PSA Freedom Rifle Passes AKOU 5,000 Round Torture Test

Impressive - first AR to pass his test, and the most inexpensive PSA line to boot. The rifle looks stock except for the pistol grip and muzzle break (Smith Vortex?). He does recommend one of PSA's better barrels if you want better than the 3 MOA accuracy he got. IMO if you are looking for a budget SHTF rifle this would qualify.


I really like his no nonsense style.

I like PSA, but they have had issues in the past where things are not assembled to spec - looks like this may be resolved. Personally, I'd inspect the gas key staking, and probably re-torque the barrel and castle nuts if I got one just to make sure, but I do that with all rifles I don't build myself.

Note that a recent much higher end Daniel Defense rifle failed at ~2500 rounds:


The Colt LE6920 is next in queue and I'm looking forward to the results. My expectation is that it will pass, but you don't know until you ask the rifle...

 

I have a Colt LE6920 but haven't put even 2000 rounds through it yet so I can't say. But, so far, so good. I probably got 1000-1200 rounds through it and haven't had any misfires or problems of any kind.

But, what would you think of a rifle that has had 40,000 rounds through it, never cleaned, never oiled and just had it's first failure which a drop of oiled cured and it continued to fire? I know the owner of the gun store/range and his crew that has been doing this test so I know it's not tripe. The rifle is made by Primary Weapon Systems (PWS) and they have only been in production for about 7 years right here in Idaho. It uses the long stroke piston if I remember correctly. This thing is as reliable and as easy to maintain as the old AK-47 but way better. I am currently in the process of justifying this new weaponry to the Finance Minister to fulfill our future requirement for Homeland Defense...

 

For what it's worth, I have an all original STG58 (FN/FAL) to you non gun junkies, and it has over 20k rounds through it. This was before Chrome lined barrels were all the rage. She still shoots minute of bad guy out to 400 meters or so, but is going to need a new barrel real soon! There is almost no rifling left at the muzzle and the chamber is pretty loose. the rails and bolt need to be welded and recut and polished and she will be good for many thousands more! Hate the AR's but have two of them!!! LOL Many of our Issue M-16's and M-4 had 50k plus through them with out many failure's not due to ammo, and that is telling to me!

 

I definitely dig the FN/FAL! Between it and an AR-15 it would be my choice for defending my castle every day of the week and twice on Sundays! The only drawbacks are size, weight, cost and weight of ammo, and harder to find spare parts. From a functional standpoint, though, it rocks!

I went with an AR308 solution for 7.62 because mine has 85% parts compatibility with my AR-15's and has the same ergonomics and battery of arms making it easier to switch between platforms under stress. My AR308 also weighs only a few more ounces than an AR-15 and is only a half inch longer. It does not have the pedigree for reliability of the FN/FAL, but I perform my own much lighter version of the AKOU test to validate each rifle I get, new or used, and will not trust my life to it until it passes.

The AKOU test in the videos is a 5000 rounds of mixed abuse and accuracy testing to see if a given rifle is "good to go". For longevity, the reports from Battlefield Vegas have a log of good information. For those not familiar, BFV is a very busy machine gun rental range. According to them an AR receiver will last about 200,000 rounds before it needs replacement. Maintenance is the key along with understanding that AR parts are designed to be consumed and replaced. It's also interesting for comparison that an AK receiver needs to be welded at 80 - 100K rounds. BFV runs the lowly PSA alongside it's more expensive bretheren and they get effectively the same reliability and service life. That's not surprising since PSA supplies just about everything but the barrel to FN for their M4 contract, and you an get the FN barrel through PSA if you like.

Even given that the test above are single instances, I think what we may be seeing is that the rifle that stayed truest to the M4 pattern was the most reliable. I have a suspicion that the fire control group in the Daniel Defense may have been an "improved" design for better accuracy that was not up to mag dump style abuse. That's why I stick to the ALG ACT or the Giselle SSA-E - one is a polished government FCG and the other battle tested by Special Forces. If it won't go bang you might go thud...

 

I have a PSA rifle and love it. For the price and the fit (for me) and the build is great. Over the years I have also bought other things from PSA. One thing is that I hated to deal with their customer service. I tend to find other places to buy stuff from, but they do make a build an economical and well built weapon.

 

PSA's model is low overhead to sell at the lowest possible price, so customer service is pretty crappy. You need to factor that in when you purchase. Most parts I buy locally to help support a few pretty outstanding local brick and mortar stores.

BTW, another great value partswise is the Toolcraft BCG. These get issued as replacement parts by .gov and run around $100 when they are in stock: TOOLCRAFT BCG .223/5.56 BOLT CARRIER GROUP BLACK 1B1B6 C-158 MPI COMPLETE

 

PSA makes good stuff. I have used several of their lowers for builds.

I too am in love with the FN/FAL series of rifles. Like them better than either the M14 or the HK91. I own all of the above, but the FN is my Go To battle rifle. VERY dependable, adjustable gas system, easy on the brass and for me just feels better than the 91. Love the M14 but I think the FN has the edge.
As far as spare parts for them, I've just bought kits minus the receiver and put these aside for parts.

 

Like many Vietnam Vets, I had many less then favorable experiences with the M-16/M-4 series rifles. Not that there is any thing wrong with the weapons them selves, it's the tiny cartridge that leaves a LOT to be desired. In combat, we found knock down power to be less then ideal, range was limited, and wounding was more likely then a kill, Made worse with the switch to the M855 ammo which would just ice pick and leave the Tango leaking. In my mind, the bigger Battle rifles were always a better solution. Now days, I no longer carry a rifle for a living, so the AR variants do make some sence to me, as I am able to use better ammo with better knock down power, AND I can have a very small, light, and compact carbine that I would use for close to medium range work, and have the ability to do counter sniper work should I ever need to, at least until I can deploy a long range, hard hitting rifle! If I ever had to check out and boogy, I would still take my FAL first over any other rifle system!

 

PSA Palmetto State Armory has a store about an hour from me. Went to see it awhile back & well........one their Freedom Line models followed me home! Playing on their website has me thinking thoughts of an AR10 within the coming year......

 

I have no experience with PSA, how is the quality? Not looking to build any thing, but may be looking for "Up Grades" and I hear mixed things about them! Thoughts?

 

The best you are going to get from PSA is mil-spec, so when you are thinking about upgrades for an existing rifle it may not be the place. If you do buy from them avoid PTAC. PSA is just down the road from FN and is their major parts supplier for their M4 contract. The FN barrel they sell is every bit as good as the FN manufactured barrels sold by the premium outfits - even the snobs at m4carbine had to concede that point.

Where PSA may come up short on is assembly - that has been spotty in the past, but seems I don't read complaints on other forums any more often than for other AR's.

So, I think it depends on what you want to upgrade whether PSA is a good place to go.

 

I have handled some of their rifles, but do not own any. Pretty much all of my AR type weapons are my own build ups. I have really gotten into building this platform and like I said earlier, I have used several of their lowers in builds for friends. I have had no problems from any of the PSA parts I have used so far. The finish seems to be a bit better than a lot of the other stuff out there. For instance I order a lot of stuff from Daytona Tactical, and while their parts are great overall, the finish on some of the receivers I've received seems a little on the thin side for lack of a better term. This isn't a big deal to me as I usually finish the weapon with either a Duracoat or Cerakote finish. Ditto what 3M said about their barrels.

 

I had a lower around here at one time, Said something about NOBO 2012 and Hope and Change

Never give up!

 

An original STG-58? Not a demilled STG-58 parts kit built on a US receiver?
Sorry to hijack the thread guys but I just have to ask...

 

Yup, Original! Never altered! Pre Ban greatness!

 

FA?

 

Correct, Tax stamp and all!

 

Sorry if I seem skeptical... That there's a rare item, it sure is.