Anatomy of a bargain brand upper

[osprey]

A couple weeks ago I was browsing sale items at Primary arms. They were advertising a radical firearms 18" SS AR assembled upper less bcg and ch for $179. I have never dealt with any of radicals stuff but knew they were budget offerings. I read quite a few reviews on this upper and it was hit and miss but I thought for that price I could scavenge it for parts. It arrived yesterday and at first glance seems to offer a lot for the money. A heavy profile ss 18" barrel with a 15" mlok ff hand guard, decent looking muzzle comp, the square mark on upper rec indicates it was made by bafe, thats nice! Putting a known quantity bcg in it the headspace passes although a bit tight on the go guage but that is a good thing. I should have probably left well enough alone and just shot it first to check for function and potential accuracy but that is not what happened. It is now on my bench tore completely down. This is what I found. The lo pro steel gb is the set screw type but no barrel dimple or loctite on the set screws. The barrel nut is steel but was on crazy tight. There was lube on rec threads. Here are my plans for for reassembly. Before barrel goes back on I will lap it some with jb bore paste. I will also square the front face of the receiver. The barrel will get dimpled for the gb sets screws as well. I will lube rec threads with aeroshell and torque barrel nut to 35-40 ft/lbs., set screws for gb will get loctited. Then, a range session will be in order to see if I got lucky, I have my fingers crossed.

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[Kruel J]

I had a Radical upper for a short time. 7.5" pistol. Gas block was loose as a goose out of the box and only ran as a single shot. Once I got everything where it should have been I dumped it.

Good luck with your project.

 

[2A2Dend]

Radical, not reputable.
Worth a gamble at that price.

 

[titsonritz]

This is what I found. The lo pro steel gb is the set screw type but no barrel dimple or loctite on the set screws. The barrel nut is steel but was on crazy tight. There was lube on rec threads.

Zero surprise.

less bcg

That's probably a good thing.

 

[osprey]

Performed the outlined improvements this evening and she is back together. Might take it up to the hills Friday and see how she runs out.

 

[Kruel J]

Performed the outlined improvements this evening and she is back together. Might take it up to the hills Friday and see how she runs out.

I reckon she'll run out just fine.

 

[osprey]

I expect it to run ok but I am a picky so and so when it comes to accuracy so I give it a
50/50 chance of making the grade. This will just be a kick around paper puncher/coyote-gopher getter if it does make the cut.

 

[nwslopoke]

I have a Radical Socom profile 16 inch for several years. I used to shoot it a lot but not much anymore. It's on a home built lower. It's as accurate and reliable as my Stag and Windham. It has a red dot and my eyes aren't as good these days. That relegated it to less use.

 

[ron]

A couple weeks ago I was browsing sale items at Primary arms. They were advertising a radical firearms 18" SS AR assembled upper less bcg and ch for $179. I have never dealt with any of radicals stuff but knew they were budget offerings. I read quite a few reviews on this upper and it was hit and miss but I thought for that price I could scavenge it for parts. It arrived yesterday and at first glance seems to offer a lot for the money. A heavy profile ss 18" barrel with a 15" mlok ff hand guard, decent looking muzzle comp, the square mark on upper rec indicates it was made by bafe, thats nice! Putting a known quantity bcg in it the headspace passes although a bit tight on the go guage but that is a good thing. I should have probably left well enough alone and just shot it first to check for function and potential accuracy but that is not what happened. It is now on my bench tore completely down. This is what I found. The lo pro steel gb is the set screw type but no barrel dimple or loctite on the set screws. The barrel nut is steel but was on crazy tight. There was lube on rec threads. Here are my plans for for reassembly. Before barrel goes back on I will lap it some with jb bore paste. I will also square the front face of the receiver. The barrel will get dimpled for the gb sets screws as well. I will lube rec threads with aeroshell and torque barrel nut to 35-40 ft/lbs., set screws for gb will get loctited. Then, a range session will be in order to see if I got lucky, I have my fingers crossed.

One other accuracy improvement that I have tried is loctite barrel extension to the receiver. If barrel is not a real snug fit the loctite fills the voids.
I read about this on different sites. It worked to improve group size on an old barrel by almost half. And I have been able to remove a couple
different barrels that were loctite together. I use high temp bearing and stud mount loctite.

 

[FullMetalJerk]

I had a Radical 16" Socom profile upper & CH and both were crap. It was too heavy, the handguard didn't have enough holes. The upper was the loosest fitting upper I've ever handled. The charging handle claw wasn't the right size so it couldn't grab into the notch in the receiver. PSA is hit or miss but atleast their stuff isn't out of spec. PSA's problems are usually just blemished parts and lately they've been answering emails. For years they wouldn't respond to emails.

 

[osprey]

Upper receiver on this one has a square mark indicating it was made by BAFE. BAFE (Brass Aluminum Forging Enterprises) is respected supplier of receivers to many companies including BCM. Who knows what radical has used int the past though. Dude, too heavy and handguard didn't have enough holes ? I'm not sure those are legitimate complaints .

 

[FullMetalJerk]

Sure they are. Nobody wants a heavy aluminum handguard. That's why you don't see anyone rockin' the quad rail handguards anymore. Yeah, most AR makers and builders use different receivers. I've seen Brass Forgings, Anchor Harvey and unbranded ones from PSA.

 

[Greg19u3]

I'm still rocking the quad rail hand guards on a couple of my guns. The weight doesn't bother me at all.

 

[nwslopoke]

I'm still rocking the quad rail hand guards on a couple of my guns. The weight doesn't bother me at all.

I went retro on a 14.5 and 20" to make an M4 and M16 clones with quad rails. The weight isn't much worse than a scoped AR if possibly lighter.

 

[FullMetalJerk]

I'm still rocking the quad rail hand guards on a couple of my guns. The weight doesn't bother me at all.

Weight on a 5.56 20" H-Bar upper, AR-10 or M1A is justifiable. On a little 5.56 16" non-precision upper it's not worth the extra weight. Same reason I wouldn't want to lug around a heavy bull barrel 10/22 (unless it was a 1MOA shooter). If it's powerful and long range accurate I'll take the weight.