THANK YOU to the many knowledgeable members who have shared that knowledge in this forum, I have been reading for awhile!!! I recently purchased a complete upper and lower assembly from Palmetto State Armory. I did not build anything and would not say so. The reason I am posting here is that I believe the knowledge base in this particular thread will most likely have the answers I need. I have read as many of the “Read this First” sections as possible, and did learn a great deal. Again, thank you all for taking the time to post that info. My first question. Is it normal to have “some play/ side to side movement between the upper and lower, especially with a non matched set? I checked some of my son’s rifles and they all had some, just not quite as much as mine. They are all very close. I used my dial calipers to check several points. The front and rear retaining pins and the corresponding mating holes on the uppers. I am for now going to attribute this to a “stacking of tolerances” Question 2, my upper did not come complete with a BCG, I also purchased this from PSA. This BCG had a thick coating of heavy oil. It was sticky and stiff to move the FP and bolt. I decided this must be more of a preservative than a lubricant. I disassembled the BCG and cleaned and lubed it per the LUBE guide located elsewhere here. I also cleaned and lube the upper and lower. I function checked everything then ran 10 rounds through it for confirmation. Everything worked perfectly.  Any thoughts on this? Also this is what I bought. http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/psa-16-chf-mid-length-ultra-light-weight-sqr-15-upper-without-bcg-or-charging-handle.html this http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/1213/s/complete-psa-ar-15-lower-classic-edition/category/4282/ this http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/18851/s/full-auto-5-56-bcg-w-carpenter-158-bolt/  Thank You for any input you may have.

To your first question, yes, it is normal to have some play between upper and lower. You may even notice some, "click-clack" sound once in a while, perfectly normal. If it bothers you, pick up one of these.

For your second question, did you save those first ten brass pieces? If so, look them over real good. Did you notice any bulging cases? Cracked case sides? Punched primers? Cut brass lips? Those are signs that the bolt and carrier are not seating well. Or take it to a gun smith and they will headspace check it for like $10, and most ranges will do it for free, as it is a safety issue. Welcome to the site (posting anyway), Good luck and enjoy your new tool.

Welcome to the forum!

First rule is ya gotta post pics of the firearm... no excuses

Always clean and lube a new BCG and barrel of the firearm before shooting the first time. I  clean the barrel and BCG then lube with oil after every use.

Thank you for the reply benw887. Yes I did inspect all the cases, all cases appeared normal. No cracks or bulging, all primers appeared to have the normal dimples you would see with proper firing pin contact. What I was really trying to ask is, was the heavy lube that came on the BCG a preservative instead of lubricant? As I stated it was sticky/ thick, and the bolt and firing pin were stiff, they took much effort to move. I did disassemble the BCG clean and relube with a lighter gun oil before firing, everything seemed to work properly.
Thank you for the welcome Blowout. I will have to set up some sort of web photo hosting service and I believe new members must post a certain number of times before you are allowed to post pics.
I am very happy with my purchase now. I had read some other posts about PSA that concerned me. I had no issues with PSA. The items I purchased are very nice, the hand guard is different but I do like it. Overall without sights or a loaded mag she weighs in right at 6 pounds, I love it. Also the trigger pull is not as bad as I had feared. I have purchased the JP spring kit. I am going to do the set plug mod under the pistol grip and polish the engagement surfaces. I am spoiled by the triggers I installed on my bolt guns. I am hoping for sub moa performance from this rig.
Thank You all again for your help.

The answer to your question is yes.

The BCG was probably dipped, coated, smothered and slathered in cosmoline.     It keeps condensation from causing surface rust when going from a warm machine shop to an ice cold delivery truck to a warm warehouse to a cold mail truck etc.

You did it right, clean it up, lube it right and run it.

enigma4370, Thank You for the reply. I felt like that must have been more of a preservative than a lube. I thought at first, if I fire this like that it will stop up quickly due to carbon build up or may not even cycle.
Thank you all again for the advice.

I have always been surprised by my PSA mil-spec triggers. Not the horror stories I envisioned. I'm sure u have the skills but be careful polishing and taking too much material off the triggers. The AR15 can be very finicky with home trigger jobs. I replaced a PSA trigger with the ALG ACT Trigger you can't do a better upgrade for less then $60!

Thank you for the info PasoGunner24. I had actually looked at the ALG ACT Trigger and thought about going ahead and ordering it but I waited to check this one out. I did order the JP AR-15 Reduced weight Trigger/ Hammer spring kit. I thought I would install it soon. I want to measure the old set up first. I also need to pick up an allen head plug so I can do the take up mod under the pistol grip. Thanks for the heads up on my current trigger assembly, I was only thinking about polishing not so much trying to remove material or change any geometry.

Your welcome. I have heard that the reduced weight hammer spring sometimes can give you light primer strikes on 5.56 NATO  rounds as they are harder then .223. Just something to think about the ALG ACT has no issues with any NATO rounds I've shot.

I don't know I'd the light strikes info is gospel. Just read and heard about it before when I was researching triggers. The ALG ACT Trigger is made by Geiselles wife so you know it's amazingly built. It's unreal how smooth it is for the price

PasoGunner

Thanks again PasoGunner24. I have read that on here as well, about the light strikes being a problem with some of the harder military primers. I ordered the JP spring kit with the yellow trigger spring and the red hammer spring, supposed to be enhanced ignition reliability over the yellow hammer spring. After talking with you and thinking about it. My standard trigger is not that gritty, I think I will not try to polish it. I will just install my spring kit and do the over travel mod  with the allen head plug in the pistol grip hole. Then I can focus on ordering the ALG ACT a little later. Good info, Thanks.