Makasi mk15 initial overview and issues

It is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure the quality of the parts received from the vendor. Full stop. No excuse for this one. Doesn't matter if it is firearms or anything else. Imagine Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp made a public statement to blame a subcontractor for the New Glenn explosion. Everyone would have called for his firing right the way. Whoever puts all the stuff together is the prime, it is responsible for the end product.

There is a difference between saying it is not uncommon to see failure in a part made by a few vendors vs it is not the responsibility of the company that uses the parts obtained from vendors. They are not contradictory. In fact, it points to a common problem, many manufacturers do not or do not know how to ensure parts they obtain from vendors. The fact this is not an occurrence unheard of points to that there are many manufacturers or assemblers getting the same parts from the few common vendors, and it is common practice not to have procedures, or the common procedures have a detection rate not high enough, to sufficiently detect the number of defective parts they purchased.

It could be price point, it could be simply they don't have or want to allocate the resources. It can even be they just do not know it is something they need to do. There is also a dilemma between the immediately traceable cost of good and the warranty cost that may come later. What it can get away with or simply the math doesn't go far enough to even anticipate warranty cost. Sometime warranty cost is a common bucket for everything and it can hide the true cost of a particular product amongst many if they choose not to track or care to look into it.
 
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Ryuflatron,

You did not hurt my feelings whatsoever. For my part, I apologize for the manner in which I addressed you. Should we interact again I will ensure to quote your comments appropriate to the conversation.

In the case of the Trigger Failure, a broken or out of specification Disconnector is almost certainly the culprit. That defective AR15 Trigger component is undoubtedly a sub-contracted item that lacking an external irregularity, was beyond Brigade Manufacturing's reasonable control to detect. The owner now has the choice of sending the rifle for warranty repair or simply diagnosing the problem and replacing a $12 part. I know which route I'd go, regardless of it ultimateĺy being Brigade's responsibility. But certainly YMMV....
 
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My IWI Carmel break-in consisted of loading the mag and sending each subsequent round down range with authority - the correct number of malfunctions is, and has been, zero.

That being said I’m on an order for the Makasi.

I can name dozens of rifles within my collection that required no appreciable break-in. However, given the limited choices at present for range rifles that can legally be transported and discharged, I will still take the Makasi over the Carmel every time.

It's not just aesthetics that sway my decision-making. It is the all steel and aluminum construction, the extensive use of easy to diagnose AR15 components, the ready availability of critical spare parts, future upgradability, and so on. Oh yeah, weight is also a key determinant, since I plan on adding an LPVO and light.
 
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Ryuflatron,

You did not hurt my feelings whatsoever. For my part, I apologize for the manner in which I addressed you. Should we interact again I will ensure to quote your comments appropriate to the conversation.

In the case of the Trigger Failure, a broken or out of specification Disconnector is almost certainly the culprit. That defective AR15 Trigger component is undoubtedly a sub-contracted item that lacking an external irregularity, was beyond Brigade Manufacturing's reasonable control to detect. The owner now has the choice of sending the rifle for warranty repair or simply diagnosing the problem and replacing a $12 part. I know which route I'd go, regardless of it ultimateĺy being Brigade's responsibility. But certainly YMMV....
hi Bartok,

thanks for replying me.

All is good. Like I said, I may not have the same level of knowledge as you or many other people on CGN, so I’m just using what I know to contribute to the discussion. I’m here to learn.

Thank you and Greentip for sharing your knowledge. I completely understand your point about manufacturers outsourcing parts and the potential quality issues that can come with it.

In fact, some firearms in my humble collection have required a break in period or initial modifications to function properly, regardless of whether they were made by a reputable manufacturer or a smaller company, or which country they came from.

To be honest, I don’t hate the gun at all. I’ll definitely consider buying the FDE version next year when it becomes more readily available and the manufacturer has had more time to improve its QC.
 
I can name dozens of rifles within my collection that required no appreciable break-in. However, given the limited choices at present for range rifles that can legally be transported and discharged, I will still take the Makasi over the Carmel every time.

It's not just aesthetics that sway my decision-making. It is the all steel and aluminum construction, the extensive use of easy to diagnose AR15 components, the ready availability of critical spare parts, future upgradability, and so on. Oh yeah, weight is also a key determinant, since I plan on adding an LPVO and light.

Agreed. Although I like my Carmel it is very uninspiring to me. It’s rather boring for some reason.
 
Just as a point of information, my serial number is in the 400's, so if we can assume sequential serials, that's an extremely low number produced for the USA market prior to their Canada release.
 
Just as a point of information, my serial number is in the 400's, so if we can assume sequential serials, that's an extremely low number produced for the USA market prior to their Canada release.
They might mass-produce the serialized receivers first and store them until they’re needed for assembly. I doubt they follow a strict FIFO system for this type of product. Your receiver could have been manufactured three years ago but only recently assembled with newly produced parts.
 
Here's some additional early Makasi experiences from my range session.

Gun was pulled out of the box and nothing has been done to it at all prior to firing.
First 50 rounds lots of light primer strikes.
After 50 rounds most of the light primer strikes cleared up. No light primer strikes have occurred in 200 rounds when the gun has cycled itself after firing.
Light primer strikes can be induced by using the bolt release to drop the bolt or when not running the charging handle aggressively.
When very aggressively running the charging handle everything seems to be fine. And to be clear, I don't mean just pulling it back to the end of travel and letting it go, you have to be pretty rough with it.
Light primer strikes can usually be avoided by tapping the charging handle forward.

I am expecting the gun to work itself in fully fairly soon and so far see no reason to regret the purchase.
Is it not going fully in battery? By "tapping the charging handle forward", do you think this is acting like a forward assist plunger? Do your unfired cartridges seat in the chamber all the way by themselves? (Chamber throat too tight?)
 
hi Bartok,

thanks for replying me.

All is good. Like I said, I may not have the same level of knowledge as you or many other people on CGN, so I’m just using what I know to contribute to the discussion. I’m here to learn.

Thank you and Greentip for sharing your knowledge. I completely understand your point about manufacturers outsourcing parts and the potential quality issues that can come with it.

In fact, some firearms in my humble collection have required a break in period or initial modifications to function properly, regardless of whether they were made by a reputable manufacturer or a smaller company, or which country they came from.

To be honest, I don’t hate the gun at all. I’ll definitely consider buying the FDE version next year when it becomes more readily available and the manufacturer has had more time to improve its QC.
Dudes. Both of you are to be commended as you how you respectively stick handled the situation!
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Is it not going fully in battery? By "tapping the charging handle forward", do you think this is acting like a forward assist plunger? Do your unfired cartridges seat in the chamber all the way by themselves? (Chamber throat too tight?)

I do not believe there is an issue with the chamber but it does not seem to go fully into battery and I am using the handle as a forward assist. Cartridges seem to go in and extract just fine. It is my belief that something is dragging on or limiting the bolt velocity when the bolt is coming forward. That's why I need to be so aggressive when charging it. It also explains why there are no issues when the rifle cycles itself after firing due to the higher energies involved.

I am not a gunsmith and have only done 1 and a bit range sessions with it. I'm expecting another range day of mag dumps to sort things out.

Also just so people know, I used PPU 55gr and PMC X-Tac 62gr. Same results.
 
I do not believe there is an issue with the chamber but it does not seem to go fully into battery and I am using the handle as a forward assist. Cartridges seem to go in and extract just fine. It is my belief that something is dragging on or limiting the bolt velocity when the bolt is coming forward. That's why I need to be so aggressive when charging it. It also explains why there are no issues when the rifle cycles itself after firing due to the higher energies involved.

I am not a gunsmith and have only done 1 and a bit range sessions with it. I'm expecting another range day of mag dumps to sort things out.

Also just so people know, I used PPU 55gr and PMC X-Tac 62gr. Same results.
Perhaps the way the rifle is sprung is wrong? I'd imagine it's a balance between the stoutness of the recoil spring and excessively driving the bolt forward, but perhaps a spring another 5 or 10 #'s would fix it?
 
Anyone have any expirence with the trijicon ACOG?
Ive always wanted one and Bullseye had a sale so ordered one to put on the Makasi when I get it
They were made for the ARs and M16 so can’t see why it wouldn’t be a good optic for this
 
I am using the handle as a forward assist.
The charging handle interfaces with a groove in the bolt carrier. There is absolutely no way it can function as a forward assist.

When you say you have to be "aggressive" when loading it, do you mean pulling the charging handle fully to the rear and then releasing it? That's not aggressive. That's how it's supposed to be done.
 
Non reciprocating charging handle by default cannot be used as FA otherwise how could it be non-reciprocating? It can be non-reciprocating because the charging handle is disengaged from the BGC when it is pushed forward.
 
This is the reason putting dual springs into an AR receiver envelope using chopped AR BGC and gas key dimension is not an optimal way for this and therefore no one did it until BA came along. SIG MCX runs twin rods to give the springs longer travel and full length guide rods.
 
The charging handle interfaces with a groove in the bolt carrier. There is absolutely no way it can function as a forward assist.

When you say you have to be "aggressive" when loading it, do you mean pulling the charging handle fully to the rear and then releasing it? That's not aggressive. That's how it's supposed to be done.

You could be right on that with the charging handle. As mentioned, I'm not a gunsmith and haven't looked into it that deeply. What I noticed is that typically the charging handle isn't fully forward when I get light primer strikes and my impression is that pushing it forward helps. Just trying to provide the info as I see it.

Regarding the aggressiveness at charging the rifle, you are correct that pulling the charging handle to the rear and releasing is not aggressive. My earlier post tried to indicate that. I have to pull the charging handle back very quickly and release rapidly to avoid the light primer strikes. Almost like I'm trying to impart some extra momentum backwards on the bolt so it goes fully into battery.
 
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