Andrew Wyatt
Member
First, a bit of backstory. I've owned 2 mini-14s, one 180 series and one 185 series. The 180 series shot itself apart after about 200 rounds, and both rifles were 4" guns with good ammo on a good day.
Seeing as i live in california, mini-14s were pretty much it for .223 rifles that were semi and had detachable magazines untill pretty recently, when the ARES SCR came out.
TFB and several other places put out some good reviews on them, and the second gen guns have fixed the issue with 10 pound triggers, so i decided to get one of their monte carlo lowers to build a mini-14 replacement.
This post is about the lower, so i'll keep my comments limited to the performance of the lower and the ares bolt carrier.
Positives:
1. The quality of the manufacturing is very good. The lower is finely machined, and all of the lower parts fit and function just fine.
2. Low reciprocating mass. There's no buffer, and the bolt carrier is approximately half as long as a normal ar bolt carrier. This helps with felt recoil.
3. the mag well is shallower than a regular AR. this means 10 rounders stick out enough to grab easily. To quote a famous kazakh journalist, "Verra Nice."
Negatives:
1.It doesn't come with a bolt hold open. The BHO/Bolt Release is sold separately for 40 dollars, and drops into a slot in the lower.
2.The BHO is only retained by a tab that interfaces with the upper. If you take the rifle apart for transport, the BHO WILL fall out of the gun. there is no positive retaining system, like a screw, or a pin, or making the BHO a permanent part of the gun. It's 2016. if we can land privately funded reuseable rocket parts on barges in the pacific, i'm sure someone can figure out how to make a BHO stay put.
3. Low reciprocating mass. Since there's no buffer and the bolt carrier is short, chambering the first round on a 10 round magazine is a bit hit and miss, especially after you've lost the BHO because its fallen out of the gun.
3A. The hammer is thin and light, because it has to travel through the recoil spring interface strut on the way to the firing pin. this is great for locktime, but may be an issue with hard primers.
3B. The cam pin track is a little tight, and this coupled with the low reciprocating mass means that in certain situations (mostly after chambering the first round on a magazine), the bolt doesn't go all the way into battery. like all guns, there's a gap between the disconnector activation and the bolt being fully in battery, and since the hammer is very light, it doesn't have enough mass to fully close the bolt AND fire off a round. This means you need to keep the gun greased and also be diligent about making sure the bolt is in battery on the first round.
4. Not left hand friendly. the complete gun lacks a brass deflector, and according to ares, you cannot flip the safety around to work the proper way.
I have no idea why they didn't just use the SKS safety. It's perfectly fine and some of them were ambi.
5. The bolt carrier is short, so you should probably consider getting an upper with a dustcover, because the carrier leaves an 1/8" open gap in the ejection port.
6. The mag well is tight, ESPECIALLY with new magazines, and there's not a lot of flare at the bottom of the mag well. It's not too much of a problem with 10 round mags, but 30s might be harder to put in.
7. Parts support for the gun is what you can get out of ares. I have no idea how good or bad that is, but it's probably not as good as the parts support for a regular AR.
Things to be aware of:
1. Due to the buttstock configuration and trigger location, an ACR is about an inch and a half longer than an AR with the same upper
2. AR scope mounts are like the rent, they're too damn high. Leupold medium rings are about perfect. (stock comb is approx. .75 inches below top of receiver)
3. There's nowhere to put a cleaning kit.
4. re-assembly is not like a regular AR. You have to pull both pins, slide the upper on about 1/8" forward of where the pins line up, then slide the upper back against the lower. replace pins. this is so the strut lines up with the recoil spring tube. if you screw up, you have a single shot.
I'll take some pics and attach them to the next post.
Seeing as i live in california, mini-14s were pretty much it for .223 rifles that were semi and had detachable magazines untill pretty recently, when the ARES SCR came out.
TFB and several other places put out some good reviews on them, and the second gen guns have fixed the issue with 10 pound triggers, so i decided to get one of their monte carlo lowers to build a mini-14 replacement.
This post is about the lower, so i'll keep my comments limited to the performance of the lower and the ares bolt carrier.
Positives:
1. The quality of the manufacturing is very good. The lower is finely machined, and all of the lower parts fit and function just fine.
2. Low reciprocating mass. There's no buffer, and the bolt carrier is approximately half as long as a normal ar bolt carrier. This helps with felt recoil.
3. the mag well is shallower than a regular AR. this means 10 rounders stick out enough to grab easily. To quote a famous kazakh journalist, "Verra Nice."
Negatives:
1.It doesn't come with a bolt hold open. The BHO/Bolt Release is sold separately for 40 dollars, and drops into a slot in the lower.
2.The BHO is only retained by a tab that interfaces with the upper. If you take the rifle apart for transport, the BHO WILL fall out of the gun. there is no positive retaining system, like a screw, or a pin, or making the BHO a permanent part of the gun. It's 2016. if we can land privately funded reuseable rocket parts on barges in the pacific, i'm sure someone can figure out how to make a BHO stay put.
3. Low reciprocating mass. Since there's no buffer and the bolt carrier is short, chambering the first round on a 10 round magazine is a bit hit and miss, especially after you've lost the BHO because its fallen out of the gun.
3A. The hammer is thin and light, because it has to travel through the recoil spring interface strut on the way to the firing pin. this is great for locktime, but may be an issue with hard primers.
3B. The cam pin track is a little tight, and this coupled with the low reciprocating mass means that in certain situations (mostly after chambering the first round on a magazine), the bolt doesn't go all the way into battery. like all guns, there's a gap between the disconnector activation and the bolt being fully in battery, and since the hammer is very light, it doesn't have enough mass to fully close the bolt AND fire off a round. This means you need to keep the gun greased and also be diligent about making sure the bolt is in battery on the first round.
4. Not left hand friendly. the complete gun lacks a brass deflector, and according to ares, you cannot flip the safety around to work the proper way.
I have no idea why they didn't just use the SKS safety. It's perfectly fine and some of them were ambi.
5. The bolt carrier is short, so you should probably consider getting an upper with a dustcover, because the carrier leaves an 1/8" open gap in the ejection port.
6. The mag well is tight, ESPECIALLY with new magazines, and there's not a lot of flare at the bottom of the mag well. It's not too much of a problem with 10 round mags, but 30s might be harder to put in.
7. Parts support for the gun is what you can get out of ares. I have no idea how good or bad that is, but it's probably not as good as the parts support for a regular AR.
Things to be aware of:
1. Due to the buttstock configuration and trigger location, an ACR is about an inch and a half longer than an AR with the same upper
2. AR scope mounts are like the rent, they're too damn high. Leupold medium rings are about perfect. (stock comb is approx. .75 inches below top of receiver)
3. There's nowhere to put a cleaning kit.
4. re-assembly is not like a regular AR. You have to pull both pins, slide the upper on about 1/8" forward of where the pins line up, then slide the upper back against the lower. replace pins. this is so the strut lines up with the recoil spring tube. if you screw up, you have a single shot.
I'll take some pics and attach them to the next post.
