It' been a 10-yr long journey with my XCR. I bought it during the Obama rush, and got one of the accursed ones. Terra replaced the extractor which fixed the feeding issues, I bought a new 1:7 light contour barrel to replace my old 1:9 heavy which mostly fixed the punctured primers (original barrel prob had a tight chamber) as well as the nose-heaviness. It would still puncture primers on some 223 loads even after Terra chamfered the firing pin hole, and it strung badly with groups about 8-12" tall by about 4" wide. But it would at least shoot mil type ammo safely if not accurately. I shot it off and on like that for about 5 more years - mostly off, since I got a SCAR-L in the meantime. A few months ago I noticed it was nearly 10 yrs since I had gotten the XCR, and I decided to give another try at solving the remaining problems, because despite its issues it is nevertheless the most amazingly ergonomic rifle I've ever used. Safety first, so I decided to try another bolt and firing pin to see if it would fix the remaining punctured primer issues, which I have long suspected were from an out of spec primer pin hole. Braving Robinsons CS, I bought a new fully dressed bolt and firing pin from Holly a few months ago. Since then I've run roughly 1000 rds of xm193, m855, hornady 75gr steel match, and privi 75gr match through it and not only does it run like the proverbial sewing machine - not a single punctured primer or jam - the new bolt has also fixed the vertical stringing, it now shoots about 3.5" x 3.5", about par for xm193 in my experience, and I can now run it on gas setting 1 instead of the setting 4 it used to require. Should have done this year ago. Finally I have the rifle I wanted in 2008. It's also great to see the massive improvement in Robinson's customer service.
Now I just need a new mlok upper and fast2 stock and I can have the rifle I want in 2018, and retire the SCAR...
Well, I was a seriously unhappy camper, and made my opinions known. First the inability to feed, which Terra diagnosed as an out-of-spec bolt that wouldn't let the extractor move, so she modified my extractor to work, then when it would feed it would lock up every shot because of the tight chamber. Pogoing the rifle after every shot does not make for a fun day at the range. So I'm pretty sure I got on Alex's sh*t list. I had to get my replacement barrel from Kermit.
Yeah, of the 5 problems my rifle had, one (stuck cases) was caused by the barrel chamber, the other four were caused by that bolt: feed/extraction issues (Terra modified the extractor to work, but it was the bolt that was out of spec), punctured primers, stringing, needing full gas to run. My suspicion is the punctured primers were caused by a too-short bolt - I put my old firing pin in the new bolt and it doesn't stick out quite so far from the face as it did with the old bolt. I suspect that the rest of the issues (stringing and excessive gas requirements) means one of the locking lugs was ever so slightly too long, so the extra friction from that lug required more gas to extract reliably, and as things heated up the off-center load from this lug would tend to tilt the bolt a bit causing stringing (as all FAL owners can attest) and would probably cause some godawful vibrational harmonics in the barrel that could account for the rest of the stringing.
Exactly how so many problems were afflicted on that poor bolt is a mystery, but it was clearly a bad day in the shop.
Glad to hear it's working like it should. I'm surprised the bolt could cause so many issues....but it's great to have your data point so that others can diagnose if they're having similar problems.
Took it out again this weekend and ran another few hundred through it. I've probably run 3000 since I got it fixed. its completely supplanted my SCAR16. The only hiccup was when I forgot to adjust the gas system when I switched from IMI to MEN (swiss), the swiss is more accurate but much less consistent ejection-wise, about 1 round in 10 needs another notch on the dial. So very pleased. I think an XCR pistol is in my future.
Once you beat the final boss, the xcr is unmatched save for accuracy.....which for the more diligent among us can be addressed but it's a time/reward kinda thing.
My guns run, shoot accurately enough...I'm happy. Glad you're in our camp now.
Got a 10" 5.56 pistol from Kermit a few weeks ago, with the tailhook brace. I've run about 500 rds through it so far without a hiccup or bobble. This new pistol is *much* more nicer than my old rifle, Robinson has really come a long way in the refinement department. I do think I prefer the old gas system though, the new system with the plunger between the dial and barrel is a bit annoying to get to, though its nice not to have to safety-wire the gas plug to a sling loop.
What was the point of the change to the bolt and carrier putting the firing pin and the buffer in the carrier? slamfires out of battery? is it worth upgrading to the new bolt & carrier scheme?
The new gas block can utilize the pluger or a bb/bearing detent along with the same spring. The bb is usually used with the tucked gas block. It's not as secure but you can move it with your fingers. If you didn't care about bumping the dial you could do the swap. If you're not shooting suppressed, I don't think there's much benefit to the new gas block.
As you mentioned about the change to the BCG, it's supposed to be "safer". If your old setup worked for you, I wouldn't make the change. RA will mill your old lower to make it compatible with the new system if you want to. Not sure what they're charging for the service and/or if they're offering a reduced rate for the new parts.
Figured I'd post a picture of the pistol I got from Kermit. 10" barrel, mini length. Love the tailhook brace. The sight is the Meprolight M21 reflex, with the triangular reticle - it's the only reflex sight I've been able to find that that doesn't seem to be affected by astigmatism. Muzzle device is the BRT "Covert Comp" linear compensator.
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