I bought an upper from a major manufacturer just prior to the sunset of the "ban."
When I first received it I could not even get it on the paper at 25 yards.  It shot way right.
Sent it back and it was just the opposite. Point of aim was way left with no more adjustment.
Sent it back again and I was finally able to get it close to the bulls eye after nine clicks adjustment to the right since it was shooting to the left.  I had to adjust the front sight to get the elevation down.
This is an upper with a full sight radius, btw.
I got frustrated with it and put it in the safe and have not farted with it or shot it any more than 100
rounds total.  Only trying to sight it in.

Do you think this is acceptable?

Would you attempt to have the manufacturer fix this for free after sitting on this thing for close to
2 years?

i would just whack the fsb in the direction you nee it to go.


as long as it is zeroed at 50 yds it doesnt really bother me how many clicks it takes.

Quoted: Would you attempt to have the manufacturer fix this for free after sitting on this thing for close to 2 years?

Yes.  Call and talk to someone.  Find out your options.  If they get ignorant, pay to have someone else make it right and get the thing into action.

Quoted: i would just whack the fsb in the direction you nee it to go. as long as it is zeroed at 50 yds it doesnt really bother me how many clicks it takes.

Got the same problem here rear sight is way left, so how do I do this?
Barrel in vice & whack fsb to the right maybe? Thanks...

well i'd loosen the barrel nut a bit before I whacked it otherwise your gas port and FSB might misalign instead of actually turning the barrel

I'm not really into WHACKING as a form of Armory technique.

Completely unacceptible. Most cases, a canted FSB is the culprit followed by extreme variances in machining or materials. Armalite specifically stated in my manual that such occurances were normal and "cosmetic"....fuckers. Of course they would say that when they use such an ascinine method to secure the FSB. A qualified smith should be able to address this in a matter of minutes. It took my guy less than 5 minutes to fix mine, the first time..... Strangely, I have fired and examined multiple M16A2's in use by a local NG unit and several weapons had thier windage adjustments maxed out, yet they qualified perfectly.....

Quoted: Completely unacceptible. Most cases, a canted FSB is the culprit followed by extreme variances in machining or materials. Armalite specifically stated in my manual that such occurances were normal and "cosmetic"....fuckers. Of course they would say that when they use such an ascinine method to secure the FSB. A qualified smith should be able to address this in a matter of minutes. It took my guy less than 5 minutes to fix mine, the first time..... Strangely, I have fired and examined multiple M16A2's in use by a local NG unit and several weapons had thier windage adjustments maxed out, yet they qualified perfectly.....

You're not thrilled with that clamp on shit either?

This is now close to $500 in my hard earned money that I could have gone with a different company but, I felt like this was their baby.  Their intellectual property, so to speak.
So, what happens?  This upper, which should be my "go to gun" gets to sit in my safe.
In my experience, when I shoot an upper that the rear sight base is out of line by 5 or more clicks,
it just does not point right.  It takes me longer to auqire the target because it just isn't there.  I mean you get close to sight aquisition and then you have to fiddle around with the sights to get it aimed correctlly.

This is not something that I would pick to shoot a carbine course with.

Something that should be a "quality" piece of equipment turns into just another firearm part that I get to play the return to manufacturer game with again.

I most certainly am not. I have the majority of my work done by the SWAT armorer locally and he couldn't believe they were attached that way. He was convinced it was a cheap, P.O.S. rifle, until I showed him the 1200.00 price tag. He said "get a Colt". I flipped him off.

Is this a mil spec upper with a pinned front sight housing, or is it more like a NMC upper, clamped or held in position by set screws?
  If it is the latter, you can simply adjust it yourself by loosening it and tapping it left or right.  Keep in mind that you move it the opposite direction that you need the group to move, and that a very slight adjustment will cause a huge shift in where your group prints.  I recomend doing this at a range so you can test fire, and it may take quite some adjusting especially if you have set screws as the assembly may turn when you perform the final torque down.  Also strongly recomend the use of loc-tite!  

Quoted: Completely unacceptible. Most cases, a canted FSB is the culprit followed by extreme variances in machining or materials. Armalite specifically stated in my manual that such occurances were normal and "cosmetic"....fuckers. Of course they would say that when they use such an ascinine method to secure the FSB. A qualified smith should be able to address this in a matter of minutes. It took my guy less than 5 minutes to fix mine, the first time..... Strangely, I have fired and examined multiple M16A2's in use by a local NG unit and several weapons had thier windage adjustments maxed out, yet they qualified perfectly.....

  True, you can simply crank the rear windage knob as far as necessary to achieve zero, and qual no problem!  However on a windy day, if you zero has your rear sight all the way to the right you'll have little or no room remaining to click on windage in that direction.  If you simply use "Kentucky windage" you'd be fine!  But reading wind and adjusting your sights for wind is the preffered method, and is generally considered more accurate especially in rapid or sustained fire scenarios!

Sounds a lot like the much-discussed Bushmaster issue


Where's Tweak when we need him?  

Quoted: I'm not really into WHACKING as a form of Armory technique.

+1
get a bigger hammer

Quoted: I have the majority of my work done by the SWAT armorer locally.... ...He said "get a Colt".

Funny how a lot of armorers/instructors say this.  They must me part of the COLT conspiracy!