Woe is me, for my A1 receiver cannot be removed.

I called Bushmaster today and they offered to not only take the barrel off, but put my new receiver on for an extra $40 or less depending on work time, as well as pay the shipping. I decided to take them up on the offer and let the "pros" handle it. Sounds like a good deal to me; best way to make sure the job gets done as well as very cost effective. It beats either buying a new upper assembly (complete, or semi-complete), having to find someone else who is experienced with stubborn Bushmasters, or trying to wing it myself even though I am just learning how all this works.

I'm wondering if they have a way of removing and replacing a "permanent" flashhider. It's not as pretty since that gunsmith got to it.

Thanks everyone for the info. I have learned a lot about my rifle from this.

The YHM receiver I have has no feed ramps built into it. It's just a hollow upper with only a forward assist and ejection port cover attached to it. The only feed ramps I see are on the Bushy barrel. The YHM upper I got is this one: http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=989015

I did do a test to see if this YHM upper fit my BM lower. It fit just fine and is even close in color.

From the looks of mine I think I'm ok. Both the barrel and new receiver seem to have M4 extensions from what my noobie self can tell.

New receiver:



Old receiver and barrel:

http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/i341/Ben861/IMG_0208.jpg

Thanks for the pics benzy2!

Thanks for bringing that up though. The more I know the better.

I finally got the gun back a couple days ago with my A3 receiver put on. They charged about $60 total, but did a good job.



But, for some reason the spring on the ejection port cover is not set right. Meaning it is not twisted for tension, just slid on. I'm not sure why they would even take it off. It's not a big deal, I can fix that myself.

They also failed to send me back the old A1 receiver. I called them today to ask them about it. The CS rep told me that they will look into it and call them back Monday. If it turns out what I say is true they will give me a new A1 receiver. I really just want my old one back so I can sell it, but if that's what they want to do.

Do companies usually keep old parts when you send something in? I thought they would assume I would want it back. Oh well the A3 is on and I'm good to go.

Until I can decide on a better optic I have a centerpoint 1x25mm $50 walmart special on it. It seems like a good red dot for the money. I really like its compact size. It has red and green as well as four different recticles including single dot, three dot, a center dot with two horizontal and one vertical bar at the bottom and a circle/cross hair with a dot in the center. I went with the tapco riser.

Tony, I didn't bother to ask CS about it because I'm almost certain they wouldn't be able to give me answer because tracking down the person who monkey'd with it would probably not be easy. What am i going to get? An apology? I still had to put it back on myself so it doesn't really matter to me.

What I did was remove the c clamp and pull the rod out the back. I did put a generous amount of rem oil on the outside of the receiver before I did this to reduce friction. I used a set of needle nose pliers with a towel over the rod. Then I torqued the spring properly, re-inserted the rod and put back that EVIL little c clamp and I now have a properly functioning ejection port cover again. I've heard this method can bend the rod, but I haven't had that happen yet. This was the second time I did it.

For God sakes Eugene Stoner, why a teeny, tiny C Clamp?!! At one point that thing jumped away from me like a tiny flee. Luckily I found it on the ground after 5 min of searching and put it back in its place using tweezers and a small flat head screwdriver to push it on.