Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles PSA 5.56 Pistol Uppers any good ?

I am either going to buy or build a pistol upper in 5.56 with a 10.5 inch barrel.

I have looked at some on the PSA website and curious whether they are a good pistol upper ?

I don't want an upper that I am going to have to start replacing parts to get reliability and durability and accuracy,If I am going to have to do that I would Just as soon build one from scratch.

In either the Classic style for a little under $300.00 to the railed upper for a little over $300.00 they just looked sort of interesting.

I would appreciate input from those who have experience with them .

Thanks

I have two PSA's and they are great uppers and PSA has great customer service. I have both a 16 and 10.5 (5.56) uppers myself and they are good to go. I paid under $300 for each of them.

I had issues with a 9mm PSA Carbine, but the company sent me a label and fixed it inside of a week.

I've got a few psa uppers. One of them is a 10.5"

I haven't shot more than 300 or 350 rounds our of it but it has worked flawlessly and is accurate for what it is.

My others have had lots of rounds through them and have been fine too

I've been happy with all of the PSA uppers that I have had experience with including the pistols. They have all been perfectly happy with the diet of steel they were fed, the only that didn't was a PA10. However I didn't mess with the adjustable block so that may have helped. The accuracy was as expected with the ammo I was using. Any issues that I have had they were easy to work with and always sent a label for me to send in, it's been a while since I utilized the service dept but would expect to hopefully be similar today.

I've bought three PSA pistol uppers, two of them 5.56 (10.5" and 11.5"), one is 7.62x39 (10.5"). They all run/ran just fine. I did rebarrel a couple of them with carbine barrels, but they ran fine and shot well.

10.5" 5.56 with M855 ammo, 100 yards.

I have several PSA uppers, they are run well with no issues.
IME their CHF barrels made by FN shoot better than their Nitride barrels. I don't think it's the finish, I think it's a question of Nitride vs. CHF, but who made the barrel.
I've also had very good luck with their stainless barrels.

Here's one I'd like to add to the collection:

https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa...assic-ar15-upper-assembly-no-bcg-ch.html

Add this BCG, which is probably made by Tool Craft

https://palmettostatearmory.com/pal...m-full-auto-bolt-carrier-group-8779.html

And pick your rear site. I'll probably go with an old school carry handle just because....

That CHF upper will probably shoot better than my nitride.

I have a PSA upper with the 14.7 FN CHF pinned/welded barrel. It shoots very well.

This is my 11.5" classic with some carry handle goodness.

I was wondering WTF in your other pic with the fixed rear sight instead of a carry handle.

LOL

I have that Troy rear sight on a kind of minimalist carbine. Zero at 50/200, about 9" low at 300. It still covers most scenarios.

And just when I'm trying to decide between fixed rear and carry handle on a 10.5"!

I hear you....I do like the carry handle with the adjustability for w/e. In reality though. the fixed sight is all you really need out to 300 yards.

Even with the 10.5" pistol, you can do a 40/200 zero, and only be about 12" low at 300. That's easy enough to holdover a bit.

If weight matters, the Troy rear sight (or similar, I presume) weighs about 2.5 ounces, where the carry handle weights about 9.5 ounces.

Here's roughly what the numbers look like shooting M855 from a 10.5" barrel with a 40 yard zero,

I’d run a carry handle if my hand would fit in one. The A1 or A2 upper has more room but the detachable is a tight fit for me. I prefer the DD fixed rear sight.

I like the A1 or A2 option also. The detachable carry handle really is too small for a handle, and those big thumb nuts are kind of annoying also.

The A1/A2 upper receivers seem in short supply these days.

Thanks MM!

And sorry OP for the hijack.

I

I was thinking the same (thread hijack) but it's still in the AR pistol rabbit hole....grin

NoProblem 😎

Thanks for the chart

Thanks for the weights as I am already Planning on adding a Streamlight Pro Tac 1 to the upper.

And don't want it too heavy.

You bet, glad to help.

Thanks
I am going to add a Light and although I do like the looks of the carry Handle I think I will pass on that so as not to weigh it down too much.

That looks pretty good to me !
Is that about a 5 or 6 inch circle ?

Thanks for the Information
Sounds good to me.

Thanks
Sounds good to me.

Thanks for the information and pics.
Sounds like Good Customer service to me, that is always a good thing to have.

About 5 inches. No doubt one could easily cut that group in less than half with optics, a lighter trigger (mine is basic milspec), and different ammo like Federal 69gr HPBT or something.

I'd keep an open mind about carry handle vs fixed rear like in my pic.

I say that because depending on how things shake out with your light and anything else, the heavier carry handle might balance it out better. One of those things you never really know until it all comes together.

I beat on a 10.5" PSA with a can. It's been reliable with decent accuracy.

True but it looks very good to me as is !

Thanks for the Pic and report about accuracy and reliability.

True
I think that I will try it without the carry Handle first then if I need more weight fore or aft I think I can come up with something.
Either by shifting the location of the light or the sights or the adding of weight to the grip compartment on the the Magpull grip that I will be using .

Sounds Like the Uppers From Psa are pretty good so far and barring getting the occasional Lemon I will be getting a decent upper.
And sounds like if I would happen to get a Lemon That Psa they would remedy the Issue.

I have just 1 assembled pistol upper from PSA, a 10.5". I haven't fired it much in the 3 years I've owned it, but it hasn't stumbled any with the 55gr. ball ammo I've fired through it.

I installed a little Romeo 5 red dot a couple of weeks ago and zeroed it at 60 yards from a rest. The last 3 shot group was zeroed just right and measured right about 1.5" horizontally and ¾" vertically.