I'm still early in my addiction to the AR pattern - I only own one, and while I lust after others, so far finance has prevented me from leaping. Further, I've never worked in a gun shop nor been certified as an armorer - and no, I didn't build out my AR all on my own either - so my perspective is that of an end user. I can just about get as far as "Is gun. Bang comes out THAT end." before I begin to run a bit thin on expertise.
With all that in mind, I agreed to do a T&E at Blogorado (and ask friends to do the same) on a rifle provided by the Battle Rifle company out of Seabrook, TX. A father and son operation, Battle Rifle is one of the growing number of small and hopefully growing shops cranking out AR pattern rifles in recent years. I had the pleasure of speaking with founder Chris Kurzadkowski in setting this up, and of meeting him while I was down in Houston on business - you couldn't ask for a friendlier variant on "Texas Gentleman" and he seems honestly dedicated to the notion of customer service and quality product.
In the T&E session I was involved in we didn't get the chance to test out the customer service end - because the gun just kept chunking away. I didn't experience (nor am I aware of anyone else experiencing) any sort of malfunction.
It should be noted that 35mph cross winds will affect the accuracy of any firearm, with the lighter the projectile the greater the influence. Shooting .223 with 55 to 70 grain projectiles under such conditions left me less able to quantify "how accurate is this rifle" and more able to discover "under cruddy conditions, what will this rifle do?"
Turns out, to my experience, that it'll do the job. I was running iron sights, but the installed choice of iron sights (MagPul) worked pretty well even in adverse conditions. Rifle consistently fed, barring one operator error induced failure to cycle (do not over stuff your magazines, kids...). I was able to reach out to, when the wind dropped for a moment, around 200 yards without difficulty and with a minimum of skill.
Overall, if you're looking for an AR pattern rifle in .223 I'd urge you to seriously consider the Battle Rifle Company. At my level of expertise it seemed a good solid AR pattern that would fit that need.
GC
2 comments:
Without dragging up a bunch of links and crapping on your review, this company has had some issues in the past with QC of their products.
Were the gas key bolts staked?
Was the stock castle nut staked?
Were the handguards/free float tube aligned with the upper receiver correctly and did they make it all the way to the gas block?
It is nice to hear that they can make a rifle that will pass basic function. I would love to hear that they got some education from past issues and are now making a better product as a result.
THOSE questions are the ones that I'm leaving to LawDog, AD and others as they frankly are far more expert with the AR pattern rifle than I am.
I'm still a beginner with the AR. I can load one up and fire it safely, and grade on semi-newb fun factor. I'm learning more (and liking the AR pattern better) with each one I pick up - even as friends try to lead me astray with Garand's and lever actions. - GC
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