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Posted: 2/8/2007 2:48:21 AM EDT
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Are there any companies besides Z-M Weapons that make the LR-300? Does anyone have experience with the LR-300? |
What makes you say that? I have no experience with either the piston system or the LR-300 but from what I've read on either you cant say the piston system is better at funcationality. The LR-300 reduces felt recoil and is a clean running system. Again, no experience with either but my statements come from previously read threads on arfcom and the LR-300 segment that was on the Outdoors Channel. If you do a search on arfcom, in the archives, you'll find more info on the LR-300. DK ETA: My post isn't argumentative, just wanting to know how you came to your conclusion on functionality... i guess theres pros and cons to every system. |
Well, the POF setup in particular offers silicon nickel plating on the inside of their upper receiver and charging handle. Their bolt and carrier are made of 8620 steel and then chrome plated. The gas block, gas/piston tube, gas plug, and piston are also chrome plated. The barrel is chrome lined of course. All in all the inside of the POF setup is chrome lined like a '59 Cadillac, which IMHO has to be good for longevity. They advertise the setup as not needing lubrication of any kind. The upper receiver looks like this on the inside: The POF setup is reversible so if you're a die-hard direct impingement fan you can turn it into a gas trap design. Extra flexibility can't hurt, especially if it doesn't come at the cost of complexity of parts longevity, and I'm convinced that these areas are actually improved considering how beefy the whole thing is. The POF setup also uses 1/7 twist barrels, whereas the ZM uses 1/9 which is a civilian abomination IMHO. Serious work guns need 1/7 twist. I don't think that the folding stock that the ZM setup gives you is worth anything over a good collapsible stock like the Magpul CTR or M93. The standard ZM setup folds but isn't adjustable for length of pull, its basically a Galil knockoff. The optional "swiss cheese" adjustable LOP stock is priced rediculously high IMHO, on top of the $1850+ price of the gun, $340 is what ZM wants for an adjustable stock to go on it. Which begs the question, how often are you actually going to shoot the gun with the stock folded? And if I'm going to blow almost $2,000 on a piston driven AR, why does it come with a ten-round mag for pete's sake? Now I'm going to step away from objectivity and just give a general "gut" impression for which I may rightfully get flamed. But to me, the ZM setup, being older and not refined over the years, seems more "pieced together" from bits that were exotic fifteen years ago but are now pretty much off-the-shelf. The design hasn't changed since before the Brady Ban was even written up. Also, knowing that ZM isn't much more than a shell name, with Yankee Hill actually manufacturing all the parts, makes me wonder how much you're paying for the name. Are you giving $150 for the latest Nike Air basketball shoe when its made in the same factory as the $40 Payless shoe? The POF setup seems more overbuilt and beefy, and more integrated, like they took their concept and really went the extra mile, doing everything they could think of to increase longevity and reliability. It makes more sense to me as a combat weapon, whereas the ZM seems like a bit of a gunsmith's personal exercise in "how can I rework this AR so I can fit a Galil folding stock on it?" "I know, I'll put an AK47 type spring in the top of the reciever and cut the bolt carrier in half, and make the spring pull instead of push. Then I can hype to everyone that will listen that my gun kicks less because it has a spring pulling against the carrier!" Well lets consider, is that really an improvement over a spring that pushes from the buttstock in any way? It is if you're the one trying to sell it. And the ZM system still vents gases inside the reciever instead of out from under the handguard, even though its true that the gas key never fully seperates from the gas tube like it does on a standard AR. Its basically a really long gas key, not a true piston driven upper. So even with all the expense and non-standard parts, the LR-300 still shits where it eats. At least YHM's LR300 page is better looking than the ZM page. The ZM page hasn't been updated in so long it reminds me of the dark old days of 28.8 modems and Pentium 133s, even though it says it was last revised in March 2005. Ouch: www.zmweapons.com/lr-300ml.htm Better: www.yankeehillmachine.com/store/lr.html As Will Smith once famously pointed out... Old and Busted:  New Hotness: 
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