I should start by saying that I have waited several months, after having written this report,to post it.
I wanted to give PSA a n opportunity to respond to my concerns,but now it's time for an honest report of my experience.
I am not an AR expert,though I've owned an early model (Windham, Mass. Mfrg.) Bushmaster AR-15 HB Carbine purchased new,
just prior to the first "assault weapon" ban by Pres.Clinton. (I've had it quite awhile)
Never had ANY problem with it, has required no work in my years of ownership.
That said, having read many reports about building a AR-15, decided I wanted to give it a try, as a learning experience.
PSA is a popular supplier of AR-15 parts, maybe Not of high-end parts, but O.K. quality,for a entry level, budget, AR rifle.
I ordered a PSA 16" Mid-length 5.56 NATO 1:7 Stainless Freedom Rifle Kit - 43526 , & lower receiver, to assemble.
The upper receiver was already assembled, just had to assemble parts to the stripped lower receiver.
The parts fit together well, & assembly was pretty quick, with the help of a few youtube videos
Lower & upper fit together snugly..no slop. Kit included all needed parts & no special tools were needed for assembly.
After assembly was completed, everything seemed to work as it should, but trigger felt a bit heavier than I like.
Measured the trigger pull with a gauge, was > 7 #, (as high as the gauge went).
After consulting my gunsmith for his suggestion/recommendation, bought & installed a set of J&P reduced power trigger/hammer spring set.
Springs worked great, dropped pull weight down to about 3.5#, with a little extra attention to contact surfaces, trigger felt much better.
My rifle was a flattop (no sights), so I had also purchased a scope & rings to mount it to the railed flattop.
(Amazon Prime is my friend) soon had a mount & Bushnell 3-9 X 40 scope mounted & ready for sight-in.
Waited for warmer weather to try it out, unusual Feb.warm spell had me @ the outdoor range, the first week in Feb..hey, it was mid 50's!
First 37 rnds fired & ejected without incident..then, (as I was fine tuning scope adjustment) had a "click", instead of a "bang".. misfire.
This was followed by extra effort required to eject the chambered round. After the next 3 rds did exactly the same thing, called it a day.
Examining the misfires, light strikes on the primers were noted. Firing pin wasn't broken, took home to give a thorough cleaning & visual exam of all parts.
Noticed a few tiny bits of brass, & powder/carbon residue, cleaned off easily. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.
Spoke with gunsmith & he gave me a few suggestions to follow up on next range visit, should problem reappear.
After a thorough cleaning of barrel ,bolt carrier, receiver & chamber..a few days later, we returned to the range.
Tried the 4 rounds that had misfired last outing, & all 4 rounds chambered, fired,& ejected without incident.
Made it to about 25 rds fired, & then misfires/light strikes returned.
Difficulty extracting misfires also present.
Decided to take it to gunsmith to have him take a closer look.
Checking with a chamber gauge, chamber dimensions checked out fine.
Upon further visual examination, he suggested that sometimes chambers may be a little rough,
& the "fix" was to polish the chamber. How ?
The process he uses to polish the chamber was explained to me.
I thanked him, & took a piece of scotch brite material he offered, saying it's what he used.
As I thought about this situation, decided I should first contact PSA & see what they have to say.
Sent a very detailed e-mail, describing what I'd experienced & waited for a response.
Waited & waited. A month passed. Resent email. Waited another month. Still no response to my email(s) sent to PSA.
Following the instructions I'd been given, I sourced a section of wood dowel,& cut a slot across the end.
Next, I cut a small piece of scotch brite material & inserted it in slot @ end of dowel.
Chucked the other end of dowel in my cordless drill.
Inserting scotch brite pad into the chamber & used rotation of dowel to polish the chamber.
A fair amount of carbon came out of the chamber.
More than I would expect, considering the low number of rounds fired thru the rifle.
Repeated this process, changing scotch brite pad as it worn, (or more accurately, became clogged with carbon residue)
After finishing with my polishing, I flushed barrel & chamber by spraying with WD-40, from muzzle to chamber,
to wash out residue. Then flushed again, by spraying, from chamber to muzzle.
Repeated until all areas were clean, then followed this by cleaning with Hoppes & drying with soft patches.
Cleaned chamber & bore thoroughly, then ran a oily patch thru the bore.
Next warm day, took rifle to range & ran 100 rounds thru rifle without a hiccup..
no more misfires, no difficulty with ejection or extraction,
Rifle shoots tight groups, but only shot out to 50 YDS, @ the time, ground was wet
& a bit windy for further scope calibration.
What I learned..
Learned a bit more about how an AR -15 works, by assembling my lower receiver parts.
+ How important, & valuable, having a knowledgeable, helpful, gunsmith can be.
Finally, my thoughts on PSA.. their parts, rifle kits, & customer service.
As I assembled the kit, I was impressed by the ease of assembly & the fit of the parts supplied.
I was disappointed that the rifle didn't function reliably without having additional work needed.
I was most disappointed in PSA's lack of response to my emails.
I'd describe their customer support as totally ABSENT.
From my experience, I won't be buying any more kits from PSA..
as they have shown an unwillingness to even respond to a customer's problem.
My conclusion, I'd say they (PSA Kits) are a gamble.
If you get a good one, it may work fine. Many other purchasers report in their reviews how well they work.
Not my experience.
I choose not to deal further with a company that has disappointing customer service.
If you have ANY issues, I wouldn't hold you breath getting PSA to respond to them.