I just finised putting together his Doublestar lower with CMT LPK and a Vltor collapsible stock.  

I gotta say that his lower came out a bit better than my Stag lower with CMT LPK.  His selector engages "smartly" and firmly.  Plus, his trigger pull is pretty freaking sweet for a stock trigger.  Mine has some definite creep.  His has almost zero creep and breaks pretty freaking clean.  I guess his CMT LPK was just a bit better than the one that I got.  However, I have a Geisselle SSA combat trigger on its way.  

I used to think Doublestar lowers were crappy, but after putting his together they seem to be good to go.  And the finish appears to be teflon, I think.  Another thing about my Stag lower is that the hammer pin sticks out a tad on the right  side.  From what I heard sometimes lowers come out a bit narrower due to variances.  Or it could just be that the J-pin is off center allowing the hammer to go further to the right than it should.  The Doublestar had no such issues, though, as the hammer and trigger pins were flush with the receiver.  

This is his FIRST AR and I think I did a good job picking out parts for his first rifle.  Oh, and the upper is BCM middy with an LMT BCG and forged CH.  Not bad, eh?

Will try to post pics later

Pics:

Nice build.

That an MI rail?

I just got my BCM middy too, and am weighing my rail options.

Nice!!!  

A job well done. Looks great

you did great and yes the Double Star lowers are awesome, CMT is also my favorite LPK along with Rock River. again very nice build

Quoted: That an MI rail? I just got my BCM middy too, and am weighing my rail options.

Yes, it is an MI rail.  It's the non-free float.  And, to tell you the truth, I was very surprised by how rigid/tight  the rail was; there was very little discernable play.  I'm a big  DD and LaRue rail fan and didn't think much of the MI rail, but I had him go wtih the MI in order to keep the build within his budget.  For it's intended use as a non-FF rail, I think it was a very good buy for the price.  My previous thoughts about the MI rail have definitely changed.  The only thing is that the RAIL system is a little wider than the DD Omega rail.

ETA: We also decided on a MI rear sight and, that too, was pretty decent.  He felt that the TROY BUIS that I have was just to costly for what's essentially just a BUIS.  I can agree with that.  I used BLUE LOCTITE on the allen screw in order to make sure the BUIS stays put.  

Quoted: A job well done. Looks great

Thanks, but my buddy just called from the range and he's having some extraction issues.  From what he's saying it sounds like the rifle is not not ejecting the empty case, which is smashing into the new round, The new round is not able to go into the chamber and is being gouged  the feedramps at about the neck level of the cartridge.  I told him I'll need to go to the range with him in order to see what's going on.

The bolt is an LMT with black insert and O-ring, which is how it came from GTS.  The buffer is a carbine buffer and the action spring is whatever Vltor ships with its stock kits.  

Will update later.

Very nice

Quoted: Yes, it is an MI rail.  It's the non-free float.  And, to tell you the truth, I was very surprised by how rigid/tight  the rail was; there was very little discernable play.  I'm a big  DD and LaRue rail fan and didn't think much of the MI rail, but I had him go wtih the MI in order to keep the build within his budget.  For it's intended use as a non-FF rail, I think it was a very good buy for the price.  My previous thoughts about the MI rail have definitely changed.  The only thing is that the RAIL system is a little wider than the DD Omega rail.

Cool, thanks for the info.  Between this review, and another I just heard, I'm going with MI rail.

Was the rifle thoroughly cleaned and well lubed before the range session?  Also, what ammo was used?

Looks great! I love me some middies!

Quoted: Was the rifle thoroughly cleaned and well lubed before the range session?  Also, what ammo was used?

I cleaned and lubed the rifle prior to giving him the rifle.  I'll ask about the ammo.  I'll have WAY MORE information as soon as I shoot the rifle myself.  At this point, I'm thinking he may need an H buffer, but we'll see.  

We have similar configurations so I'm very surprised at the cycling issues.
I have 2 carbine buffered lowers and 1 H buffered lower for my Sabre upper and LMT 14.5".  I run BCM and LMT f/a bcgs and have yet to have a FTE, cycling issue, or miss-feed with any combination.  Granted, I haven't conducted a controlled study of the differences, but I haven't felt the need to yet.  I've been using reloads, Centurion from AIM, Sellier & Bellot, and Federal 55 gr.  Over 1000 round across the two uppers and nothing but smooth sailing so far.  I don't have my o-ring installed on my extractor yet.

FWIW, I have not tried wolf or other real cheap ammo in these rifles yet.

Yes, I was VERY surprised as well.  When I get a chance I'm going to do the following:

1)  Fire ONE  round to see if the bolt locks back.
2)  Then fire rounds until there's a failure to eject.
3)  If there's failure to eject I'm going to swap the LMT BCG in his middy with a KNOWN BCM BCG that is good to go.
4)  If the thing is FTE'ing then  I'm going to put his upper on a KNOWN lower and see if it could possibly be the lower I put together for him.

I have no idea what's happening at this point.  The BCG is an LMT that I bought from GTS with the BLACK INSERT and the BLACK O-ring.  

I put the lower together and the upper is a factory BCM, middy upper.  

Well, I figured out  what was wrong with my buddy's rifle:



The BCG on the left is the LMT I bought from Denny's GTS for my buddy's rifle and the one on the right is the BCM BCG from Bravo that I bought for my Operator upper build.  The LMT BCG appears to have a 6.8 SPC bolt instead of a 5.56mm bolt.  I don't know why I didn't notice this until now, but it was apparent that the LMT bolt was different as I was exchanging BCGs.  His rifle had zero issues once I put my BCM BCG in his upper.

Here's another pic:



By the way, the LMT BCG is brand new, but it got really dirty from firing SA ammo when my buddy did manage to get his upper to shoot.  My BCG is also releatively new, I just haven't got around to cleaning it.    Will be shooting Denny an e-mail about what happened, so I can get my buddy squared away.  I'm sure Denny will make it right.  



Oh, and one last thing, do other MagPul MOE users have this issue?



Damn cap keeps falling out of the grip.  If if buy a battery core will it also fall out just as easy?  I mean, the cap was just falling out repeatedly with just the recoil.  I don't see how it'll stay in there if it actually has to hold something in there.  LOL.

Magpul has admitted a batch of those MOE cores went out and offer replacements for them if you contact them.

So, it's just the cap that is messed up?  I don't have the core, my MOE grip just came with the cap.  

Just talked to Denny on the phone and got everything squared away in regards to the BCG.  This is a prime reason why I order from Denny; he's an ethical business man with fantastic customer service and won't hassle you about making a return.  My buddy has a lot of friends who are interested in putting together their first ARs and I sure as hell will be trying to steer them to Denny for parts as much as possible.  

If you're reading this Denny, thanks again.

i had minor issues with the MOE core. i heated up the "latch" thats on the core and bent it away from the core so that it catches the MOE grip better.

Looks like a nice rifle to me.  He should be pleased.

Quoted: Looks like a nice rifle to me.  He should be pleased.

Yep, he's REALLY pleased with his rifle now that we figured out what was wrong with his rifle.  He should be receiving his replacement BCG late this week.

Recieved the new BOLT and everything is good to go now.  

I received the MOE cap replacement and while the cap no longer falls out it rattles noticeably.  Which cap will fit the MOE grip securely and without a rattle?

Just wanted to give everyone an update.  We had additional functioning issues, but that was tracked back to an SS CProducts magazine he was using. The magazine would feed rounds just fine up until the last round.  For some reason the last round would just POP OUT of the magazine and cause FTFs.  Since replacing the magazine, however, she's been running like the proverbial sewing machine.  And, once again, for a stock trigger, his trigger is pretty damn sweet.  Everything came together nicely on this build.  Oh, and of course, his BCM upper is simply awesome.