ironmonster

I got a set of those and was not really excited about them. How do you like yours so far?

I looked though the pic's I have and dont have anything that really shows. I'll try and remember to snap something next time I am in the shop and have it out.

Mmm. What do you want to see? It looks just like a mag release button with no hole. Its there something specific your after?

All right man... I bought $180 bucks worth of bits. Once they show I'll let you know how they fit :))

I like to say " Veoolaa" say it like its spelled instead of correctly pronouncing it "Whalla" Of course no one but me gets it

So.... Any issues with compatibility I should know about before sending you money? I currently have 4 .308 BCG, Two from Aero Precision and two from Aims surplus (they look like they where built by the same shop)

Find a laser engraver in your area, no problem with Ti. Has to be an engraver though, the trophy shop lasers wont cut it.

Just a word, The Aero had two O rings on the extractor spring. With both in place the extractor would not open enough to chamber a round. Not sure if they put two on there so you have a spare? At any rate it dont work with both :-)

I would think a couple of options. One would be 2 sets of gas rings, extractor and ejector springs. Maybe another would be extractor, pin and a couple extractor springs and yet another everything that comes off the bolt. I personally would buy several sets of gas rings, a spare firing pin and a couple complete sets of everything that comes off the bolt. You could even do a BCG kit with a cotter key, cam pin and firing pin. I know its probably a pain to have a bunch of options. I really dont have any idea what is going to fail on a .308 BCG. On 5.56 it seems like I have replaced several extractor pins, at least one extractor, extractor springs and enhancers and several sets of gas rings.

I just went and looked at the current price $104 is pretty reasonable given what it is. When I saw them first advertized they where more like $179

So what do you think about the fit and finish and over all construction of the thing? I have several of their standard NIB and Black Nitride BCG. I bought them because they where cheap ( I think I paid $79 for the NIB ones and $69 for the Black Nitride) I was not really overly impressed with the fit, finish and over all look of them. They all needed re-staked, show some machine marks and just dont show the quality of a high end BCG. For the price they are better than anything else at the price point, But the reduced friction offering is more in line with what a premium offering sells for. I have several of the SRC BCG, There have been a few stories of broken bolt lugs on those but so far I have had no issues, they have much of the same anti friction technology and are made out of a superior material and backed by a outstanding company. (when I ask them about the broken bolt video's they said we had a run of bad heat treat and shipped me three brand new bolts even though I had no problems or signs of breakage)

I have, I have also built lowers from several different makers and I can tell you when it comes to forged 7075 80% lowers they all seem to be about the same. The Ares have the rear take down lug area pre machined which I think makes them far easier to do and is a definite bonus

So.... The .308 is a single stack mag? So if you want to use it as a .308 your stuck with proprietary low capacity expensive mags and if you want to use it as a 5.56 you have a obnoxious, heavy, bulky oversize gun. Whats not to love! I am always looking for impractical new products to make my life more difficult.

Mine was super tough to get to snap closed too but it seemed to work in pretty quick. For a while I did not think it was going to close at all, but now it seems to snap closed pretty easy. I would just give it a bit before you break out the dremel

Stainless barrels dont have to be shiny. Rainer has their stainless barrels in both bead blasted and black oxide

Its worse than that, I drive by them between home and work and they are open till 7 PM.

Auburn, Just south of Seattle.

I did not even try another bolt catch as I got the Aero with my other bits. The AR-10 mag release is only maybe 3/16 longer than the AR15 but it does make the difference. I did both the AR10 unit and a Seekins button, but I think just using a Seekins button with a standard AR15 one would work. You only need just a bit more, I had it together with just AR parts and it worked fine there was just not much of the mag release button showing.

I may be off on the prices, LWRC offers spares for there .308 bolt. A spare bolt though is $195, A extractor is $40 Firing pin is $8 Obviously if you can buy a complete BCG for $200 your not going to drop $195 on a bolt. I know there carrier is pretty fancy but I have not pulled a bolt to see how they compare ( I dont know if Rainer would appreciate that kind of fondling, I am in love with the LWRC REPR they have on display but its like $3400 so its kind of a love/hate relationship. I still pick it up every time I stop in :)) )

when you have them side by side its clear they have a different coating. I have two Aero's and two AIM's and when you throw them all out on the table its easy to pick out which are which. But yeah, I think its pretty safe to say that the major parts are made by the same shop. Which there is nothing wrong with, They both are good looking and well made.

I think the interest is there, Marketing them I think will be the challenge. If you can get the spares/parts in front of the right folks they will sell. If you could get your retailers to even offer the basic parts I think that would be a winner. Spare bolts would sell along with extractors, firing pins, gas rings, ejectors, springs and pins. Just offering a spare bolt and a bolt repair kit would be huge as nobody else seems to be. The other thing is as stand alone bits the spares might not be big dollars but as a percentage of profit the spares will put more of the price in your pocket. I dont know what they cost but my guess is $15-$20 for a firing pin or extractor or $10 for a set of pins and springs would be a pretty good profit margin compared to what you get on a complete BCG

So one question I have is why is there so few selling spares parts for .308 bolts? I know I cant be the only guy around who would like to have a few extra ejectors, extractors, springs, gas rings, and pins on top of a complete spare bolt or two. I know there is some hush hush about who is making what for whom, you could get around that by simply saying our parts will work with such and such companies products I would think. I am a parts junky, I want to have on hand several of anything my rifles might consume over the entire life of the gun ( I know thats weird, but hey I want to buy your stuff too) I have probably a grand in AR spares, 4 divider boxes full of itty bits, but I also have 20 AR's, Just finished my second .308 AR and am gathering parts for my third and am kind of the local buddy build station. I actually have needed at some point or another most of what I have on hand. Anyway I think if you started offering bolts and bolt parts you could become the .308 BCG epicenter because pretty much random DPMS parts from Brownells is all there is currently and there is zero info out there about what will and wont work with others.

Agreed, There is so much speculation and third and fourth hand information floating around that its really something special to have the facts from the horses mouth so to speak.

Cool to have someone in the know! Not relevant to the last few posts but I took a few pics and compared notes on a Aero and AIM's bolt today. Here is a link

I went into Rainer Arms tonight (If I really wanted to make you guys envious I could tell you Rainer is on my way home from work, But Im not that kind of guy so I wont) Anyway I stopped in and bought a Rainer 1/11 Select 18" 416SS barrel and had them check headspace to the AIM BCG. He said it looked like they where made for each other, liked the lug contact and was as good as it gets. So bonus there. ^-^