Arsenal Mangled my Rifle's Front Sight

909 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by abit91, Jul 17, 2008

rocketfish

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2008

My newly purchased SLR-107FR was shooting way to the left - the widespread front sight base cant problem - so I sent the rifle in for repair at my expense. I received my rifle back from Arsenal today. When I inspected the repair job I was a bit shocked to see that they mangled the front sight tower with what must have been a wrench and then touched up the exposed metal with touch up paint.

On top of that they sent it back with an AK-74 muzzle brake installed and not the Bulgarian flashhider that it came with!

I am calling Arsenal tomorrow. This is unacceptable for a new $900 rifle.

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Jay Cunningham

· #2 · Jul 15, 2008

The brake is actually a bonus - unless you are really fond of the flash hider.

When they fixed my front sight it looked pretty much perfect. Yours looks chewed on.

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Zane Zackerly

· #3 · Jul 15, 2008

Mine had the same marks, but not as obvious.

I'd be more pissed about them keeping the flash hider, since that's what the rifle came with.

What was their explanation for that?

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Richard W.

· #4 · Jul 15, 2008

I wonder if they even took the pins out to adjust it.

Your pictures make me wonder if they didn't merely clamp the FSB in a steel-jawed vise and twist the rifle.

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Zane Zackerly

· #5 · Jul 15, 2008

Richard W. said:
I wonder if they even took the pins out to adjust it.

Your pictures make me wonder if they didn't merely clamp the FSB in a steel-jawed vise and twist the rifle.

That's a scary thought.

Since I had both an SLR107FR and an SA M7R corrected for canted sights, I'll describe my experience.

My SLR107FR came back to me with a new rear sight with red markings (the original had white markings). I also thought my front sight looked pretty straight to begin with. My final assessment was that they may not have done anything other than replace a defective rear sight. I had kind of come to believe the "clamp" marks like in the pics above were actually due to my own sight tool, and not anything Arsenal did. Rocketfish, are you sure Arsenal made the marks? I'm not doubting you...just asking in the name of objectivity.

My SA M7R, on the other hand, shows clear evidence that the front sight was moved: the pins are partially unfinished, and I remember the cant the front sight had but no longer has. It also has NO clamp marks like in the above pics.

As to "twisting"--I'll have to say I "kinda" doubt it. During the days when people were pulling the shark gill muzzle brakes off their SA M7's right and left, I remember a couple of threads where people had "ruined" their barrels by twisting the brakes as they removed them. Supposedly,these people had dismal accuracy after twisting off their shark-gill brakes. The brakes, front sight bases, gas blocks, etc., are all supposed to be a press fit, so twisting during removal might very well contort the barrel and destroy the accuracy as well.

During my conversations with Julia, she stated that the SLR107FR sight problems were an "easy" fix, whatever that means.

Just food for thought; I don't have all the answers either.

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rocketfish

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 16, 2008

Zane Zackerly said:
Rocketfish, are you sure Arsenal made the marks? I'm not doubting you...just asking in the name of objectivity.

That's a negative. No attempts at adjusting the front sight were made. The rifle was shooting about 5 feet to the left at 100 yards. This is well beyond the allowable range of adjustment for the front sight of an AK, so it's not like I bothered to try to adjust it.

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Apache

· #7 · Jul 16, 2008

I can't say what might have happened to your sight but I know the two Arsenal FSB's I've done in my home shop required a lot of heat just to get them to budge. I doubt they just through it in a vise and used a wrench but who knows, it's definately been mangled and Arsenal needs to make it right ...

I noticed on my SA M7S that when I removed the FSB the section where the barrel had been turned down wasn't concentric to the bore, the GB section though was concentric. The rifle shot/shoots fine but the sight was slightly left, not as bad as some rifles but definately left. I've since switched it to a FSB/GB combo and I sighted in and aligned it before drilling the pins so I know it's right ...

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Zane Zackerly

· #8 · Jul 16, 2008

Speaking of concentric: I wonder if they discovered the flash hider's bore was drilled off-center and substituted the brake because they didn't have another flash hider on hand?

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rocketfish

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 17, 2008

Update: I contacted Arsenal and they want me to send it back to them. They are sending me a call tag and are paying for shipping this time around. I basically told them that I don't anything that's been touched by their repair shop and have asked for a) a new rifle or b) my money back. I am concerned that, with how far off the rifle was, there is something major wrong with the rifle. I am also concerned that they did damage to the rifle when they "repaired" - it looks as though the front sight was not even removed and someone simply tried to bend the front sight straight with a wrench or vise.

I will provide an update with the outcome when all this shakes out.

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abit91

· #10 · Jul 17, 2008

That sucks. :neutral:

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