PSA Freedom Series uppers/barrels

[tiamat]

What can you guys tell me about PSA's Freedom Series of uppers/barrels?

Here's a quote from the specs of one:

"Quick Overview

16" Barrel Length
5.56 Nato Chamber
Lead Lapped & Air Gauged Barrel
1 in 7" twist
M4A1 heavy profile barrel
.750" gas block diameter
M4 Feedramps
Forged upper
T-marks

New Model! PSA is aware of the need for an accurate, dependable, option for the budget shooter. To answer that demand, we are proud to announce the Freedom Series of uppers and kits. The Freedom series upper uses 4140 chome (sic) moly steel barrels, lead-lapped and air guaged (sic) for accuracy. This allows for the performance one would expect of a premium upper at a working man's price."

What is lead lapping and air gauging, and how does it affect accuracy?

 

[ZGunner]

I'm curious about this as well.

 

[Fishbed77]

I friend of mine picked up a Freedom rifle from PSA last week. Maybe we'll get a chance to take it to the range this weekend.

My suspicion (based on other PSA products) is that it's likely of of the best (if not the best) off-the-shelf ARs you are going to find for under $600.

 

[tiamat]

Did some digging of my own, and found this info on another forum:

Lead lapping:
"Lapping is generally a hand operation. A rod with a handle at one end is inserted into the new barrel. Molten lead is then poured down the muzzle around the rod for a distance of around 4". The lead then hardens and the lead plug or lap is tapped out. The lap now has the perfect relief pattern of the interior of the bore. Lapping oil or lapping compound is placed on the plug which is then passed back and forth in the polishing process. An experienced person can readily feel any tight spots and then work to eliminate them to produce a near dimensionally perfect bore."

and as for air gauging, found this in the archives here:

Air Gauging:
"For a given bore diameter and groove count, a precision plug is
put in that has a few ten-thousandths of an inch clearance. Behind
that plug is a highly-regulated air pump. That pump pushes air into
the bore alongside the rod holding the precision plug gage. As the
air goes between each half of the plug, it escapes through the very
thin area between the plug and the bore/groove. As pressure is
regulated very precise, any increase/decrease in bore/groove diameter
is going to change the pressure between the plug halves. This change
in pressure has been calibrated to read on a gage that looks like a
thermometer to parts of thousandths of an inch in relative dimension.
The air gage reads variations about a norm which is the plug diameter."

 

[JAG05]

Hey guys, just new to the forum and came across this thread on a google search.
I just purchased a PSA 1/9 freedom with 416 stainless barrel. When I received the gun I was also curious about the barrel/upper. The upper doesn't have any markings on it, but the bolt and carrier seem to be well made. My biggest complaint is the barrel. I called and emailed PSA to ask who manufacturers the stainless barrel for their freedom line...their response was, "I apologize but that is proprietary information/we don't disclose that information." Confused and a little upset, I made a few phone calls to friends of friends and was told the barrels are blank Wilson Arms barrels that are rifled and lapped at PSA. I feel Wilson is a pretty good company so I was confused as to why the info was so hard to obtain.

As far as accuracy, I tried several different ammo types (cheap Tulammo, Winchester 55/62 grain, PMC x-tac/bronze, and american eagle. American eagle did the best....and by best I mean 2" group at 100yds. All the others were somewhere around 3-5"...didn't measure the larger groups bc I was too mad lol. I was using a 1-4x Nightforce scope (on 4x). Granted it's a $550 AR, and i dont expect to get sub moa accuracy, but in my opinion any 16" decent AR should be consistently under 2". I can shoot under 3" groups with my AK all day with a bushnell red dot. Going to have my buddy give it a shot soon and see what he can get with it. All that being said, I was able to hit steel silhouettes 9/10 times anywhere from 200-600 yds with the Nightforce bdc reticle and clover leaf groups and quarter size groups at 50yds.

 

[tiamat]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I ended up passing on the Freedom barrelled PSA and went a different direction (have yet to see if that was a good choice or not).
Hopefully you make some headway into your accuracy issues. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Fishbed77]

2 MOA sounds quite respectable for an AR firing cheap ammo.