KAC Knights Armament SR-15 Mod2

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Wallace

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Trying to get more reviews on here so here was my write up about the SR-15 I got last month

I FINALLY got out to the range Friday!

I took basic plinking ammo that I could find around Cartersville readily → Remington 223, PMC Bronze 223 Rem, Monarch 223, American Eagle 223 → All 55gr FMJ to give a good idea of typical results. I could have bought Hornady Match or Black Hills to really see how accurate this thing is, but I don't have a lead sled and figured it would have been a waste with my shooting ability.

Anyways, first feedback:

Trigger/Grip: I took 3 AR's with me Friday. My Budget 20" build, my 16" PSA Premium Carbine, and the SR-15. The 20" has a GI single stage I finally got around to stoning and smoothing out, the PSA has a new G2S, and the KAC has its factory 2-stage.

Trigger: Out of all of these, I prefer the G2S of them all. A few things to note. The first stage is much nicer on the KAC vs the G2S. The second stage however seems pretty different. The G2S has a very light crisp break with no additional take up. The KAC has a pretty clean break but is noticeably heavier and actually has a bit more take up on the second stage than I like. Don't get me wrong, its a nice trigger, but I would take a G2S or SSA-E over the KAC any day of the week. Especially given the cost difference if buying separately.

Grip: Lastly, I thought I would like the simplicity of the A2 grip on the SR-15, but actually did not at all. I find it places my index finger in an awkward place on the trigger causing more of a pinch than pull of the trigger. My PSA has the MIAD with the largest backstrap, probably the best setup for my hand as I feel I can pull straight back vs pinching. Between the trigger and grip, I feel its why I got .5" tighter groups with the PSA than the SR-15 when shooting without a magnifier.

Rail: Fantastic, cant say enough good things about it! Only kind of negative I could say is that after the barrel started to get warm, I could feel it in the rail pretty quick, but the KAC panels helped Almost as insulation to it. I didn't shoot it quickly enough to build up any major heat, but I know it would definitely get alot warmer if I were to dump a few mags through it quickly (it was a public day at the range so no shots quicker than 3 seconds apart :( ).

Sights: Just nice iron sights. Nothing to write home about, just solid felling and darn near the same sight picture as the small rear A2 aperture on an A2 rifle.

Stock: LMT SOPMOD, enough said. One of my absolute favorite stocks! Super conformable and easy to get a consistent cheek weld.

Ambi-controls: Really nice feeling and well placed. Bolt catch release is easy to manipulate as well as the mag release. Will take me a while to have muscle memory to use the bolt release quickly though. I had to look a few time to make sure I wasnt going to drop the mag by accident...lol

Recoil: I was pre-spoiled by my PSA rifle from reduced recoil. The KAC mid-length gas system does make it shoot fairly soft, but I will be replacing the MD with suppressor brake/QD MD for whatever suppressor I decide to go with. It shoots smooth, but still not as smooth as my PSA rifle. My PSA rifle has a brake, so that helps it greatly for the reduces felt recoil. I feel a brake on the SR-15 would make it feel amazing vs jusy ok.

Anywho, on the the results:

Here are the first two 5 shot groups at 100 yards after I zeroed the Aimpoint and using Remington 223 55gr . This is using a 3x magnifier as well.
2-2.75" groups. I REALLY feel I could have done better, but just cant see great at 100yds even with the magnifier. This almost guarantees I will be putting the Leupold Mark AR 1-4 on this thing as I want better visibility at 100yds for this rifle.
SR-15 2shot groups with magnifier.JPG
Below is my group WITHOUT the magnifier. I just couldn't make it happen Friday. Best I could get were 5" groups. This was with 55gr PMC.

Again, my poor shooting and vision did not do any of these rifles justice. This was just my result. Yours may have been way better, then same or doubtfully worse.

SR-15 no magnifier.JPG

#AR15 #Knightsarmament #SR-15 #SR15 #Rifle #AR15review #KAC #Aimpoint #tactical
 
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Wallace

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Sadly, this rifle had tons of issues today, my bolt catch has broken. Upon looking at it, seems it was a rough piece from the factory. Didn't notice it when I was drooling all of the rifle after I picked it up from Boltcarrier. I had FTF issues like crazy today at the range and the bolt would not hold open at all but with one 20rd PMAG I was using on a rifle rest. Was very frustrated and put it up. Got home and noticed the bolt catch was broken :wacko: Ayan at Bolt Carrier called me right away and will be getting it repaired (free of charge of course).

Goes to show that ANY manufacturer can have their QC issues. I am bummed as I am not 100% confident the FTF issues are from this broken bolt catch or something else. We are going to replace the bolt catch and go from there though...

Below, you can see how porous the metal is and also how rough the piece was to start with. Crazy something this poor passed through QC, but I guess it happens.

Broken bolt catch 1 SR-15 Mod 2.JPG
 
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Wallace

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Keep us updated on the ftf issues.
Will do. The crazy part, I put the E3 bol, cam pin, and firing pin in one of my PSA premium carrier and it ran flawlessly. I will be inspecting the KAC carrier tonight to see if there is something wrong with it.
 
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Cudruln

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I was having a couple ftf out of my latest cheap build. Maybe 3 back to back and then it started running like a top again. Not really sure what the deal was.
 

Wallace

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I was having a couple ftf out of my latest cheap build. Maybe 3 back to back and then it started running like a top again. Not really sure what the deal was.
Sometimes that is just a rough action and the carrier possibly not cycling far enough to pickup the next round with a new build. I have felt quite a few builds that were really tight and gritty upon completion. Couple that with possible low pressure budget 223 commercial ammo, and I could see it happen during "break in". I have also seen gas blocks not aligned properly during install causing gas restriction and similar results. Again, it could be a variety of issues to cause FTF though.
 

Cudruln

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Well that's the thing, it was cycling the next round just not firing that round
 

Wallace

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Well that's the thing, it was cycling the next round just not firing that round
Ahhh, I would bet almost 100% the hammer spring is in backwards. Its the most common issue when I have to fix a fail to fire in a new build. I was referencing to failure to feed with my SR-15.
 

Wallace

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Ok, finally got the replacement LMT bolt catch from KAC. I swapped it out, cleaned the piss out of the carrier, bolt, gas tube, and barrel. I lubed it thoroughly and hit the range.

Obviously the bolt holds open on empty now o_o, but now it ALSO feeds without an issue. My best guess is that I just didn't have it lubed up enough. I did not have one issue with it. I tried to make it malfunction, and it just wouldn't.

Thinking back on it, I had just lubed my PSA rifle, which is probably why I had had no issues when I put the E3 bolt in it. I had the KAC carrier lubed, but apparently not enough. Nothing was obstructing the gas tube, gas key, the rings were just fine, and gas flow was just fine. I am convinced it was an under lubrication issue. Just didn't think about it at the time I had the issue.

Anyways, glad its back 100%. I do have to say the new MIM bolt catch KAC sent is not very nice part either. This new catch has similar looking poor injection defects on the opposing plunger side and I am not 100% it will last a very long time. I may just order a Battle Arms Development bolt catch and just swap this thing out BEFORE it breaks again. Very annoying getting 2 bolt catches from what should be a "high end" supplier that look like this. Who knows, it may never break there, but I don't want to risk it.

upload_2016-2-13_18-26-41.png
 

DarthVader

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Ok, finally got the replacement LMT bolt catch from KAC. I swapped it out, cleaned the piss out of the carrier, bolt, gas tube, and barrel. I lubed it thoroughly and hit the range.

Obviously the bolt holds open on empty now o_o, but now it ALSO feeds without an issue. My best guess is that I just didn't have it lubed up enough. I did not have one issue with it. I tried to make it malfunction, and it just wouldn't.

Thinking back on it, I had just lubed my PSA rifle, which is probably why I had had no issues when I put the E3 bolt in it. I had the KAC carrier lubed, but apparently not enough. Nothing was obstructing the gas tube, gas key, the rings were just fine, and gas flow was just fine. I am convinced it was an under lubrication issue. Just didn't think about it at the time I had the issue.

Anyways, glad its back 100%. I do have to say the new MIM bolt catch KAC sent is not very nice part either. This new catch has similar looking poor injection defects on the opposing plunger side and I am not 100% it will last a very long time. I may just order a Battle Arms Development bolt catch and just swap this thing out BEFORE it breaks again. Very annoying getting 2 bolt catches from what should be a "high end" supplier that look like this. Who knows, it may never break there, but I don't want to risk it.

View attachment 13220
That does look like pooh. I'm seriously considering swapping out three bolt catches for the new Forward Controls ABC/R-F. If you come to the class, you'll leave with a 20% discount code for Forward Controls!
 

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Sheesh- rough looking bolt catch. I have no problem with MIM for some parts. But it's not at all what I want to take the impact of a spring driven bolt/carrier on many, many cycles. Safety selector, probably fine. A part that routinely gets the crap beat out of it, no way.
 

Wallace

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Sheesh- rough looking bolt catch. I have no problem with MIM for some parts. But it's not at all what I want to take the impact of a spring driven bolt/carrier on many, many cycles. Safety selector, probably fine. A part that routinely gets the crap beat out of it, no way.
Well, LOTS of bolt catches are made this way. I think, I could be wrong, but most major manufacturers uses MIM for their bolt catches. I know I will need to be VERY careful never to accidentally drop the hammer on this one with the upper off, would probably break the first time it gets hit...lol
 

Wallace

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That does look like pooh. I'm seriously considering swapping out three bolt catches for the new Forward Controls ABC/R-F. If you come to the class, you'll leave with a 20% discount code for Forward Controls!

Interesting. Similar concept to the BAD catch in terms of their basic design. I like the angles they made it with, would seem like definitive difference compared to the KAC ambi-mag release . I see the FC one is forged and $6 cheaper. I wonder how much more robust these are than the normal MIM catches? Would be neat to get one and try to trash it in cheap lower (if they wanted to donate one for the cause that is) .
 

DarthVader

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Interesting. Similar concept to the BAD catch in terms of their basic design. I like the angles they made it with, would seem like definitive difference compared to the KAC ambi-mag release . I see the FC one is forged and $6 cheaper. I wonder how much more robust these are than the normal MIM catches? Would be neat to get one and try to trash it in cheap lower (if they wanted to donate one for the cause that is) .

Good luck with that, they've already had several T&E samples out there for a while. The founder of Forward Controls was also a founder of BAD, hence the similarities. The company relocated and one the owners elected to stay in CA due to other obligations. He then started FC. They're making good kit and alot of thought went into something small that we sort of take for granted.

As far as strength, who knows? The good old fashioned ones are pretty strong. One interesting note, the "lightening" cuts aren't just aesthetic. They wanted to keep the weight as close to the standard as possible, to prevent drag (think BAD lever). Just goes to show that they weren't just going for something that looks cool. The angles of the paddles were also well thought out. I really want to try one. But might as well get several to save on shipping!
 
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