AR Sponsor
Posted: 1/24/2005 4:08:25 PM EDT
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I posted last summer about building a Fly-weight AR using Vulcan Lower and Upper Recievers. The build went great coming in at 5.25 pounds with an 551 EoTech mounted on top. When I began this build my main concerns were the carbon fiber recievers. My assumptions were that they could be the weak links in this build. I knew all of the bad press that Vulcan/Hesse has had and went into this accepting it. However after roughly 1000 rounds put through it I noticed feeding problems. Upon further examination, I noticed the barrel was loose, not much, but enough to cause concern. Once I removed the handguards the barrel moved even more. After removing the barrel from the upper it was VERY apparent what the problem was. The threads on the upper had MELTED. Here are some photos I took tonight showing the worn out threads. Keep in mind this is a carbon fiber upper that has had roughly 1000 rounds put through it. Roughly 250 of those were done at one shooting session at Gunstock this year. The upper next to it has never had a barrel mounted to it and was ordered and recieved directly from Vulcan at the same time as the other upper.   
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| thank you for the report and photos. I hope others who have the same idea get the opportunity to read and see this before they proceed. I have read on numerous occasions that even though they knew Hesse/Vulcan were not good quality, they thought their carbon recievers were ok. I was skeptical, but with a real reason. This gives more of a real reason. |
It was torqued to "hand tight" using a 12" socket wrench on the end of the barrel wrench. Basically I tightened it as tight as I thought I could get it without breaking it. The threads were not stripped when I finished assembling it. Here is the rifle just after completion: 
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