First problem: a Barnes lower receiver was tighter than it should have been on many receivers, and did not fit a BCM upper without hammering to install/uninstall. The upper fits on at least 9 lowers that I tried including various brand name and cheap lower receivers, with just a thumb press to install or uninstall. BCM is in spec. The Barnes lower required a hammer and punch to remove from the upper. This is unacceptable. The Barnes was tight on other uppers as well, though not as bad.
Second problem: this particular lower was one of a couple with consecutive serial numbers purchased by a family member and later given to me. Their receiver is also too tight on some uppers, although maybe not quite to the point of needing kinetic maintenance for disassembly. We tested uppers and lowers together for a while. Probably not a coincidence, whatever tooling was out of alignment or worn out that day messed up both lowers.
Third problem: in the complete Barnes rifle I own, the safety has always been very tight and gritty, and doesn't have that snapping into place feel. I thought this was caused by the trigger, but I was reconfiguring ARs, swapped a different trigger in, and still had the problem. The cut for the safety detent is incredibly shallow compared to a PSA safety that works fine. See pictures below. In the barnessafety2 picture the Barnes is on top, in the psasafety2 the PSA is on top. The depth and profile of the detent track is totally different. The stiffness in the Barnes lower it came in was ridiculous.
Fourth problem: I called Barnes and spoke to Andrew Barnes about the lower. He was quite rude. He first told me that since the Barnes could be installed on at least one other upper, the BCM upper must be out of spec, and then told me that the BCM upper was at the far end of the tolerance and that the "fit" was acceptable, despite all other lowers fitting it normally. You can't gaslight me into thinking hammering a lower off is normal. I've owned far too many nice ARs for that.
Fifth problem: in my complete factory Barnes rifle, the buffer can contact and be damaged by the buffer detent, picture attached below. This shouldn't happen. It's not important enough for me to see whether the BCG, upper, or lower is out of spec.
I'm done with Barnes. Too bad, I liked the rails.
Most of my possessions function properly. My car AC doesn't work because it had an encounter with a tree, and I never fixed the AC afterwards when I replaced everything else. Not the car's fault. No vehicle I've had has ever stranded me or needed a major drivetrain repair. My other modern centerfire rifles and handguns have been mostly excellent. I've had exactly zero appliances need replacement(some maintenance required) since I bought a house. My iPhone is unusual, something is wrong with it. I don't cause spontaneous malfunctions in everything I touch. Remember, I've shot your guns : )
The more you use your equipment, the more likely you are to find issues. I've started using this rifle for matches, and reconfiguring everything because I now have SBRs, and the issues became obvious. Oh well.
View attachment 570630
View attachment 570631
View attachment 570634
View attachment 570635
View attachment 570649
