Well, you paid your dues bro. You are granted full asylum and pardon, you will now be remanded into the custody of Tom, Drew, Robocop, Edgecrusher, DNP, Unforgiven, and anybody else who wants a shot at your bank account! *slams gavel*
Is now a bad time to mention that my Dad raised 7 children to adulthood on a single income, as a postal carrier?
ROFL
No I'm not kidding about that, but I can honestly sympathize. I don't use USPS for anything other than payment packages if I can help it, 'cause I've seen their shipping centers and local branches behind the scenes, and it isn't pretty.
I've tried the hydraulic buffer as well. It introduced malfunctions into a weapon that functions perfectly absent only the hydraulic buffer. I've held onto it only because I want to test it's function with a suppressor in the system. If you really want to try one I'd gladly ship it for trial.
No offense brother, but having bought your bolt and barrel from completely different places and manufacturers, the charges for shipping and matching them aren't really undue. Fulton has no way of guaranteeing fitment and headspace with everybody who lays claim to building off a specific pattern or specification. The way I see it, they are still offering to resolve your problem even though your headspace issue isn't necessarily of their making. As a business person it would only make sense to charge a fair and appropriate fee to match another manufacturer's bolt to your barrel. You need to speak with the manufacturer of your bolt, as it is likely the responsible component. FA has an excellent reputation for the quality of their product, and it is likely that their assumptions about your issues are correct.
Wishing you luck brother, it's never fun to iron out the wrinkles, but it always feels good to resolve it and fire those first rounds through a fully functioning weapon. Keep us posted on how things work out...
...for the moment. Pretty soon we'll be helping you find the most competitive places to sell your neighbors' stuff, without their knowledge of course.... >:D
I'm becoming addicted to cheapie scopes that work surprisingly well... I've got an Osprey 10-40x52 w/ Mil-Dot on order from Georgia Optics. Stupid gun shows!
Sounds like you are pretty well on track brother, I'd have to say your only contentious point is on barrel length. After a certain barrel length, you aren't making any substantial gains in accuracy, you're just adding weight and barrel whip. In your case, 16" is plenty for what you're wanting to achieve, and the only thing that is going to hurt you with regard to accuracy is having too thin a profile. That shouldn't be a problem if you're ordering a custom barrel anyways.
EDIT: Oh, BTW, welcome to the forums! <thumbsup>
I don't have any interest in being argumentative about this, but simply put, I don't agree with you. Talk to some of the top of the line AR builders out there and they will tell you that most of the things that make a bolt gun superbly accurate also apply to ARs. I hadn't had my LR-308 for the first week before I could see the accuracy difference between off the shelf ammo and handloads. Just my .02 though brother, we all have our own point of view. :)
First of all, Rsquared, don't touch the RRA new guy just yet. Second, welcome to our forums. This place is like the Hotel California for your finances, just sayin'.
I'm a patient and determined person. Everyone on Armalite's staff will probably beg them to send me one just so I'll leave them alone. If they answer their e-mails, they're in big trouble! ;)
Hey, I'm finally building an Armalite patterned system for once, and I desperately need an adjustable gas system such as is featured on your S.S.A.S.S. system, could you help me out?