Decided to do a little review of how the new Armory USA 1mm receiver stacks up to its two competitors. DrugRunR has also done up a few great reviews located here:

Armory USA 1mm verses Eubanks Manufacturing

DC Industries Yugo/RPK type review.


7.62mm Armory USA (Global) 1mm, price direct from manufacture $59.99

7.62mm ITM Arms (OOW), price direct from manufacture $59.95

7.62mm Vulcan Arms, price direct from manufacture $49.95 Vulcan is nolonger manufacturing these. Eubanks (JoeKen) is the currently manufacturing a slightly improved version.


Armory USA 1mm

The following few pics show a Armory USA 1mm receiver next to a Romanian receiver. Notice they  share the same external deminsions. Also notice how similar the Armory dimples are compared to the Romanian. Been lots of talk about dimples not looking right, they look preaty damn good to me.  Note, in the pic of the rear sections it looks like the Armory is shorter, its not, the Romanian still has a trunion installed which makes it higher the way they are sitting. In the last pic notice the rail position of the Armory compared to the Romanian, its right on the money. Everything about the Armory receiver is right on the money when compared to the Romanian. hammer and trigger pin holes, selector hole, mag well, ejector, rails, trigger gaurd holes, receiver shell thickness (1mm), Completly heat treated, you name it, its correct. The only things one could say negative about the Armory receiver (these are so minor its funny) are:

The dimple shape, which basically boils down to personal preference but as you can see, they are extreamly close to the Romanian dimples.

The hammer/trigger pin holes and selector holes have some minor burs. Less than 30sec of work with a countersink bit gets em cleaned right up.

Trigger hole is slotted for a double hook FCG. Again, this is a personal preference. Does make it nice for builders wanting to use a double hook FCG.

Lack of the trigger bumps.


Armory gets a big thumbs up from me on this reciever. It is without a doubt the best US manufactured receiver on the market.









ITM Arms

The ITM Arms receiver is a animal all in its own. To make a long story short, its packed full of flaws. For a long time this was our best option but that has changed now. Notice in the first pic below, how much longer the ITM is verses the Armory. This extra metal needs to be trimmed off when building. In the next pic you will notice the lack of a selector hole recess on the ITM. In the next two pics you will notice the selector hole in the ITM is drilled to low, this is where the "selector gap" comes from. The next two pics down show the hammer pin hole in the ITM drilled to high, this is where many of the cycling problems come from. Also note in these pice the ITM is only spot heat treated not completly like the Armory and true mil-spec receivers. The next pic down shows the ITM rails installed to far rearward, this leaves a nice big gap between the rails and trunion. Also notice in the same pic how far back the ejector sits, this might be the culprit behind those rare ejection problems. The last pic in this series shows the Armory receiver next to the ITM. Look real close at the distances from the trigger holes to the mag wells. I beleive this is where thier length problem comes from. Another issue worth mentioning, The ITm receiver is approx 1.2mm thick. This makes for more fitting issues with the trunions and requires most selector stops to be milled down for proper mag fit to the rails, especially with the 5.45mm receiver.

All in all, even with its flaws these receivers still make fine weapons but they do require more build time due to fitting issues and additonal tuning may be required to make the rifle function 100%.












Vulcan Arms

The Vulcan receivers share many of the problems the ITM's have. Notice in the first pic the Vulcan's extra length. The next pic shows the Vulcan rail position to far rearward, not quite as bad as the ITM but still not correct. The next pic down shows a view of the bottom of the two receivers. Notice distances from the trigger hole to the mag well on both receivers, like the ITM the Vulcan is to long in this area. Also notice the two pin holes (bending jig) in the Vulcan, one front and one rear. These will need to be filled or should be anyway when building. The next pic shows the two side by side. Notice the Vulcan has the rivet holes predrilled. Not all kits share the same rivet position so this is a big minus. Another big down fall of the Vulcan is the lack of any heat treating.

Like the ITM these do make fine weapons however it is not up to par with the Armory by any means. Vulcan is no longer manufacturing these receiver. Eubanks (JoeKen) has bought there equipment and is now making a slightly improved version. The new Eubanks receiver will not have the rivet holes predrilled but other than that its the same as the Vulcan. I would like to get my hands on one to have a look at however.








All in all, the Armory USA 1mm receiver is unmatched currently. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.



EDIT: A 5.45mm reveiw will turn out the same. Only difference is the 5.45mm ITM does not have the selector hole location issue. All other ITM issues are present.

jnewt,

please help my frail old eyes.... the Armory receiverdoes have the crows feet doesn't it?

Quoted: jnewt, please help my frail old eyes.... the Armory receiverdoes have the crows feet doesn't it?

Yep, its got em

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: jnewt, ..crows feet.. Yep, its got em Stupid question - What are you guys referring to?

The X, Y axis marks on the left side.

Quoted: I have read alot of complaints about the writing and serial numbers on the side of the receivers, rather than on the bottom......If I am not mistaken, that is a federal manufacturing requirement.  Someone with a license correct me if I'm wrong.... And, I agree on the receiver....best thus far....

I think this is just something people are gona have to live with. The text on the Armory is way less noticable than the logo on the ITM. Hell, most every rifle has text on the side of the receiver, Romanian, Yugo's, FEG's they all have some type of text or logo.

As far as I know the receiver info can be anywhere visable. Not 100% sure on that.

Thank you Josh, this has been needed for a while.

Pinned for everyone to reference.

Quoted: Hey! Is that last one mine???

Sure is, guess why she is out of the box

Here is a pic of a Bulgarian AR-M1F clone built using a Armory receiver. Notice the dimples, when finished they do not appear "as big" as they do in the white.

Quoted: Here is a pic of a Bulgarian AR-M1F clone built using a Armory receiver. Notice the dimples, when finished they do not appear "as big" as they do in the white. tinypic.com/4lfymv

Wow.

Damn nice!  

Quoted: nope.... I am gonna be buying more of them soon.

I need your address because I know where my ass is coming if the shit hits the fan...lol...

Quoted: jnewt, Do you have any experience with the Yugo M70 pattern receivers from Greenlight Arms and DCI?

I dont yet but DrugRunR does. Shoot him an IM.