Recieved DSA refinished kit

[nvcdl]

Got one of the DSA re-parked kits today.
Kit came nicely packed. Old grease covered handguards packaged seperatly. Upper came assembled with new handguards installed. The finish on the upper, flashider and gas plug was nicely done however someone at DSA or UPS in transit had manged to ding the front sight wing enough to chip the finish off a bit. :(

The bore seems to have a bit of very light pitting, not quite as nice as my Tapco kits were but still excellant for a 40 year old barrel. Throat seems decent on gauge.

The bipod looks excellant, may have new parts installed as the screws look perfect and have new looking castle nuts.

The lower came assembled with new plastic pistol grip, nice looking but very cracked/ non-repairable turk home brew stock. The finsh of the lower looked OK but the selector & trigger guard was somewhat pitted
under the parkerizing and thus detract from the esthetics. Has kind of a Century look to it.

The top cover, bolt and carrier have been refinished nicely. The carry handle metal has been refinished. The old plastic was removed (not included) and the new carry handle plastic in bag with lock rings,etc. A new cocking handle plastic knob and rivet were also included.

The cocking handle assembley and joint pin were not refinished.

With 20/20 hindsight I would probably pass on the refinishing job but am satisfied with the kit I received. The new handguards are a nice addition.

[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: nvcdl ]

[Slugger]

"I would probably pass on the refinishing job"

Sounds like the wood is pretty hosed too. That's a bummer to hear. I guess the extra parts make up for some of that though. I hope my kits get here soon. I'm getting antsy. Thanks for the review.

-Slugger

[nvcdl]

I forgot to mention the butt sling swivel was refinished but is in poor shape.

If DSA had taken care to provide better small parts the refinishing option would be more worthwhile, after all if I send a kit out to be reparked I would replace the crappy parts with better quality ones.

[Levin]

Did you buy the standard kit and have it refinished, or did you pay the $20 hand select fee with any special requests? I have two HS for bore condition on the way, with lots of extra goodies. I'm about to gnaw my leg off in anticipation.

[nvcdl]

I wasn't offered a hand pick option, just ordered standard. I think the new handguards
DSA offers is worth the extra bucks. The kit was proabbly slightly worse then Tapcos
except for the bipod which was much better.

[Moose]

nvcdl are the handguards you got from DSA the plastic ones ? I understand they have improved them . The older ones were very thin and I remember reading about alot of un-happy campers. So our these close to original ?

[nvcdl]

DSA is throwing in new Austrian STG metal handguards with their kits.

[Slugger]

I don't believe DSA offered any HS because I asked about it. If there was . . . rrrrrrg.

[nvcdl]

After cleaning up all my G1 kits today and reviewing the overall condition I think I'm glad I got the one refinshed by DSA. The top end looks pretty sharp.

[usmc326]

Overall it sounds like DSA is either getting a bit careless on refinishing, or is getting low on Kits.
These are definitely a grade below their earlier refinished Kits. Some of those even had matching numbers, which
I suspect were to generate favorable reviews.
You don't expect matching numbers, but you do expect a Kit that has a crappy swivel replaced, a decent bore, and ALL metal parts refinished.
The idea of a refinished Kit is to be able to begin assembly, not to work on things DSA overlooked...quality control.
I was going to place an order tonight
for a DSA refinished Kit, to go along with my Tapco Kits, but these reviews
of recent Kits' quality has left me
wondering, as these obviously need some work before building.
I think I'll wait, to hear about the condition of more of these recent Kits. :confused:

[chinchilla]

Refinished kit I got a couple of weeks ago was pretty nice. Bore did have some very slight pitting in it though. Should shoot well nonetheless. The finish is very nice. The butt plate had been welded on both ends. Looks like a repair job. Stock was in decent shape and cleaned up nicely. Not bad for the price. Would buy again and have another on order now.

[FAL guy]

the G1 refinished kit I received was great, with the exception of the buttstock, and old handguards. It looks like some turkish gradeschooler carved it out with a butter knife, and the HGs were very dented.

All metal parts are great, bore is shiny and sharp. The trigger pull is awesome. Too bad I had already planned on using FSE H/T/S for 3 of my US parts.

Good luck
Mike

[Rifleman44]

Am really sorry to hear quality has apprently diminished. Anyone have any experience with DSA sending back a part or two for exchange with something "up to snuff"?

[WiFAL]

I ordered one last Friday with the refinish upgrade. I'm in Wisconsin so it should get here soon. I'll post what I get when it arrives.

[sparky]

Rifleman they are sending me a rear swivel out to replace a bad one. :)