), .

 

Really like that side charger.

 

I ordered a hera upper receiver. Since I already have a hera rail. I figured in for a penny in for a pound. I hate having just 1 piece to a puzzle. Since the rail has tabs to go into the hera upper receiver. I figure it’s a no brainer to match it all up properly. I ordered the receiver without the forward assist. Since I like to tinker around with firearms. Putting together the upper will keep me busy for a couple hours.


Fairly simple project I will probably spend more time hunting around my workshop looking the tools to build it up. I have the tools however where they are is another story. Lately I do not put my tools back in the proper place. I just chuck them in a box or drawer.


Or they may be on a bench buried under a pile of other junk. When I need them I play hell finding them. I was always anal about my tools. I had them sorted out in order stored in tool boxes. Lately I have developed some very bad habits with tools.

 

Thanks for the links. I'm locked into a Hera receiver. The Hera receiver is the only one I can find that has the milling for the tabs on the back of a hera rail. I'm sure the money I spent on the Hera receiver would have been better spent on ammo.

 

You're right about matching the receiver and the rail. Should work out well.

 

Some of my buddies are into high end AR’s. For many years I would tell them don’t be stupid and get sucked into the hype
I would say mil spec is mil spec. For the most part it’s true. Most of my AR’s are put together from parts.

From time to time If I run into a very good deal on a complete upper or lower I will purchase that. Other than that I hunt for parts
When I acquire the parts to assemble the AR I put it all together. It takes time if you have more than one AR one can take all the time needed to get the parts together.

Plus I enjoy tinkering around with this stuff.

 

Except the vast majority of makers aren't. For many years Bushmaster was the only true milspec AR out there. Some might claim milspec finish or metal type or flashhider, or what not, but not all of it. Typically just the high end stuff these days, maybe. Bushmaster was milspec even when Colt gave up milspec for cost reasons in the 90s. There's quite a bit to being completely milspec. Finish, barrel metal/type/feed ramps, receiver metal, and much more...even down to the type of staking on bolt carriers...which is the most egregious issue I see with ARs.....most staking I see on bolt carriers at gun shows is appalling. As example, the last gun show I went to they had 'supposed' milspec bolt carriers, not a one out of the 100ct box was staked properly. The guy was getting pissed I was looking at each one, but I told him I was looking for a properly staked example. Quite sure he didn't even know what I was looking at, and best part he didn't care except I was taking time in front of his table. Beware. I've seen the pretty boron nickel carriers for high dollar have crap staking too. Amazing.

 

Your points are valid. However the keywords are Mil Spec. It all comes down to Caveat Emptor “ Buyer Beware”.
I'm glad you have the knowledge to know the good from the bad products

 

Just an FYI...It's important to understand milspec isn't the "be all end all" of performance. Its the specifications for whatever the military has for its equipment, for the use and environment intended. In fact, milspec is literally viewed in the community as the minimum set of reqts to meet. And that's what mil contractors will do, the minimum(to maximize profit). Some milspec reqts seem ridiculous (like phosphate finish), but the military knew it had a budget to keep too, so MANY(most) times it was the absolute bare minimum to achieve the objective (ex;protect the metal..but only long enough to survive a typical deployment). So too many people revere "milspec" as the toughest...well no...it achieved the objective (and sometimes poorly, and sometimes not at all). But what it does do is establish a standard, even if a low standard....still a standard, because you could certainly do worse, but always do better. For example....Yes, there are better finishes than phosphate(even back then), but many buyers are simply comforted by what they experienced and are familiar with when they served. And many others are happy to have whatever the military was using, assuming it was "battle tough". Well, any grunt can tell you first hand, a lot of battle toughness was actually whatever the soldier himself could do to make the damn things work right under stress. So word to the wise....

 

Alright AR quality discussion. The way I see it AR components are all born from computer programmed machines. I would have to believe these computers are all programmed with the same specs. So Mr Daniels Defense AR has the same specs a Mr Crap AR.
There may be some “hand” finishing. Have a couple high end AR’s and a boatload of the low priced AR’s. They all shoot pretty much the same. The same parts break occasionally. As example, I saw a Mercedes on the side of the road yesterday, broken down.
Well any way, I’ll take the low cost version any day of week. Mainly because I’m cheap and I can maintain it to an almost zero failure rate.

 

Unfortunately no, not even close. There is not one std program. The reasons are so diverse as to involve a long discussion. Suffice to say, each manufacturer makes what he believes is right for his intended market. Shooting the same, yes perhaps...there are many ways to skin a cat. "Quality" is a term that has so many definitions its silly. The only agreement on what quality is, is it is to meet the customers reqts. That's all. IOW, Quality doesn't necessarily mean high reliability (ie Mercedes fail example you gave), or high performance like great accuracy, its simply meeting the expected reqts, whatever they may be. Its different for every person, customer or company. Milspec? well, the reqts can be stated many ways, depending on what it is..sometimes its just a set of expected results, sometimes its down to actual dimensions. So, as all things in life, it depends.

 

Mil spec is a good place to start. Plenty of variations in parts they all have tolerances. Some makers go beyond mil spec they may do a nicer finish or milling or polishing of the parts. However the base materials aluminum, steel etc. Along with plenty of not so good variables.


We are starting to beat a dead horse. It is what it is. I have plenty of parts from high end makers that I do not plan on using they do not work well with other makers parts things like upper and lower receivers can have a lot of play between them etc, & the list goes on & on.


Things like barrel extensions fitting into receivers may be sloppy etc. One huge laundry list of possible issues. Say the front of the receiver is bored to 1.000 and the barrel extension is 0.999 not a good starting point the rifle it may shoot tight groups or it may not. Plenty of trial and error with rifles. And again the list goes on and on.


It’s nice to purchase parts when one can view them in hand and have some knowledge on how to inspect them Not possible with online purchases. One has to wait until the part arrives and hope for the best. If not return the item and start from scratch.

Speaking for myself nothing worse than spending a lot of time and money on a rifle and end result it does not shoot very well. Some turn out to be tack drivers other not so much,

 

I have complete AR’s from DPMS, Stag, Sig, and Colt. As well as a lower from YHM and SBR uppers from CMMG and Daniel Defense. They all shoot well and seem of good quality. My son is using my wonderful ADCOR BEAR gas piston operated rifle.

Somehow I’ve always looked at my Sig M400 and my Colt M-4 LE SBR as my creme of the crop, saving them for later as safe queens, probably due to bias and not based on real life. I really should take them all apart and do a deeper comparison.

I mostly shoot the engraved registered DPMS lower with the Daniel Defense SBR upper or my CMMG SBR gas piston upper, and plan to engrave the YHM lower for SBR, which is currently paired with the DPMS 16” upper. That one gets the next most range time.

 

Nice selection of AR’s


I have a three Colt’s Plus a few others from Spikes BCM, PSA, Noveske, plus a couple home grown examples. Only two of the Colt’s are as they came from the factory One of my hobbies is firearms. From shooting, reloading, repairing etc. I have owned several other AR’s from various makers.


Speaking for myself firearms come and go. When I get tired of one I trade it off with friends or family for another. I have a couple of Colt Safe queens those are in storage for my two grandsons. They are not old enough to get the paper work for proper legal ownership. I consider AR’s as big boys toys like erector sets plenty of ways to configure the rifles

 

You mentioned reloading. I like to reload. I seem to go in spurts. Last weekend my daughter brought me a bunch of .40 and .223, so I tumbled and deprimed it all. I had some odd brass laying around, so I did that stuff too and even primed some 10mm so it would be ready to go next time I get so inclined. You can see my collection of brass waiting to be loaded.

I used to have a Dillon 650, but it is on "long-term" loan to a buddy. But my SDB does 9mm, and I use my Lee Classic turret to do most of my other stuff. I don't load in quantity anymore, so they do just fine. I can always go do my .40 on my 650.

In one of the pictures you can see a few Lee Loaders. I think it is nice to have them around for nostalgia's sake.

 

Very Nice Reloading gear




These days I only reload ammo for my bench rest rifles and calibers that are expensive or hard to get ammo. Calibers 375H&H, 35 Remington 50BMG etc. For the most part I reload rifle calibers.

On ammo I need plenty of my Son handles my needs for that. One of the perks of giving him a Dillon 1050 press as Christmas gift. When I gave him the press I told him Santa told me to let know he has to take care of my ammo needs.
Here's a quick pic of the bench with the Hollywood press I just snapped the pic the reloading station it's a huge mess. I need to take some time out of my day to cleanup that mess


My reloading gear is Old School. My favorite turret press is an Old Hollywood Gun Shop turret press with all the goodies. Along with Rock chucker press and Lee Turret press. I really like that Old Hollywood Press. It’s slow reloading but it can produce very accurate ammo the powder measures that attach to the press are very accurate with all the gear on the press it’s enjoyable to use. With the Hollywood press I use that for precision bench rest loads.


One of my Granddaughters enjoys bench rest shooting. When she askes me to take her shooting. I tell her baby girl you will have roll your own ammo. The kid actually can produce some very nice loads. Plus it’s a great way of bonding with her. She has a lot of patience and she pays attention to detail. Usually a few days before I take her shooting. She spends a couple days with my wife and I.


My wife takes her shopping and out to eat during the day. At night I spend a couple hours with her reloading the ammo we plan on shooting. For the most part she is a girly girl that has a Tom Boy side. At 13 year old the girl actually is better at shooting and reloading than her brothers. And she let’s them know it.

 

I got a nice 50BMG load.....300g Barnes SP at 4000FPS. Hell on a watermelon........

 

I'm inspired voere!

If you can post a photo of your admittedly very messy reloading bench then I can go in there in a little while and take one of my equally messy bench. There are firearms on hand taking around 50 different cartridges and ammunition is produced for all of them on a single stage RCBS Rockchucker press that my newly minted bride gave me for Christmas in 1978. Before that I bummed the use of a Lyman Spar-T from off a shootin' cousin.

Don't know if I can name them all without leaving something out.

.22 Hornet
.223
.22-250
.220 Swift
.25 ACP
.257 Roberts
.270 Winchester
7X57
.30 Carbine
.30-30
.30 Remington
.300 Savage
.308
.30-40 Krag
.30-06
7.62×38mmR
.32 ACP
.32 Long Colt
.32 S&W Long
.32-20 Winchester
.303 British
.303 ICL Improved (from P.O. Ackley's shop)
7.62X54R
.32 Winchester Special
.351 Winchester Self-Loading
.380 ACP
9mm
.38 Long Colt
.38 Special
.357 Magnum
.38 S&W
.38-40 Wihchester
.40 S&W
10mm
.41 Long Colt
.405 WCF
.41 Magnum
.44 Special
.44 Magnum
.45 ACP (and Auto Rim)
.45 Colt
.455
.45-70
.45-90 WCF

A Mec 600 is on hand for shot shell loading and 20, 12, and 10 gauge ammunition may be produced. Don't much care for shot shell loading though so never hooked up to .410 and 16 gauge equipment for the guns on hand.

Used to be a bullet casting fiend 20 odd years ago. Since I retired I haven't melted lead once. Strange.

 

Here is another reloading station Another MESS. I'm in the final stages of a home remodel new kitchen new marble floor in the kitchen and dining area. Painted the complete interior refinished all the hardwood floors. I'm just about done waiting on a company to clean out the heating/cooling duct work in my home. Then I will have the time to throw out a lot of stuff and clean up all the mess in my basement.