Palmetto State Armory Upper?

[Zombie Steve]

I searched, and saw some pretty old threads.

What's your take on these guys? I've been running the same old AR's for several years, and haven't been keeping up on the cool kid stuff.

I was looking at BCM... how is PSA doing these $300 less? What am I missing? Anyone else I should be looking at while staying under $800 or so?

This is pretty much the setup I'm after (18" rifle length gas system):

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/ar-15-05/barreled-upper-assemblies/psa-18-mid-length-chf-ss-223-wylde-1-8-sts15-upper-no-bcg-or-charging-handle.html

Any thoughts would be appreciated, fellas.

[Zombie Steve]

...and what does CHF stand for?


Cold hammer forged?

[Irving]

I believe cold hammer forged is correct.

[DenverGP]

edit: never mind, missed the 18" rifle length gas part. Looks like Radical is pretty much just the 16" and shorter.

My son picked up an upper from Radical Firearms. Very nice looking. 12" quad rail, 1:7 4150 melonite barrel, melonite BCG and bolt. $349 total (was during one of their very frequent sales).

I've heard Hardened Arms carries Radical Firearms uppers, and has better shipping/support than dealing directly with Radical. My son's ship time was slow, but it was during a big sale. about 3 weeks ship time.

[dan512]

For what it's worth I have been running BCM'S for a while now and never had any problems. A buddy just picked up a PSA rifle and has had several issues. First, out of the box the dust cover wouldn't close properly because there was no little "lip" cut out at the top of the ejection port. After sending it back and waiting for two months he got it back in the same condition. Little stuff I know, but for the price difference I don't see much reason for PSA.

[Zombie Steve]

I was looking at this BCM...

http://www.bravocompanyusa.com/BCM-SS410-18-Rifle-Length-Upper-Receiver-Group-w-p/bcm-urg-18-ss410-missk-15.htm


...but $399 vs. $710 is compelling. Both 410 stainless barrels... are we talking that much difference in the handguard? Crummy customer service always and attention to detail are always a turn-off... I'm just trying to get figure out if BCM is really worth $300 more.

[Zombie Steve]

I looked up the Hardened Arms site, and the only 18" I could find wasn't the SS barrel (not a huge deal), but it had a carbine gas system (pretty much a deal breaker for me).

I do appreciate the input though...

[colorider]

I,have a Psa 16in upper. Stainless barrel 223 wylde chamber. Thing is flawless and a,tack driver.

[Great-Kazoo]

For what it's worth I have been running BCM'S for a while now and never had any problems. A buddy just picked up a PSA rifle and has had several issues. First, out of the box the dust cover wouldn't close properly because there was no little "lip" cut out at the top of the ejection port. After sending it back and waiting for two months he got it back in the same condition. Little stuff I know, but for the price difference I don't see much reason for PSA.

There's 2 or 3 different offerings from PSA. Did he have the PTAC, which seems to have a few gremlins.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k121/ninelivez/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_0568.jpg

[Great-Kazoo]

I searched, and saw some pretty old threads.

What's your take on these guys? I've been running the same old AR's for several years, and haven't been keeping up on the cool kid stuff.

I was looking at BCM... how is PSA doing these $300 less? What am I missing? Anyone else I should be looking at while staying under $800 or so?

This is pretty much the setup I'm after (18" rifle length gas system):

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/ar-15-05/barreled-upper-assemblies/psa-18-mid-length-chf-ss-223-wylde-1-8-sts15-upper-no-bcg-or-charging-handle.html

Any thoughts would be appreciated, fellas.

For the price point not a bad deal. I have a few of them (not stainless) seem to work.

[HoneyBadger]

A few days late to the party here, but I have some input. Take it or leave it. I have several PSA uppers and a BCM upper. Don't buy ANYTHING from PSA with the "PTAC" label... The QC for this line of products is terrible. Any of their other stuff is completely good to go for a dependable and fairly accurate (<2MOA) shooter that will last a lifetime. The BCM upper I have is a SS410 16" with the Keymod rail. The keymod rail is the best thing since sliced bread, IMHO. The 16" SS410 shoots about .5MOA with reloads. Everything on the BCM seems to be a little more "polished" than the PSA, but the PSA uppers I have are all 100% functional with zero problems. If you're looking for "bang for your buck", the PSA uppers are a great deal. I tend to be much more careful with the BCM, and although I don't have any "safe queens" I certainly handle the BCM with a lot of care whereas I'm not afraid to get my PSA uppers dirty. If I beat up a PSA upper, so what? I only paid $300+/- for it, right? Honestly, most PSA uppers are 90% as good as some of the best uppers from 5-6 years ago, thanks to the proliferation of good machining technology.

[yz9890]

My mid-length premium PSA performs just as well as my BCM and my Colt. I have only a plinker's experience with any of them though.


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[theGinsue]

I've built 4 AR's using these PSA uppers and got another ready to tack onto a lower (just need to assemble the LPK).

Haven't had any problems with any of these - except... For whatever reason, I've found that a standard charging handle tends to bind badly so I've had to replace them with BCM Gunfighter Mod 4's. That resolved the problem.

[223kev]

I'm a little late here but my son had me get that same upper just after their Memorial day sale for him. I missed buying it for him during the sale but clicked the link to be emailed when it was back in stock. Less than a week after I was notified that it was in stock at the sale price. It came in a week or so and everything looks pretty good on it quality wise. He is still working on putting his lower together so we haven't been out with it yet. I told him he has to sell his Stag Arms upper that he got for Christmas before he can use this one (owes daddy $$$) but will make an exception if you're still interested in a report back.

[Zombie Steve]

Yeah, I missed my chance, but asked to be emailed again. I'd love to hear how it shoots.

[Grant H.]

I've got a little experience with PSA, I think 13 uppers at this point... Damn addictions...

Thus far I haven't had a single one not perform as advertised. I've usually waited for sales and then bought, which helps keeps the costs down.

IMO, they are good to go.

[SouthPaw]

Never had an issue with my BCM 11.5 upper or my 5 PSA uppers. Can't go wrong with either but PSA will save you some cash.

[DenverDave]

I own a PSA CHF 18" 223 wylde upper and also have a complete lower from them. Absolutely could not be happier. Its the only gun part I own that I think I will never consider selling. All PSA CHF barrels are made by FN. Other manufacturers sell these barrels Spikes, BCM (I believe) to name a few and almost all charge a lot more. With regards to CHF barrels only a few companies manufacture barrels this way. The equipment to do so is very expensive so its only feasible if they are making a lot of barrels. I Know Daniel Defence makes their own CHF barrels but apart from that, I am pretty sure that most other CHF barrels on the market are made by FN. How does PSA offer such low prices? I know FN is located just down the Street from PSAs headquarters so perhaps that has something to do with it. Maybe they buy the overstock from FN. The PSA upper I have (18 inch, CHF chrome lined, 223 wylde, shots MOA groups all day. I have been at the range with my buddies shooting there $1000 + uppers and in many cases mine is more accurate. It cost me half the price of the "higher end" competitors.

I am not sure about their Stainless barrels but would love to hear reports form people who own them. I can only vouch for the 223 wylde CL CHF barrels.

[DenverDave]

One more thing. I am almost 100% sure that the receivers PSA offers (not sure about Ptac) are made by Aero Precision. Great basic, mil-spec forged receivers.

[n2877]

I went with psa for my upper. it was a blemished one but I cant see the blemish. I hope I didn't waste my money but I have faith in psa

[BTS]

Recently picked up a PSA 16” chrome lined barreled upper on sale. Ran 200 rounds of Federal AE fine and then put 200 rounds of .22lr with a ciener kit through it. Shoots better than I do – but that isn’t saying much… ;)

[223kev]

We finally made it out to the range with my boys 18" keymod upper from PSA and it ran great. About 100 rounds through it and no failures. He was getting about 1.25" groups from a partial rest with 60 grain vmax and cfe223 combo. Should go under an inch with a solid rest. No problems ringing the steel plate off hand for him.

[Zombie Steve]

Just a follow up... I got my 18" keymod and went out last week to get the BUIS zeroed, then put on the optics. Not a hitch, and I really dig the complete lack of bounce with the nose heavy configuration and the rifle length gas system. No brake necessary.

Further wringing-out of the rifle this week. More to come when I can give it a real review.

[BPTactical]

PSA is decent for the money. I have seen a couple that have extremely high round counts that still ran well when taken out of service.
Minute of man accuracy but still ran.

[Zombie Steve]

I shot 3 different handloads today in the PSA at 100 yards (slowly getting out there)... all were made to work in a 1:7 twist 16" carbine length gas system and a 1:9 twist 16" mid-length gas system. These loads weren't the best for either; I settled on the load that worked best in both. The worst 5-shot group I got with the PSA upper was a hair over 1-5/8". Average was an 1-1/4"; none were under an inch. FWIW, that's about how my LMT shoots. I was pleasantly surprised that a 1:7 twist rifle length gas system digested them well. I'd bet I could get sub-moa if I worked up a load specifically for this rifle.

Two things I thought were notable. First, I really like the Wylde chamber. It just makes sense, and the shot brass looks great. The shoulder gets blown out quite a bit with my LMT's 5.56mm chamber. I don't think I'll have to do more than a little bump on the sizing die with this brass, and I bet I get a little more mileage / less stretching out of it.

Second, and I can't quite figure this one out... I was expecting about an 80 fps bump up in velocity with 2 more inches of barrel. With the 55 grain loads, I gained 61 and 85 fps average with a fmjbt and a flat base Hornady soft point load respectively. The surprising one was 69 grain matchkings. The velocity gain was an average 5 fps from what I had chronographed before with a 16" barrel. I still can't wrap my brain around that one...

Anyway, I'll do load development specifically for this gun and report back.

[Fentonite]

Thanks for the update. I've had a new PSA 18" barreled upper sitting around for a year or two. I just might have to get off my butt and build a rifle out of it.

[Zombie Steve]

The more I shoot it, the more I really like the rifle length gas system, and the fact I have a little more forward weight. It seems silly to talk about recoil with 5.56 / .223, but follow up shots are noticeably quicker. You just don't have to ride the bounce as much.

[babarsac]

Enjoy the PSA! Best deal out there in AR world in my opinion.

I need to stay off their website.

[PSS]

I bought their 320$ slick side kit and stuck it on a spike lower for my boy. Runs flawless so far and went together well.

[van7559]

I'm on my 4th upper. Dan good barging in my opinion

[n2877]

I was finally able to put some rounds threw my AR both the palmetto lower and upper ran smoothly no issues. I most likely will buy another upper from them for my future 300 blackout build.

[3beansalad]

Picked up one of these before Christmas (http://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-16-223-wylde-midlength-1-7-lightweight-mlok-upper-no-bcg-or-ch.html) fit and finish seem excellent for the price. Mated perfectly with Aero lower. I'm watching for someone that wants to unload some BUIS. RDO ordered, once it arrives, I'll be off the range.