Posted: 12/10/2013 12:38:17 AM EDT
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I purchased my Troy defense carbine in September of 2012, since then I have shot 2,508 rounds through this rifle. If I were to rate this rifle on a letter scale overall I would give it a C. I apologize for the lack of pictures as I was never planning on making a review but feel like it is something I should do at this point.
Ergonomics: This rifle came to me with the Troy Stock, Axe Grip, Alpha Rail 13" with integrated front sight post, troy flash hider and troy rear sight. To be short, the only original furniture on my gun today is the Alpha Rail and the rear site. The troy butt stock was bulky, ugly, and it had a poor fit over the buffer tube which was annoying when I was shooting (this was replaced by a CTR on 10/12). The Axe grip wasn't bad at all, I would keep it on if I hadn't fallen in love with the LaRue APEG (waiting for my package from LT as I type), the texture was aggressive enough to keep your hand in place while shooting but didn't destroy your skin either. I initially was very pleased with the Troy Alpha rail, as time has past I am still a fan but I do recognize several disadvantages. First ding on the rail would be that the front sight doesn't fit all the way flush with the rest of the rail when in the down position, the spring loads it and makes it stick up about 10 degrees, not critical but annoying because I know Troy could do better and it does look a little goofy (this could just me being a douche but hey it bugs me nonetheless). A serious issue I have with this rail though is that it is near impossible to mount a 2" rail section in the middle of the rail due to the limited length of my fingers and the small size of the back piece, also I have to remove the rail from my rifle to customize it which is not preferable. They really should design a tool to help you to hold the back piece in place while mounting the rail, or adapt their design to something like the Noveske NSR. On a positive note the rail is extremely thin and lightweight which really allows you to drive the gun aggressively between targets. Also I really like how easy it is to mount the rail to the rifle, simply tightening three screws down to capture the rail against the barrel nut, I have yet to have it rotate on me (yes I run a forearm grip). The Flash Hider did nothing, it didn't reduce the flash nor help redirect the recoil impulse. I was getting fireballs with just about every shot. It has since been replaced by a SureFire. The BUIS are good products, besides what I've already mentioned about the front post, the only thing I could say about them is I would have preferred an HK style front post or at least an upgrade option to the HK front post. Accuracy: I have been pleasantly surprised with this rifle. I have recorded 1.35" group at 150 yards with this rifle using Hornady Steel Match 75 grain BTHP. With XM193 I am printing around 2" at 100 yards. Most of my shooting has been at targets at 25 yards, in which this rifle exceled at. I occasionally bring this rifle out to the 350 yard range and bang on some metal torso targets with both XM193 and Steel Match 75gr BTHP with ease. This rifle is easily a 2MOA with military surplus, and MOA with match ammo. Reliability and Production Quality: This gun has let me down in this area, it was assembled poorly. I had my dust cover fly off on my first outing because the assembler forgot the c clip on the dustcover rod, I contacted troy and they shipped me a c clip the same day and it was at more door the following day (needless to say I was impressed with their customer service). At around the 800 round mark my barrel actually began to rotate and shift, dramatically. I could literally move my barrel from one edge of my rail to the other. I didn't want to send my gun in through the mail so I didn't even bother calling Troy, I disassembled my rifle as much as I could and completely reassembled it. Ever since, I have had no issues relating to assembly quality. This gun hates steel case ammunition, FTF and Double Feeds are the main culprits with tula and wolf, I fired roughly 50 rounds each with very little success. I have had no issues however running the lacker coated Hornady steel cased ammo, and highly recommend it. Brass ammo has fed perfectly with only one FTE at around the 50 round mark which I would contribute to a break in period. Fire controls: The trigger is weird, it feels like a two stage but it is a single stage. It has a pretty significant creep that gets tripped around the 2lb mark and then the trigger pulls through at 3-3.5lbs. Overall it is very smooth, but its definitely unique as I've never had a single stage trigger constantly pull like a two stage with every shot. The safety and other controls are good to go with no significant remarks to mention. Like I said I give this rifle a C, I would have given it a B had it not been for the assembly issues. I do strongly believe this specific gun was a lemon and would urge others to consider it a very decent gun, but I must consider my experiences and I recommend you purchase with caution. The funny thing is, this gun was one from the initial runs and is considered a limited addition... with the rifle came a certificate of authenticity that also stated that this rifle had been specifically inspected by Mr. Stephen Troy himself. I imagine that he didn't thoroughly inspect it (if he actually did at all), but still QC was absent.  </a>" />
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