Hi all!

I've noticed that many folks seem to put down PSA here because claims of lower quality.  While they definitely aren't 2K+ quality everything that I've purchased from them has run great and shot very well.  I can't figure it out. I've built 2 rifles with Aero lowers and PSA build kits that have flawlessly run through thousands of rounds of metal and brass cased ammo without any issue and without needing really any significant cleaning. Maybe I got lucky?

With the legal issues that we all see on the on the horizon I want to buy up a few more rifles "just in case". I can build a rifle from PSA parts for $350 and so far everything has run great. Is there a reason - other than looks - to spend more to get a good, reliable, accurate rifle?

I'm honestly asking. I own three MSR style rifles - the two PSAs and a 90's Armalite M15. They all shoot reliably and accurately.  Why spend more?

Thanks everyone!

My experience is a lack of consistency w/ quality. They have their good days, they have their bad. No longer gonna roll the dice with them (hopefully) when at times there are other options.

How many do you have??

I have about 40 of them and put together over 100.

They are just fine

I think it's quite the opposite. PSA is great as they cater to everyone's budget. If you buy a $250 rifle kit, well that's what you're gonna get lol. But if that's what you can afford them no judgement, everyone should be able to buy an AR. However, if you spring for the Premium stuff you'll get much better quality. I ordered a premium BCG yesterday for $59 shipped for a .300BO build in the future. Rumor is that they're made by FN or Toolcraft so either way it's GTG.

I had a problem once and they didn't respond to my emails and calling them the wait was 1-3 hours.

I'm aware not everyone had the same experience, and yes their prices are cheap. I do not use them because I consider it too risky. Obviously most people here like them as you can see in the threads. I wouldn't have commented on this if it wasn't a direct answer to OP's question.

Understood!  This is the sort of thing that I'm looking for - both good and bad. All opinions are welcome!

I've made several orders from them including four complete uppers and many other parts.  So far my items have met my satisfaction completely especially when considering the price paid.  One order took just over a week to ship out but all others were fulfilled timely.  I had to use customer service only one time and that was to make a change to my order immediately after placing it.  I called in and talked to a rep within a few minutes and my order was successfully changed, the parts I wanted were received properly.  So my experiences have all be positive and I will continue to use PSA when needed until my personal experience suffers.

PSA is like an LG or Samsung of firearms market.  They are building and acquiring significant manufacturing capacity as well as purchasing power in the firearms market.  The long term objectives, benefits or consequences are to be determined.

What everyone should remember is that the Japanese TVs were always better than their Korean counterparts, but the Japanese got out of a lot of consumer electronics as well as TVs.

QC can be pretty spotty on complete uppers, shipping timeframes, often selling things they don't actually have in stock yet so orders are "processing" for weeks.

Premium BCGs are tough to beat though.

I don't see all that much hate. Clearly there are some that have disdain for lower priced guns in general and PSA does produce some budget models but overall this forum recommends PSA to any and all looking at budget guns. I own a couple. I like them both. One is one of the FN barreled pistol uppers they offered recently on a home built lower. It is a good shooter with a nice barrel for a reasonable price. It is one of my HD guns. What's not to like?

I don't see how this is a technical discussion,

But for the hell of it...

I have ordered a lot from them over the last few years, I have never had a problem with any of their parts, they all fit and work as they are suppose to.

The only complaint that I have had is their shipping time was spotty a few years ago, but they have cleaned that up a lot and things get here in a timely manner now.

They are just like any other company that has good prices and is growing fast, they have had growing pains and when you order something, it seems like you are the only one having problems but in fact they have a lot of customers, they have good prices and as a company grows it does take some time to get everything running on a smoother basis.

I will continue to use them when they have parts I want, but I also use a wide variety of companies to get what I want or are in need of..

This. I have PSA lower parts kits in my got to/shtf guns and I trust them.

Except to all those who say otherwise. Good deal. Congratulations. I have 4 uppers and lowers and assorted parts. Complaints of their quality aren't all that uncommon. I haven't "assembled" 100, but I'm a phenomenal reader.

Over the years I've used PSA quite a bit without any trouble.

PSA and Primary Arms are my "go to" places

Pretty sure they are all ptac

In a industry with some of the best customer support of any industry, they are among the worst I have ever dealt with in any industry.

they had a long reputation of hiding problems by deleting any thread that mentioned a problem about them in their forum here.

they had the slowest shipping times with a several 100 page thread called "where is my stuff" in their forum.

inconsistant quality control.

they misrepresented products like selling 6061 buffer tubes as milspec.

they seem to be improving but they have a long way to go to equal others in the industry and win back my trust.

A lot of points, but without explanation.

First off, many of the complaints made about PSA products were rash. They were written by guys who created much of the problems they talked about. PSA has always been good about acknowledging issues with their products and doing their best to resolve them.

Second, poor shipping times was primarily due to the high amount of orders they were getting and they were only able to process as fast as they could with the system in place at the time. Those times have been gone for some time now. They expanded their facility and brought in more employees to handle the shipping overload. In the past few years, they have been very expedient.

Third, there has been some inconsistency in their QC, but for the most part, they put out good quality stuff. Everyone will produce lemons and they will slip out every once in a while. Only a small amount slips through PSA's hands and gets to the customer. They are very god about correcting any issue anyone may have.

Fourth, PSA's 6061 mil-spec buffer tubes are just that. They are mil-spec dimension, not mil-spec material as that would be 7075-T6 aluminum and the threading would be done differently as well. They are correct in advertising them as mil-spec buffer tubes. It is up to an individual to read and understand that they are 6061 aluminum and not 7075-T6. Most guys will never need true mil-spec buffer tubes and, for them, 6061 buffer tubes will work just fine.

Fifth, PSA has made great strides in the past few years. Are they perfect? No. Is anyone? No. PSA would not be doing the volume of business that they do if they did not have something right going on. As someone mentioned, PSA caters to all levels of people and with varying budgets. People need to understand what they are buying. They need to understand the three different levels (PTAC, Freedom, and Premium) that PSA sells. PTAC being their most affordable line which is made off-premises by Practical Tactical AR Parts.

Here is something from PSA's website back in 2014.

Columbia, S.C. (September 23, 2014)- Palmetto State Armory is very proud to announce that its partnership with Practical Tactical AR Parts has grown into an absorption of the discount firearms parts manufacturer. Over the past year PSA has developed a strong relationship with the P-Tac team and has grown to have a healthy respect of the company’s quality and price structure. The benefit of this absorption for both parties is that now P-Tac can be offered on a national stage under the Palmetto State Armory umbrella and will come with a full warranty as is offered to all customers of PSA name brand products and PSA can now offer a full line of quality parts at manufacturer pricing! CEO Jamin McCallum commented on the absorption saying “It is going to be very exciting to merge Palmetto State Armory’s creative vision with Practical Tactical’s bargain pricing on some huge projects we have coming out very soon!”

PSA does have the likes of FN and Toolcraft in their corner. These are some suppliers of their Freedom and Premium line of products.

Personally, I have been buying products and ammo from PSA for many years. I have yet to have an issue with anything from them. I have referred many a person to them over those years and there has been only one I know of that had an issue (canted FSB) and it was remedied by PSA. I use many of their individual small parts for upper and lower builds. They are a good company and when you do the volume of business they do, there is bound to be an issue every once in a while. Be careful of those complaining as many I have seen created a scene before ever contacting PSA about the issue. I have seen some guys get really nasty and hateful over an issue before ever contacting PSA about it. These forums tend to breed problems that turn molehills into mountains because the whole story and the truth of the matter is not given.

They are the wal-mart of ar15's.  Volume =/=quality.

you have a revisionist version of psa's History.

So, like eight or nine years later, they are still putting out rifles with canted front sight bases

The biggest problem with PSA, for some, is the price. High rollers can afford the most expensive products, why not buy them.

I have four with FSB's all perfect from the start.
The only problem I have with PSA is there daily e mails there going to ruin me.

PSA has had their fair share of growing pains over the years. I’m sure a number of different people had a poor experience and it stuck with them...or they are armchair operators that think you need a KAC rifle to reliably shoot 200 rounds a year. I’m a PSA fan and I’ve gotten junk from them in the past but I realize it’s a numbers game with high volume companies.

I had a nitride upper from them that kept choking (BCG would go into battery...but when I pulled the trigger, no bang. Then I had to mortar the damn thing to eject the live round). I sent it in, they had it for a few weeks, and shipped it back without a note. It still wouldn’t run. I sold the upper at a loss with full disclosure to someone who wanted to tinker with it and moved on.

They do drop the ball every once in a while...but 97 times out of 100, they go above and beyond. One of my other orders was a lower build kit that had an out of spec bolt catch. They sent me a whole new lower build kit to make up for it.

Look hard enough and you can find haters of any company.
Colt: handling marks, 90% carbine gas offerings, behind the times = crap
BCM: tooling marks on BCG, poor CS, set screw gas blocks = crap
Daniel Defense: makes a poor statement regarding 2A rights = crap
Anderson: “I know a guy, who knows a guy” = crap

If something meets your needs and your budget, go for it.
One is none and two is one. YMMV

They do have some damn fine deals......

A rather well worded post...........however, it’s all about one’s perception based upon experience.

Keep in mind, there is always someone sick of a super model’s shit.

Haven't noticed this.
I've contacted their Customer Service a couple of times. Calls took a long time, however, emails were responded to within 2-3 business days.
Their CS is extremely helpful imo.

For the money PSA can't be beat. There premium stuff is cheaper then most other companies entry level offerings and even there freedom line has been gtg for me. I seen crappy low end brands with crappy polymer and cheap parts costing come no where close to what you can build for sub $400 from PSA. PSA is not DD, BCM, or LMT but definitely not 3rd of the price bad. I remember when Romanian wasr 10s where looked upon as crap and for $250 bucks at the time those things were Rock solid and never a hiccup, now they are considered one of the better options and 3 times the price.

With all that said  build 5-6 kits up over time while cheap at 4-500 a piece shoot them every now and then and keep as an investment.

I use their lowers on almost every build. I think their lowers are great, especially when they are like $40.

I am about to get one of their .308 uppers and lowers

I bought my 1st PSA upper 7yrs ago, premium mid length. It’s still running and has been go to, 3gun, hunting and SD gun since. Only issue I’ve seen is gas blocks without index dimple or just one and the screws just tightened against Barrel. Never an issue and only found while disassembled for other work, I’ve dimpled them at the time.

I’ve since bought at least 6 uppers from basic phosphate $200 upper to premium, nary the issue. Not a fan of their cheap LPK, usually gritty trigger, their coated polished kit is pretty good though. Never an issue with any lower receiver to date(I think 6-8).

Agreed only bad thing is a non flared mag well but any Colt is the same. The finish and machining is always great. Another thing is you can buy a complete upper for 169 shipped.

I just wish PSA would offer more CL and CHF uppers like they did back in the day.

PSA is local to me.  All my lowers are PSA.  I also have a soft spot for the rollmark, it harkens back to the Charleston Battery where I spent many days as a teen with cute girls on dates.

Too many levels of quality and too many damn near exact same deals/setups/combos whatever where there is only some minute difference between them all that the buyer must hunt through the descriptions of each to decipher is the traditional problem.

Not bagging on them, they've got great CS and their ammo shipping times have improved.

Incorrect, but you knew that anyway.

Funny thread. Clicked just four shits and giggles and found a gem of a reply. $59 BCG.... salad days for sure. Get it while it lasts!!! I just did.

Oh and PSA should be well past the hate days. Great company and happy to have them serving us.

That have a special line of lowers just for us here. I got a mad dog lower and can’t wait for the Aliens one

I LOVE PSA!

I like them. They do their job.

Currently have 2 rifle uppers and 2 pistol uppers from them.

The CHF m4gery style rifle runs like a raped ape. It shoots just as good as any m4/m16 you'd pull out of a .gov armory. I think it's had a couple stoppages, but most likely ammo/mag related.

The 16" FF middy shoots softer but still eats everything. It's currently my go-to rifle. Shoots wolf gold right under 2moa, and probably 1.5moa with 69gr razorcore.

The FF pistol printed about 1" at 50 yards with wolf gold and iron sights. Again, it runs just fine. Came with a NiB BCG and trigger. A bit nicer than "milspec", but still no MBT.

And finally the CAR style pistol. Well, it was $260 and it hits beer cans at 50 yards. It doesn't jam, but it recoils like hell.

They aren't nice, they're not Noveske or LaRue rifles, they won't win any Hi-Power competitions... but they WORK, are accurate enough, and were AFFORDABLE.

What more do you want from a <$500 kit?

I honestly think you could put a PSA premium kit head to head with a government issue rifle and wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Just don't try to put it up against a DD, WOA, G, whatever brand and expect much...

People forget that even the "high dollar" guns have problems. Remember when DD had a recall because of problems with their disconnectors?

https://danieldefense.com/safety

Recently someone posted a problem (wish I could find the thread) with an upper receiver from a well known company, not PSA, where they forgot to install the forward assist.

I have bought a lot of stuff from PSA and will continue to do so. There is a difference between "cheap" and "inexpensive". I love their business model and philosophy.

PSA had some hiccups when things were blowing up for them in the Obama years. Growing too fast and playing catch up.
Slow to ship, no customer contact, QC issues.
They seem to have that all ironed out.

I’ve never had an issue. Ever. In 10 years.

Awesome deals, great service. Fast shipping.

Most of the complaints these days seem to be regarding small AR parts and occasionally canted front sight bases.  The basic plastic handguards don't get a lot of love either (bulky and seam gaps).

I also had a barreled upper receiver where I destroyed the upper receiver trying to remove the barrel.  I swear to God that barrel nut was either super-glued or cross threaded.  It was the most ridiculous thing.  I probably won't buy another barreled upper receiver from PSA.

Once upon a time there were some guys who thought they were cool because they had AR15s.
They thought their ARs made them cool.
Then PSA made affordable ARs that everyone could buy.
This made AR ownership more accessible and less exclusive.
Some people thought this was great. Those people love America and their countrymen.
But some didn’t like that AR ownership wasn’t as exclusive as before.
Those people got butthurt because they are petty losers who don’t want others to have stuff.
But everyone else lived happily ever after.

True story.

bingo

too many parts were not right, needed to go back, or required fixing on my part for me to consider them given the plethora of quality parts during today's 'salad days' environment.

I was skeptical of PSA for a long time but finally ordered one a couple of months ago. Now have four PSA rifles all bought in the last two months. Own a bunch of other brands and they all seem the same to me. *******Only thing I hate about them is they charge Georgia residents pay sales tax even though they are located in South Carolina. Please fix this PSA. Have heard there is a warehouse in Georgia or something. Sell it and buy one in SC. ********

There are lots of companies that try to charge me sales tax and we don't have any tax either, never have.

I love PSA, but they let a lot of subpar stuff out the door.

Most is good stuff, but there are a lot of issues. They always make it right though.