66snub
Member
I thought I would share my personal experience with a recent (and only) purchase through PSA.
On Sept 13 of this year, I bought an 18" 223 wylde upper in stainless with Magpul handguards from PSA for $279.00. I had been considering buying an upper from them for my duty/patrol rifle as I am a police officer, and wanted to upgrade my existing rifle.
I received the upper a couple weeks later, and although I knew it had a 30 day warrantee, due to my schedule (I work nights and a lot of mandatory overtime) I wasn't able to take it out and try to zero it for about 6 weeks. I attach it to a Rock River Arms A2 style lower with the match grade factory trigger and figure that, between the 223 wylde's reputation for accuracy, and the excellent Rock River trigger, I would have a highly accurate patrol rifle. Well...
Upon taking it to the range, I set up initially at 50 yards with a white target backer about 2' by 4' in size, with a standard mitary style rifle zeroing target to help me get started. My shooting buddy was on hand with a spotting scope to call my shots. My optic of choice was a Vortex Diamondback 2.5-8 power variable power scope with a Weaver one-piece SPR mount.
Upon my first group of 5 shots, my buddy asks me, "where are you aiming?" I told hem dead center. He says, "Huh. Do another group." So I do another group of 5. He Tells me that none of my 10 rounds have hit the target, or even the backer. I checked the scope and mount to confirm that it was tight, which it was. I try another two groups of 5 with the same result.
At this point, Im a little frustrated. I already know that I possess more than enough skill at the rifle, ad I am a Firearms Instructor for my department and I'm prior military, as well. I move the target up to 25 yards and begin again. I shoot 10 more groups of 5, and although I manage to get them onto the target, the smallest group I can pull in is 4". And it floats around. Sometimes they cluster to the right of where I'm aiming, sometimes its low left, sometimes its right, sometimes its directly above. I shoot better, more consisent groups at this distance with a handgun.
At this point, I am really disappointed with this upper. At first, I assume maybe the barrel nut is loose, or something else minor may be to blame. Perhaps better ammo? I decide to give the upper another chance and came back about a week later with higher quality ammo and some optimism. No change.
At this point, I am of the opinion that I simply got a bad upper and decided to send it back for a refund. I was going to return it, and attempt to purchase a different one from PSA once I discovered what I wanted. I call them several times, and eventually, I get a customer service rep to answer their phone. Upon talking with her, I tell her my issue, and she sends me the appropriate info to return it. I knew it was outside the warrantee time limit by about 2-3 weeks at this point.
Well, during the time I was trying to call PSA about my issue, I sent emails as well, trying to get someone/anyone to help me. Right after I talked to the woman over the phone, I received a response to one of my emails, telling me that, since I had applied paint (spray paint, which I completely removed) that a refund was not possible. Upon replying to the email, I asked if I could maybe get an exchange. They replied by telling me, if it isn't in exactly the same condition upon return that it was in when I received it (no paint), that I would be charged a 25 percent restocking fee.
I am very upset by now. I just paid $279 for a defective part and feel ripped off. I take the upper to my local gunsmith (who is a PSA dealer) and ask the. To please help me and contact PSA. They agree, and also told me they would check my rifle upper to try and diagnose the issue.
During the month that they had my rifle, the gunsmith took it out and shot it, confirming the horrible accuracy. He brought it back to the shop, and upon tearing it down, discovered that the inside of the bore had splits in the rifling, the barrel nut was loose to the point of being out of spec for torqing, and the upper receiver itself had corrosion where the barrel and upper meet.
He continued to call PSA on my behalf, and after speaking to multiple people at PSA, each one telling him that we're out of luck, he makes a phone call to the person highest in their food chain who would actually take his call. He told them about my issue, and their response was, "just buy another one". When he called and told me this, I was thoroughly disgusted. I felt cheated and ripped-off.
This is a cautionary tale about an unscrupulous group of people, mascarading as legitimate business people. Concerning the "company" referring to themselves as Palmetto State Armory, the phrase "Caveate Emptor", or Let The Buyer Beware absolutely applies.
On Sept 13 of this year, I bought an 18" 223 wylde upper in stainless with Magpul handguards from PSA for $279.00. I had been considering buying an upper from them for my duty/patrol rifle as I am a police officer, and wanted to upgrade my existing rifle.
I received the upper a couple weeks later, and although I knew it had a 30 day warrantee, due to my schedule (I work nights and a lot of mandatory overtime) I wasn't able to take it out and try to zero it for about 6 weeks. I attach it to a Rock River Arms A2 style lower with the match grade factory trigger and figure that, between the 223 wylde's reputation for accuracy, and the excellent Rock River trigger, I would have a highly accurate patrol rifle. Well...
Upon taking it to the range, I set up initially at 50 yards with a white target backer about 2' by 4' in size, with a standard mitary style rifle zeroing target to help me get started. My shooting buddy was on hand with a spotting scope to call my shots. My optic of choice was a Vortex Diamondback 2.5-8 power variable power scope with a Weaver one-piece SPR mount.
Upon my first group of 5 shots, my buddy asks me, "where are you aiming?" I told hem dead center. He says, "Huh. Do another group." So I do another group of 5. He Tells me that none of my 10 rounds have hit the target, or even the backer. I checked the scope and mount to confirm that it was tight, which it was. I try another two groups of 5 with the same result.
At this point, Im a little frustrated. I already know that I possess more than enough skill at the rifle, ad I am a Firearms Instructor for my department and I'm prior military, as well. I move the target up to 25 yards and begin again. I shoot 10 more groups of 5, and although I manage to get them onto the target, the smallest group I can pull in is 4". And it floats around. Sometimes they cluster to the right of where I'm aiming, sometimes its low left, sometimes its right, sometimes its directly above. I shoot better, more consisent groups at this distance with a handgun.
At this point, I am really disappointed with this upper. At first, I assume maybe the barrel nut is loose, or something else minor may be to blame. Perhaps better ammo? I decide to give the upper another chance and came back about a week later with higher quality ammo and some optimism. No change.
At this point, I am of the opinion that I simply got a bad upper and decided to send it back for a refund. I was going to return it, and attempt to purchase a different one from PSA once I discovered what I wanted. I call them several times, and eventually, I get a customer service rep to answer their phone. Upon talking with her, I tell her my issue, and she sends me the appropriate info to return it. I knew it was outside the warrantee time limit by about 2-3 weeks at this point.
Well, during the time I was trying to call PSA about my issue, I sent emails as well, trying to get someone/anyone to help me. Right after I talked to the woman over the phone, I received a response to one of my emails, telling me that, since I had applied paint (spray paint, which I completely removed) that a refund was not possible. Upon replying to the email, I asked if I could maybe get an exchange. They replied by telling me, if it isn't in exactly the same condition upon return that it was in when I received it (no paint), that I would be charged a 25 percent restocking fee.
I am very upset by now. I just paid $279 for a defective part and feel ripped off. I take the upper to my local gunsmith (who is a PSA dealer) and ask the. To please help me and contact PSA. They agree, and also told me they would check my rifle upper to try and diagnose the issue.
During the month that they had my rifle, the gunsmith took it out and shot it, confirming the horrible accuracy. He brought it back to the shop, and upon tearing it down, discovered that the inside of the bore had splits in the rifling, the barrel nut was loose to the point of being out of spec for torqing, and the upper receiver itself had corrosion where the barrel and upper meet.
He continued to call PSA on my behalf, and after speaking to multiple people at PSA, each one telling him that we're out of luck, he makes a phone call to the person highest in their food chain who would actually take his call. He told them about my issue, and their response was, "just buy another one". When he called and told me this, I was thoroughly disgusted. I felt cheated and ripped-off.
This is a cautionary tale about an unscrupulous group of people, mascarading as legitimate business people. Concerning the "company" referring to themselves as Palmetto State Armory, the phrase "Caveate Emptor", or Let The Buyer Beware absolutely applies.
