Anyone else here order an A3 Tactical Triad chassis?  

I was one of the first 50 orders since I got asked my shirt size, and I forgot about their launch until 2100 on Monday.  

Not yet, but I'd like to. I have an SBR'ed FM15 11.5 inch and combining the two would make for an awesome platform.

Video games cured me of pre-ordering anything years ago.

I will buy at least two, but only once they are being sold. They just might cure me of my love of the PS90.

I'm looking to order one at some point, but I'm waiting on firsthand reviews. I'm also not sure whether an FM upper or a JAKL upper is better, and the Triad page doesn't have any product links for a JAKL Triad kit. I assume things are still developing, but I'm not in a rush.

I do. If this were a newer or small company I wouldn’t preorder. A3 Tactical is solid and I’ve spend a lot of money with them an had contact with them a dozen times. Pretty confident in it. And if there’s something wrong or something I don’t like, I’ll fix it or improve it! I can’t leave anything alone anyway.

I’ve got my upper and lower all sorted out. I started with 11.25” FM15. Cut the hand guard down to 8.70” and chopped a 300blk barrel to 9.35”. Sized it around my Griffin brakes and adapters for my suppressors so have nearly no gap. Barrel is a BA Gunner profile so I had to take a little off the gas block shoulder to fit the barrel nut over it. I’ll probably chop the original 11.25” barrel down to the same.

Got it all sandblasted and sitting in my blast cabinet with my lower until the kit comes in. Still not sure what I want to do for Cerakote job on it. I want it to look kinda ridiculous, but not at the same time, lol.

If you’re suppressing the Jakl would be better as it’s a piston system. I’m starting with a FM15 because I have one, but if I end up really liking the setup I will convert to the Jakl. I’m pretty sure gas in the face with a DI bullpup will be impressive.

I would want to suppress (or at least have the option to) so I've been leaning towards the JAKL. Just odd that the A3 website has links for FM Triads, BRN180 Triads and now MAT-9 Triads, but no JAKL Triads. I assume/hope that that'll get filled out by the time they launch.

From what I understand, The JAKL kit will require a proprietary handguard. I don’t believe they’ve refined that yet, so it’s not getting pushed into production which is why there’s no pre-order.

Aha, good to know. Thanks! Guess I'll keep being patient and see what comes of it.

I'm going to see about fitting up a Adams Arms piston kit to mine.  Need to get the gas key remade.  Might hit up FM direct to see if they can hook me up with one that's not yet drilled. Dimensionally it should work.

Been looking into that as well. Pretty sure Adams arms is off the table as their .625 kit has been discontinued. Superlative still offers one though.

if you can get an undrilled one, you'll still need to take material off unless you can shorten the kit's operating rod and still have it cycle. Measurements I came up with, leaving the rod as is, look something like this to adjust it back to Adams/Superlative "gas key" position. My concern is the integrity of the upper portion of the FM15 key that interacts with the charging rod. Could be mitigated my leaving as much material along the side of the blue box while hollowing it out with additional clearance for the op-rod. If you can't get an undrilled gas key, I'm sure you could just press an appropriately sized plug into it to seal it.

If you plan on swapping in another barrel, a standard gov profile will work. You only need to take a little off the diameter of the gas block shoulder. If anyone is  looking for a 300blk alternative, or anything that uses a pistol gas system, the Faxon Gunner profile is the easiest to modify to work. Most manufacturers run the gas block shoulder diameter all the way back to the barrel extension and you'll need to chuck it up on a lathe to turn the ID down. With the gov and gunner profiles, anyone with a bench grinder or high speed drill can turn it down. Just spin the shoulder on the grinder, or chuck a thread protector into a power drill, thread your barrel into it, and spin the barrel on a stone or heavy abrasive pad until below .795.

Yeah the Adams Arms is off the table. SA will work I think. I forgot about the gas block dia being different AND the AA kit needs a GI barrel nut.  I think the plug idea would likely be best, and perhaps shorten the op rod slightly. SA can do that custom by request.  Will need to check diameters at some point. Got a busy weekend so I doubt I'll get around to it.

I’m trying to find out the height above the barrel is for those gas block. The forward portion of the charging rod is much larger in diameter upfront. I think it’s going to interfere with the piston gas blocks since they are not low profile.

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O.986" to top of GB drone center of bore.

O.6735" above barrel in this case

Damn. I’m getting about .94 from center of bore before contacting the charging rod.

There’s only .075 between the top of the gas tube and bottom charging rod, and that’s not accounting for the forward section of the rod that flares out.

If your upper has the charging handle behind the gas block I think you could get away with it, though you may need to shave/flatten the forward portion of the charging rod as it might contact the piston rod when pulling back. Current travel stops it right before the upward bend on the gas tube on my upper. A straight would really damn close. I can’t put it it together right now and get true measurements cause my barrel curing at the moment.

I’m running pistol gas. The idea is a no go for me. Charging rod would contact the block.

I have a deposit on a Foxtrot Mike Triad kit, and preordered one of the 9" FM 300 Blackout uppers they are offering.

I figure it will be an interesting thing to tinker with on one of my SBR lowers.

Finally 300BLK uppers!
I'm in!

So, the Triad kits for the JAKL upper are now up on the website. I just sent A3 an email asking about a dimensional question, but I figure I'll see if anyone has input here.

I have an SBR lower and an planning on the 10.5 JAKL upper. Is there one MLOK slot or more protruding past the lower chassis to mount a VFG, or is it less and I'd be better served with the A3 compact forward grip on their site?

Figure I should know so that I can put it on the order or not and save a little shipping.

Edit: they replied and said that the compact forward grip is for 10.5 and shorter barrels, so it is needed for the 10.5 JAKL.

Good info to know - I have been very tempted to get a 300BLK JAKL

I did the pr-order last week.  At first wanted a JAKL but it wasn’t available.  After looking around decided on Foxtrot Mike upper.  Ordered 16” FM upper from their site as well as they had the best price.

Personally i would NOT run a FM carrier with a piston.
Carrier tilt isn't a big issue until you chop it in half.
Other platforms like the jakl and BRN180 get by because they have proprietary carriers with much larger bearing surface.

@RDTCU

I was wondering about that. I know you are way more versed than me on these sort of things so I’m going to ask…

I don’t know if you have one, but the recoil springs sit around a guide right rod that actually travels through the carrier key as well. While not “riding” on the rod directly, it would likely offer some support. Also, the recoil system is connected to the top of the gas key and much more inline with where the piston bar would smack it so, coupled with no rearward mass and much stiffer spring pressure with a contact point central to the carrier, wouldn’t this help mitigate carrier tilt?

I do have a 12.5 FM upper and have been through it pretty thoroughly.
Springs and mass are 2 different things when the impulse is high like with a piston.
I'd still be concerned about undue friction due to tilting.

My Triad kit arrived today - don't think I'll get time to do anything with it in the next few weeks unfortunately.

I got my notification yesterday, and mine hasn't shipped yet.

When I get it I plan to use one of my SBR lowers to build it out with that little 300BLK upper.

And I won’t be home till 11pm….glad I’m 400yrds off the road and the house is not visible.

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This is just ridiculous

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Wow. What bbl length is that?

Looks like the 9" maybe?

Kinda makes me want to stick my CMMG 4.5" 22lr upper on one.

If you have a long enough MLOK rail to mount the front lug it should work.
Don't think it will clear a standard clamp tab style handguard, though

No shipping notification for my JAKL kit preorder yet. Still undecided what optic/light setup I'll go with, but I figure I need to have it in hand to see where my hands/cheek weld sit.

it’s an 11.25 upper. I chopped the handguard to 8.65” and modified two 9.5” Griffin HEDP barrels to fit the FM15. Both the 5.56 and the 300blk.

I think I’m going to try and get a 6” or so 7.62x39 upper running and form one a 3.5”x1.3” supressor/flash can to live on it for sub 19” pdw.

Compared to a 4.5” pistol and a 11.25” SBR

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Lol that's awesome. And horrible.  At the same time.

Makes me want to put mine together even though I really don't have the time to be playing around with it.

I'd order one right now if I could find an FM-15 upper that was 12.5" or larger with an adjustable gas block but those don't appear to exist or be in stock anywhere that I can find.   The shorter ones look sick and my main AR is an 11.5" barrel but not sure I want to go that short in this package.

Well, they use .625 gas blocks so you could just add one on.

11.5 is the longest you can get adjustable gas. It’s what mine started out as. It would definitely more comfortable to handle than my shorty and even looks better in my opinion, but I wanted it small as possible…..and I’m thinking of going even smaller.
https://aimsurplus.com/products/foxtrot-mike-fm15-g2-115in-223556-complete-upper-receiver-w-adjustable-gas-block

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Not entirely true, Rainier has/had FM 12.5 pistols/uppers with adjustable gas block, i picked one up a while back.
They currently have the 12.5 pistol with .223 AK magwell.

I was just worried their "fail proof" double pinned gas blocks would be a huge PITA to remove but I just found a thread that said the pins came out easy so I'll probably decide on 12.5 or 13.9 and order something tonight.

Edit: so is that picture 11.5?  The picture of the three triad guns, 9", 12.5" and 16", the 12.5" looks the same length as the one above which I thought was 11.5". The picture above is probably the shortest I'd want to go

I believe 4.5 MLOK slots on the side = 11.5"
5 full slots = 12.5"
Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Hmm, odd they don’t offer it separately. Though I have noticed not everything they sell is listed in their site. I wonder if they do requests by distributors or something? Kinda like how I’ve only ever seen and 11.25 on AIM. I was not planning on buying an entire gun to get an upper, but looks like i might do just that!

Rainier did at one time, i have one from ~6 months ago.
FM has dealer exclusive configurations with Primary Arms, Aim and Rainier at least.

Went ahead and got everything ordered.  12.5" Upper and AGB showed up from PA.  The gas block pins did indeed come out very easy.  A Superlative clamp on gas block fits in the handguard with plenty of room.  

Still waiting on the Triad and 12.5" forend although I'm thinking I won't be able to use a vert grip with the forend cover so I may not end up using it.  I'll post pics once the chassis shows up, maybe next week.

I'm still waiting for my Triad to ship. Hopefully it shows up next week... I have all the parts waiting.

I've always been bullpup curious, and already had a FM-15 upper, so when A3 announced the pre-orders, I jumped right in back in October '23.  

Finally got mine two weeks ago (I'm 20 miles from A3, so it was next-day).  So far impressed with it.  Assembly went well using a PSA Stealth lower (lotta screws, don't spare the Loctite!).  My only serious complaints are that the design doesn't have any way to run a right side bolt hold open so malf clearance is a bit of a juggling act, and their (optional) carrying handle/rail is a cheese-grater.  Trigger is excellent, overall build quality is solid.

Running it with a Mike-15 13.9" with P&W SOLGW Nox (16.4" barrel length).  With that setup, it's 25" OAL with the thin buttpad, but over 26" with the thick buttpad.  Running an SBR lower (another PSA scavenged from a 12.5" build) because the LOP and chin/cheek weld with the thick butt is not great for me.  If I knew I was going to be building a Triad back when I got the FM15 in 2022, would have opted for the 16" version, would appreciate the extra rail space and no need to SBR.


Thin buttpad, messing around with LAM/light setup right after assembling it.


Thick buttpad, and finally found a platform where the weight of a DBAL-D2 is almost a non-issue, thanks to the rear weight bias of the Triad.



And here it is in what I reckon is the final config, with a B5 grip, updated FM Paratrooper handle, NGAL clone, home-printed Lightcap clone, switch layout improved, ESD sling, Slate Black and Magpul rail covers, thin buttpad.  Might still change the safety selector to a 45 degree Talon, it's a bit obtrusive with the supplied levers on the strong side and at 90 degrees.







I should mention that the 13.9" upper had something north of 500 rounds through it on standard lowers before building the Triad, so I wasn't expecting any issues at the range, and that was indeed the case.  The Mike-15 is a surprisingly soft shooter thanks to the tiny bolt and it's gassed well for unsuppressed use.  So while the gas ain't horrible, there's more in your face with the Triad just due to the geometry changes, and it'll smoke you out with a conventional can.  Should be a non-issue on a BRN-180 or JAKL piston setup.

The package is easy to control, transitions are markedly easier/faster, reloads a bit slower but should improve with practice, and while I bitched about not having a right side BHO, I haven't have any feed issues (so far) that required it, but showing clear is still a juggling act.

Though it's a bit overpriced, their carrying handle rail is almost a must-have.  I tried running the Triad without it with a Unity FAST 2.26" and FTC magnifier, it's still a too low.  That's a lower 1/3rd on the SIG Romeo4 and it's just about the right height for a good heads-up chin weld for me mounted to the A3 rail.  Another major improvement if you're running the FM15 is their newest Paratrooper charging handle, loads better than the stock charging handle, more leverage, more comfortable, gets out of the way.

Just got mine assembled with a 10.5" JAKL upper. Some observations:

The worst part of assembly was getting the OEM handguard off of the JAKL upper. The rear two screws came out fine, but the heads on both of the front screws stripped out hard. Presumably due to thick loctite application from the factory. Had to drill them out in order to get that handguard off. Luckily the local Ace had compatible screws that I was able to replace them with. (8/32 thread machine screws, shortest ones they had, if anyone else runs into this.)

The butt pad shipped with the rubber pad on the wrong side, so I ended up putting that together wrong, with a gap between it and the receiver the first time around. Figured it out later though.

Test fitted a Romeo 4T in a 1.93" mount from another gun. It put the dot about 1/4 from the top of the window when shouldering with a good cheek weld, so that's still a bit too low. Probably need a riser or a Unity mount for a good height.

Have a spare Unity riser, so I put that on for testing. It put an ACOG at the right height for a good sight picture, and the 4T in a 1.93" height just a tad too high if you have a pressed down cheek weld, so kind of like on an AR.

A3 should probably put a note in their manual to use a torch when disassembling the JAKL. PSA’s Loctite usage borders insanity and their gorillas still don’t understand torque specs, lol.