Let me begin by saying that I am NOT looking to start a long string of flames about M1S. However, I would be curious to hear others' experiences with this place.
I will keep my story short:
After finally deciding to build my first AR, I read through Shotgun News, and after going on the internet, I decided that M1S had the most selection, and I ordered a kit from them. I ordered over the phone, and the guy who took my order seemed very "flat", but he was quite helpful. I had a few questions, and he cleared up some things for me. One of my specific requests was for a flat front sight (the 1913 type), as well as a couple of other items. About a week later, my package arrives, and the first thing I noticed was that EVERYTHING was packed in thick packing paper. I only say this because I would have thrown stuff out that was small and packed in crumpled paper. Next was the upper. There was a brass-colored discoloration around the barrel just behind the flashhider, and they sent me an upper with the standard front sight. After calling M1S, I was told to send it back. When I asked for their UPS account number, I was told to pay my own shipping, and I would be reimbursed. I sent everything back, and I emailed M1S the other day to verify that my upper was received, and I have still not gotten a reply. My problem with this company is:
1. Lack of good customer support. Maybe $650 isn't a lot of money to them, but on my cop salary it A LOT TO ME. All I ask for my money is clear explanations and a reply to my queries.
2. Pay my own return shipping for their mistake? This is NOT how any mail-order business I have ever dealt with does business. What was I going to do with their account number? Ship boxes around the world? If there's a concern, put a return shipping label in the box with the shipment.
3. No invoice with my order. Let me see... I paid $650, I got a credit card receipt, and...oh, no invoice. No wonder the upper was done wrong - what was the builder using as a reference?
4. Quality control. That brass-colored ring looked terrible. For that money, I expect a good-looking piece of machinery.
I am still waiting for my corrected upper, and still waiting to hear back from M1S in any way possible.

My question to all of you is this: is my ongoing experience with M1S just a fluke? Are these people good business folks, or just looking for volume sales, as opposed to the return customer. I gotta say that I would look elsewhere in the future for my AR stuff.

Personally I've never bought a upper receiver from them.  Heard people talking about them half saying their good, and the other half say their crap.  I've have only ordered parts that I needed to repair my rifle.  And it took forever to get the parts, they wrapped it in thick packing paper.  In which I accidently threw out a car wrench then went dumpster diving for it.  I didn't get a invoice copy either which at first made me think they didn't ship everything but like I said went dumpster diving to check the crumpled pieces of paper.  I probably wouldn't order anything expensive from them, probably just small parts I need.  Anything like barrels or other major components I'll go with someone else.

If your in a market for a excellent upper for a decent price try http://www.cmmginc.com/
I bought one recently from them a 16" MOD4 its beautiful.  Cost me $534.90  Took about 2wks to get it  but I'm happy with it.

so far i have had no problems, i have been buying from them a long time, way back when they had cast front sight posts, now they are all forged

No problems on two orders.

Check out this thread about Model 1 Sales, if you have the time:

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=277277

I built a few rifles and helped a few friends with theirs as well.

Out of the 6 kits:


1. 16" carbine - bent bolt catch. (app 500 rds)

2. 16" carbine - Bent bolt catch, front sling mount pin broke off, broken bolt. (app 1000+ rds)

3. 16" carbine SS DD barrel - Bent bolt catch, broken bolt, canted front sight. (app 2500+ rds)

4. 16" lightweight - Bent Bolt catch.(1500+ rds)

5. 20" SS barrel FF - Bent bolt catch.(1500+ rds)

6. 20" A2 - runs great (200+ rds)


All kits were good quality in fitting and finish. All barrels still very accurate. I dont have faith in their lower parts kits(triggers very long and gritty, cheap parts on bolt catch).

They offered replacement for all parts, only if you sent in the defective.

Model 1 Sales has the best website, that seems to be only place they excel compared to M&A and JT Distributing.

Most everyone seems to be happy with JT, I am thinking of using them for a build.

That is unfortunate.


I just got a Model 1 Sales kit, and I have assembled it. I have a pretty good eye for detail, but not a whole lot of experience, so that eye might not be on 20/20. As far as I can tell, and I have inspected closely, there is nothing out of the ordinary or strange on mine at all.


I didn't get an invoice either, but I have the emailed invoice they sent, and the shipping confirmation email, and I also have a screenshot of their website when I placed the order.


I haven't shot it yet, so I can't speak about reliability. Even if I do, it won't be any sort of 1,000-3,000 round testimonial of reliability.


I talked with them on the phone to confirm the web based order I made. They were very friendly to me.


I bought this kit, because I knew it was the cheapest possible AR I could get into and still be unused. I saved anywhere from $300-$500 over buying a name-brand built rifle, so I will have some tolerance for this rifle if it isn't perfect from the start. I will see if "You get what you paid for" applies to my personal experience. Then again, there are those who paid top dollar for a brand-name rifle, but didn't get what they paid for....


If a lower part breaks, I will ship it back to them as cheaply as I can. I will order a better one from someone else, since all Model 1 can do is send me a replacement one that is no different. When I get a replacement back, it will just be saved someplace as a back-up. Most of the lower parts are pretty cheap, so I could care less replacing them considering what I saved over buying an expensive brand-name gun.  


The only thing that would be bad news would be a major problem with the upper. Would have to contact them on that.


As a company, they should make your problems right. You paid, they should produce as advertised.

My experience is that they are great to work with.  Parts always are at my door within 3 days of my order.  I had one part break on me and the warranty was excellent.  My emails are usually answered the same day, or the next day at the latest.  I have learned to search through the packing paper carefully.  I like their products and service and will continue to buy from them.

I ordered a 16” pre-ban carbine kit from them last November, it has functioned 100% every single time, fit and finish we comparable to my Bushmaster.

I would not hesitate to order from them again.

Mike

 I have a 16'' m4 kit the lower parts needed a little filing to fit. I have about 1,000 rounds through it and no problems yet. It Shoots just as good or better than my friends Bushmaster m4. Last week I ordered a 6.8 spc from them. I will order from them again in the future.

I went with Model 1 Sales because they seemed to have the most options per kit. I've built  a 20" with J&T and a M4gery with Bushy and I wanted to build another M4gery (for the AWB expiration celebration) while having no-ban replacement barrels incoming in the same month. I received the M4gery kit within a week and it was missing the B/BC/CH. Otherwise, it was in good shape once I found all the parts in the paper. Took a week of e-mails and phone calls, but I eventually got to someone that promised the missing parts would be shipped out and they were received within another week. The bolt catch needed some drilling and the front detent spring had to be shorten to fit in an Eagle Arms lower.

My second shipment went more smoothly. I ordered a 20" chrome-lined barrel and a 24" stainless kit. They arrived within a week with no missing parts, but I again had to modify the bolt catch and front detent spring so the 24" kit would fit on a DPMS lower.

Now, would I order again from M1S? Probably, if I was looking for parts on a budget (which I currently am). They're probably swamped with orders after the ban as is every other dealer/manufacturer. To be fair to M1S, my 16" M4 profile barrel from Bushy was shipped in a simple box with a bunch of packaging peanuts. It arrived marred up from the gas tube rubbing around in there. I kinda wished Bushy had used the overkill paper method that M1S did.

I went to Model 1 because I wanted the most bang for the Buck. I have two from them now, the first in.223 that is most reliable, looks great and can group a little over 1/2moa if I do my part. The other is in 6.8 and I'm currently working up a load (no ammo available yet).

Try J&T Distributing (DoubleStar) instead. Good quality product & their customer service is A+

r/s

Dan