I bought one of those Grabagun $439 DPMS AR15 "refurbished" by Century Arms. Why. just because of the price and honestly I have used DPMS parts on numerous builds and never saw any issues in quality.  The only other AR15 I purchased as a complete rifle was a Colt A2 Hbar 20 years ago, which I regretfully had to give up on a trade.  Everything else in the last ten years were ground up builds by myself. So when I saw this deal, I figured either I was getting a donor rifle or a diamond in the rough.  All I heard was that these rifles were trade ins from an overseas contractor.

Before my DPMS arrived, I went to a local gunshow and saw more used DPMS Model A-15s for sale. The price on these were $100 to $200 more than the deal I bought. I noticed that the used rifles had signs of use and some with traces of tan paint on them.  

Grabagun advertised these rifles as having no rear sights, but when I picked mine up, I was surprised to see that it included a removable handle rear sight
The rifle does show signs of wear on high spots which gives it that been there done that look. Something I like to see on my mosins and mausers and in this case attracts me to this rifle as well  .  The only issues I addressed immediately was light surface rust on outside of the barrel under the handguard. WD40 and scotch brite removed this within minutes.  Also surface rust in some of the crevices s in the carry handle knob threads and inside the flash suppressor.  inside the barrel was dirty from storage , but with one pass of a brush revealed nice mirror polished grooves and lands with the chamber and barrel being chrome lined. M4 stock appeared to have some sort of rack number sticker residue. Also cleaned that with WD-40.  BCG looks solid and with typical wear spots.  Gas rings were in great shape.  I looked over this rifle to see any signs of any parts replacement or signs of tool marks on the buffer extension tube castle nut and  barrel nut. This rifle appears not be refurbished with any major parts. Nothing appears to have any signs of removal or replacement, including the carry handle.

I had an opportunity to shoot it during my lunch break. Only shot 30 rounds with Federal 55gr SP.  All rounds fired flawlessly.  I know thirty rounds is not a lot, but a used rifle out of the box with zero malfunctions is a good sign.No zeroing needed, rifle sights were spot on.  All in all, I am glad to have made this purchase.  For the price, there is not to much lose.  here are some pics of the rifle, (crappy phone pics) and pics of a three shot group at 25 yards standing without support.







just my .2 cents

They were probably a police trade-in and they bought the whole lot. Not a bad little find and for a good price too.

I thought about these being police trade-ins, but the wear on them suggests these have had a lot of sling time as opposed to in a case time.  I am an armorer for a PD with 80 plus Colt 6721s in service.  Some of them since 1997. Very few, if none show those signs of exterior wear like this DPMS.

Could be in import from one of our allies... I would try and contact DPMS and have them do a serial number search to find out who bought them if you can.

It doesn't make sense that they came from one of our allies.  First of all, they probably would be select fire and second, Obama and his cabal would not allow them to be imported.

Good deal..

Also if they were imported, even though they are american made, they would have a import stamp.  Hence the theory U.S. contractor use.  They would bring them back through normal channels. I maybe wrong, just thinking.

Good find and it should serve you well

I like it!

Nice.

well, that's the best price I've seen yet for what you get

http://www.soc-usa.com that is the security contractor that many, if not all of these, came from. I've seen a couple with their inventory tags still attached. The phone number on the tag was to an overseas post with a Farsi speaking receptionist. They truly are beat to hell on the outside, but internals are in very good condition. Probably 1 in 6 had D stamped FA bolt carriers with the rest being plain D stamped semi carriers.

SOC-USA was one of the companies that ran Ugandan guards at Marine bases all over Anbar. They are a subsidiary of a british company iirc.

Is ita chrome bore?  If so I would replace the bolt with a BCM and rock on. Everytime you rack the charging handle let out a "Jaamboooooo!!!"

That's a helluva deal as long as it runs good and it sounds like it does.  Make a nice truck gun

Definitely sounds like you got a great deal, hope it continues to run well for ya.

Yup, chrome bore and chamber.  D mark Bolt carrier and Bolt.  Bolt Carrier is not FA though.  I will run it like this for now.

I received mine on Monday.  Condition is, as stated, much better than expected.  Surprised to see the carry handle AND chrome bore / chamber, esp since the vast majority of DPMS rifles are unlined, though I suppose they give special favor when issuing rifles to departments.  Was told, and was expecting; unlined bore, no rear sight, and a much rougher condition than it is.  Rifle seems very solid, and even the bolt looks like it has very little wear on it.  Rifling is sharp and bore is shiny (though some of the grooves near the muzzle, along with the flash hider, have some minor rust in them.  Most likely nothing that won't shoot out though.  Will hopefully get the chance to shoot it this weekend, expectations are high and over all I am very pleased.  Cheapest AR I've ever bought, and far from the worst (heck, can't buy a NEW DPMS M4 clone that's as good as this)!  Not sure why DPMS hates chrome lined barrels so much?

Wish I had bought one.

Plus a lifetime warranty on the barrel?

Anyway if I send you a Serial number you could give me any history on this rifle?

Good score, OP.  Thanks for the post with the mini-review.  Sounds like you got good value for your money.

I ordered one of these also.  It will pick it up Monday.  If it is in as good of shape as yours, I will be very satisfied.  Hope mine has the carry handle.

       
whats funny is in 20 years, i can see the OP telling people about the provenance of his dpms rifle and everyone will roll their eyes and call BS, lol





 

Well, you say one thing, then when I called in to get a certain configuration rifle with chrome, I'm told that they are not available and that chrome lining isn't desired because it makes the gun less accurate.

So these particular ARs are not really refurbished? Not that the cost would suggest such but I wouldn't complain at that price. But, I think a brand new DPMS are worth what these are going for anyway.

According to Grabagun, some of them had new bolts put into them.  However, they were the ones that supposedly did that and not Century (they also cleaned them up the best they could).  Not sure why they are saying Century refurbished them, as Century stated they just shipped them as is.

Century was NOT the only source for these, a number of them went through other distributors as well. Of the couple of dozen I saw, the ones that had M-16 bolt carriers, were identical in any wear etc. to the standard semi BCG ones, D stamped as well. I would think they were just sold that way when ordered from DPMS. All of the ones I saw had similar rust and wear to the Century offered ones, but were still covered in dust from whatever locale they came from. Internals, fcg, everything covered in a very fine dark brown dust. Once cleaned though, the internal wear looked like they had fewer than 1k rounds fired.

I will have to make a copy of this thread and have it certified and notarized  and call it "Internet Capture Papers"

Saw a few of these, did you?

I know its a used DPMS but its hard to go wrong on a rifle for a little better than 400, I would have grabbed one if I had cash on hand.

M4-pilot and Dvldog I think you all got it right.

S.O.C. Ugandans

I picked one of these up last week and put 100 rounds through it yesterday.

Mine appears to possibly have a bit more external wear than the OP's but internally the gun is pretty solid and was quite clean. The exterior, specially under the handguard, was dusty and coated with a fine powdery sand.

There appears to be some debate on which country these actually came from. Some sources say Iraq while others say Afghanistan but it could be these were brought back from both. Who knows? Also, I haven't seen any but apparently there are some Bushmaster rifles that were also brought in.

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Bad ass rifle guys. Hell of a find. I even like the wear on it as it gives it character and I like the price even more.  As soon as I saw this I went to look for one online and couldn't find one. I guess they are all bought up

All gone. Poop :/

Since my intial test firing, I have done about another hundred rounds through mine during a stress shoot on the move drill and 100 yard prone shots.  Ran without a hitch. I did have to adjust windage a tad, but other than that, spot on.  Only thing I think it needs a little clean up on the trigger.

Congrats on the nice find, guys.  Maybe more of these will hit the market.  Hopefully, if they do, I'll have some money to buy one.  

Congrats on the nice find, guys.  Maybe more of these will hit the market.  Hopefully, if they do, I'll have some money to buy one.  

ETA:  Can one of you guys throw up a pic of the BCG if you have a chance?  I'm just curious if the markings match my commercial DPMS.  Thanks.

Mine is a semi auto carrier , carrier and bolt have a "D" marked stamping. nothing else remarkable.

No "D" on my bolt or any other markings that I can find. The carrier is semi-auto and does have a "D."

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Just got a been there done that RAS M4 rail  from a ARF.com member for this former sand box creature. I thought I would share.  Looking for a ACOG in the future that may have seen some action to add on to it's character.

Bad ass ! Good find

Mine also came with the carry handle.  Had less finish wear than the one pictured above.  The bore is in excellent condition and the internals look hardly used at all.  The one I got must have been carried some, but shot very little.  Have not taken it out to the range yet; however, I expect nothing out of the ordinary.  I am very satisfied with my purchase.

They're on sale through centerfire

Did you have to modify anything to install the RAS?  I bought one off eBay to put on my rifle but the barrel's flange behind the gas block is too big to accept the KAC upper handguard.

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I was going to buy ammo with that money dangit!

Part of me likes the look of the worn out finish.

Are you referring to the Hand Guard Cap? Too big? Is it a legitimate M4 RAS or is it possible it is a counterfeit?