The BRN180.

It was most definitely a disastrous start working with this rifle. It was put together using quality parts purchased from a legitimate website, using a brownells BRN lower, and the upper comes complete.


The Owners guide says that the upper is ready to go and is operational in the condition that it is received. 


No issues with the upper, was packed well. Came without any type of muzzle device. The upper looked great.


The lower, looked a little blemish. Which is of no concern to me. It does take standard AR mags designd for the caliber rifle you will be shooting, in this case, this is a 5.56 rifle. The mag well is not that deep, it is significantly shorter than a standard AR 15 lower. Some people may like it, other may not. The mag is a little more exposed than with a standard AR lower. My opinion, it allows for the magazine to fall out a bit more freely when released. Again not that big of a deal.


The trigger guard, kinda crappy. The edges are sharp. I will probably smooth the out and pant them back up. You can't tell if you are wearing gloves, you will notice after a day of shooting with gloves.


The first real mistake I made putting this thing together is I bought a B5 pistol grip, however, it had a beaver tail. A beaver tail will not fit onto this lower. Not without a significant amount of Dremel work. I went ahead and installed a Magpul grip without a beaver tail instead.

Shooting this thing. Extremely frustrating. It ran great. Then it wouldn't. I would regularly experience stovepipes. Over. And over. And over. And over. Changed mags, changed ammo changed shooter. Stove pipe after stovepipe. 

I came to a reasonable observation, the rifle ran better with hot and heavy rounds, however, there was no guarantee it would not stove pipe. I checked the rifle, saw where it was being marred up pretty bad. Kinda a bummer, not that it marred, but that the receiver was that soft. I saw some deep grooves in the aluminum. Kinda weird. Came to the conclusion that it was the rim of the casing that was being slammed into the aluminum. I

I took my Dremel and removed some of the material that was sticking up. It was very noticable.

I took the rifle apart, I checked the gas aystem. Didn't see any issues there. I could not remove the piston for the life of me. I was looking though some forums, and it may have been intended to be that way. The gas system didn't seem to be the issue, as new rounds were found loaded. The bolt went far back enough to pick up a new round.

A budy advised that I should clean off all the packing lubricant and re-lube it. Rifle continued doing the same thing. I was soooo bummed out. I really wanted this rifle to work.

So I sent an email to Brownells customer service, and I was disappointed in that up until this day, they have not responded. 

So about 300 rounds in. About 30 stovepipes later. I re-checked the rifle. More marring from the casings. Looked at the charging handle, brass marks on the charging handle. So it was obvious, that the charging handle was striking the casings as they were ejected. 

I checked the stove pipes casings, they all had a similar marking at the neck opening. 

I checked casing that successful ejected, same marking. I checked all the casings, same marking. 100% of the casings had the same mark. 

I compared it to the shape of the charging handle where the brass markings were. It was a match. Like fitting puzzle pieces together. 

That's when I realized that the charging handle was striking the casings and they were ejected and the bolt was closing striking the casing at the neck, driving the rim of the casing into the frame here at the opening, causing that deep marring. 

So, ordered an aftermarket charging handle from A3 tactical. I have had zero malfunctions since. Nothing.

This charging handle does still hit the casings but it allows for more clearance giving the casings the opportunity to get out of the way of the action.

I think the heavier and hotter rounds also provided a bit more clearance when using the OEM charging handle, but it was not consistent enough.

The A3 allows me to shoot any ammo. Zero issues.

I love the rifle. A little more communication from Brownells would have been cool. 

At least now, I am confident that this rifle will run reliably. I hope this video helped you out a little if you have been experiencing the same thing. Or if you are looking to buy one, get the aftermarket charging handle.

I would NOT steer away from this rifle, I just want you to be prepared for when you get it.

I really appreciate you guys. Stay safe takie it easy God bless, and keep one in the chamber.

-Julian

#stayprimal #brn180 #brownells

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