Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles PSA upper

Looking at this upper for a frankin AR. I have a Bushmaster stripped lower purchased 10 or so years ago. Use will be target shooting from a bench (fun) and coyote/varmint hunting. I handload and enjoy the process of finding accuracy. Not up on AR platform at all. Good brands, bad brands etc… . Like to hear some opinions on this upper and/or others I should consider. Obviously going to need other parts as well. Appreciate any feedback, thanks.

https://palmettostatearmory.com/ble...ightweight-m-lok-upper-no-bcg-or-ch.html

The PSA FN made CHF barrels are good to go.

I'd be tempted to try the 20" model instead, if I were in your shoes. The reason is it will shoot softer, making it more pleasant to shoot off the bench. This would also help in seeing impacts downrange as well, which comes in handy when shooting varmints and also quicker follow up shots. Just my take, as I prefer the 20" barreled rifles over even the 18". BTDT...

As A_S said, those barrels are good.............I have 3 of them in 14.5''.

But as with any PSA upper, you need to verify barrel nut torque, GB tightness & alignment & verify that whatever bolt that you use, falls within the headspace specs for the cartridge.

You will also want to tune your recoil & buffer weight in your lower to however the gun is gassed.......................FN barrels are generally gassed pretty good, IME.

MM

Thanks for the info. Not ordered yet, looking at the latest deals from them.

I bought the upper that the OP linked. What tools am I going to need to do this? BCG is the nitrided M16 they had on sale with 10 P-Mags. I assume it is headspaced correctly?




That upper is rifle-length gas. Lower is one of their complete MFT Minimalist. I installed a Timney trigger. It has a standard carbine buffer. Did some research and the consensus seemed to be that will work.

I've read that back in the day guys ran A1/A2 uppers on CAR lowers and they ran fine.

Tuning would mean going to a heavier buffer like an H or H2 in a system that's overgassed?

You assume it is headspace correctly, but it is an explosion going off a few inches in front of your face. I imagine 9 out of 10 people dont bother to to check since everything is supposed to be milspec. I bet PSA doesnt even check before they send their stuff out. Gauges are cheap insurance.

Odds are you will be just fine with that upper on your lower, just shoot and find out. I've never had to swap out buffers or tune gas blocks on any of my ARs.

Mil spec gets overused, it’s really false advertisement, nitride is not mil spec and mil spec uses carrier key screws that don’t just break off like PSA’s have been known to do.

That said they are usually serviceable as they are but there is no set standard to fix one of these. I’d load one round in a magazine and fire it at arms length into the ground for the first shot. If it goes okay then load one more and fire from a bench. It should lock the bolt open and brass should be ejecting about 4:00. If not then you can start to tune.

I have a PSA 20-inch SS 6.5 Grendel complete upper that I purchased about 2.5 years ago after much thought; I had heard the internet "traffic" how some think they are junk and others think they "tier one" battle/duty ready.
I put the upper on RRA NM lower that has a TriggerTech in it and after a LTI test fired 10 rounds of Hornady Black 123 gr. The gun ran fine, after 5 rounds I made a slight adjustment of the gas block and fired the remaining five rounds.
Since the initial range session and scrutinizing the fired cases I did polish the chamber.
The upper is surprisingly accurate and I have no concerns; it was a good value for the money spent; in full transparency it is not as well finished nor as accurate as my LaRue 6.5 Grendel upper, but it certainly didn't cost what the LaRue did.

I've not tried any of PSA's 5.56mm uppers, I shoot with several people who have complete rifles and or uppers and they have no issues with them.

Mine is a sample of one, if I needed an inexpensive upper, I wouldn't hesitate to try another PSA.

YMMV

StarchedCover

Shaun,
As TWR mentioned you are looking for a last round bolt hold open and 4 o'clock ejection.

There's two basic ways to tune. One is with an adjustable gas block, second is swapping weights and springs and BCGs.

For weight I try to keep carbine, H1, H2, and H3 on hand.
For springs, I'll keep a full set of Sprinco's on hand, yellow, White (standard) White hot, Blue, orange and red.

Generally, if the bolt doesn't hold open you need less weight/spring, and conversely, if your ejection path is north of 4 O'clock you need more weight/spring.

Most of my PSA uppers are 16" with mid-length gas, and are running with an H1 buffer and Springco Blue or standard white spring and an M-16 profile BCG.
As with most lower end manufacturers, PSA barrels tend to be over gassed, but only slightly, an not obnoxiously so like many other lower priced AR makers.

I ran a 16" carbine gassed upper on a standard A2 lower for years. Never had an issue and never had to swap parts. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Thanks for all the replies, guys. Since I'm not going to be building a lot of these, would I be better off investing in a higher quality BCG and using the PSA as a backup instead of buying headspace gauges?

I didn't buy the rifle for home protection or some SHTF scenario. I was originally looking at .223 bolt guns for varmint/coyote duty around home, at my mountain property, and as a truck gun. I won't be sitting and calling coyotes. I have had 2 go trotting through the mountain place in daylight where I had to call my dogs off to keep them from hot pursuit. Like that, plus range fun. And if I had to use it on a two-legged varmint it would work.

I went with an AR instead because I've never owned one and wanted to try out the platform.

The reason I went the PSA route instead of buying a complete rifle is that by buying the upper and lower separately I was able to get what I wanted at a reasonable price.

I've been through 4 or 5 psa 16 inch uppers 223. I've never had an issue with any of them. Every one has shown MOA promise.

So far so good.

Shaun,
Nothing wrong with the route you chose, I've done the same several times and generally been please with PSA's FN CHF and stainless barrels. Their nitride stuff can be a bit more hit or miss, but still not the number of misses you should expect from an Anderson (outside their stripped lowers), Bear Creek Arsenal, Radical etc.

When using their BCG's I like to stick with their premiums, which best I can tell come from Toolcraft, but for the price, I don't think you choice is a bad bet. I'd try it. If it doesn't work out, call them, they'll make it right.

As for a keeping a backup BCG, it's a good idea. I have several, they are the lower priced BCG's I started with that were later upgraded to better parts. Of course this strategy is not without risk. An excess of parts has a tendency to self assemble into a new rifle and then the upgrade process starts again.....

Be careful as extra parts have a way of turning into extra guns...

I'd just shoot it as I said and see that it is okay, it should be. I wasn't trying to scare anyone away from PA but the mil spec term is misleading.

Good info^^

Tell me about it. This is how I end up with 5 lowers, and 13 uppers.....lol

Shaun, it's always a good idea to buy a set of headspace guages. You won't use them a lot, but its nice having that knowledge that your bolt is a good match to your barrel extension and headspace is within spec. TWR hit on some good points about the gas key and "milspec" and nitriding. I'd probably buy a better bolt and be done with it or upgrade to the premium PSA BCG, which is supposed to be a Toolcraft that is known for being a very good BCG. No need to buy a different BCG, unless you just want to upgrade to ease your mind a bit. Then it would be RCA or BCM, if you are really that concerned. Probably not necessary though, as the carrier is generally the least of your concerns. Again, its the bolt that is more critical because it gets the brunt of the use/abuse in the system. I like your choice of the AR for the uses you state. Having one that is 100% reliable is key though. Most are, but some may need a little tinkering like AS describes with buffers and springs etc. Personally, I'd go that route vs an adjustable gas block. Its pretty easy to tune your rifle without one. Just figure out what ammo you will be using and tune your rifle for that ammo. Mine throw the brass into a nice little cluster in the 4 o'clock position. That's when you know your rifle is gassed appropriately. Most AR's are overgassed from the factory. The reason for that is because they seem to be more reliable that way and operate with various types of ammo. Recently I was at the range and a guy was messing with a PSA and it was reliable and shooting pretty good, but his rifle was throwing the brass everywhere. Some in the 1:00 position and others in the 4 o'clock position. Later found out he was running some lightweight Fiocchi 40gr vmax ammo and then went to some 69gr sierra's and some 77gr OTM X-Tac ammo. The heavier stuff was ejecting in a good pattern at around 4 o'clock, but it was obvious it was overgassed for the lighter ammo. Again, it really depends on which ammo you are going to be running.

I had to hide my A2 carry handle, so I would stop working on it and wanting another lower, barrel and other parts to make it a complete rifle... Out of sight, out of mind...

I hear ya....grin

I wound up with an extra scope and an extra ADM mount. I stuck them together so as to have an accuracy testing scope ready to go (10x super chicken). I caught myself yesterday checking prices on an upper…