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… ;)
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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… ;)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Enjoy the PSA! Best deal out there in AR world in my opinion.
I need to stay off their website.
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.
I'm on my 4th upper. Dan good barging in my opinion