My first (and not last) Marstar order.

[Gungnir]

I recently purchased an ati sks combo from marstar and have to say i dont think I have delt with a more organized company. I actually purchased it by "accident" as i was just seeing if it would of given me a shipping quote half way through the check out process like most places and then there it was an invoice in my email. There was clearly an option to request to cancel the order ..... but i figure that involved a click of my finger and convincing the fiancee I needed another sks seemed like a good excuse to to buy a case of beer to prep for the argument and a good excuse to buy her a bottle of wine which usually lets me get away with buying another gun (and a few other things i cant post on a family forum).
Even after some confusion with my shipping addy (all on my part) they managed to get it out promptly. See turkey season is open so i wasnt gonna be at my addy, instead i was gonna stay at my parents since its on another side of the city and was closer to my hunting location so i can save an hour of driving time then flooding changed my hunting location so i stayed at my fiancee's which was another addy. So after 3 shipping addy changes, they got my package off and it was delivered in 3 business days.
My only issue with the whole process was my sks was built to solid. I went to punch out the pin for the gas tube and it didnt budge, I tried giving it a few more good whacks and again it didnt budge not even the slightest. I took it to a gun smith down the road that had more appropriate tools and again it didnt budge for him either (we were defenetly hitting the right side) im lucky enough to have a friend in a machine shop so he put it on the hydrolic press and it eventually came out.
Then something really surprising i found an envelop on my counter today addressed to me and it was from marstar. (i must of forgot to open it) and It was a copy of the guarantee. Easy to read and looked to be obviously packed in a way that it was the first thing i saw. not till like 20 min later i noticed my bill was actually printed on the back. I have never seen any company make it so easy to return something if you wanted.
Thanks Marstar, i will be a life long customer.

[Dawzz]

Bought that myself and heck yes on the gastube pin I am beating on that pin right now (had to take a break) about to just drill it out and replace it.

didn't get the envelope though

The only complaint I have is no swag like a hat etc so I could provide free advertising

[Pierre-Luc]

you have to slightly grind the pin on the "big side" ... the russians i have worked on have a tiny weld on them.

[kennymo]

The pins on both of mine were a pain in the a$$. They did come out with an appropriate amount of large hammer and cursing. Only trouble I had was they seemed to fit back in loosely after. I had to deform the end slightly so they would stay put. Didn't appear to be welded, just mauled into place by a Russian armourer.
I got the Marstar guarantee card with a $17 used Mosin part. Impressive.

[Gungnir]

lols, im not to concerned about free swag, after all im here advertising for em anyway In the instructions for the stickforce kit it says if the pin is damaged you can always use a same size finishing nail. Seems its known to get a little destroyed and often need replacing. Makes me wonder why ATI just doesn't throw a new one in the kit, they go to the trouble to throw extra other stuff in (I got extra nuts and stuff and 2 of those trigger springs)
I even thought i might of been doing something wrong so i did some googleing and found out nope its just a pita to get out, they say it just comes out but now i realize that its like that spot on the macaroni box that looks perforated and says push to open when in reality I think the perforation is just drawn on and its double enforced and coated with some form of cardboard epoxy designed to break your nails.

[Dawzz]

well i did one better I managed while whacking away at it to punch it up and into the gas tube making a nice hole
so just ordered a replacement from marstar just a few minutes ago after phoning in and talking with them

I just ordered the ncstar gas tube replacement so I do not have to mess with it again since I do not have the right work area to be doing this

As far as swag goes I am ALL about the swag and advertising for fav merchants in the community.
They are excellent to talk to on the phone that is for sure. edwin(?) I think it was checked and enabled stock in the cart for me while on the phone.