Brief Can-am socom 18 review

oh there was certainly debris in the threads, they didn't even bother to wipe them off before jamming the flash hider on and when they couldn't get it all the way on they just said screw it and shipped it out, the rear of the barrel thread must have parkerizing on it or its just thicker than the rest of the thread because there is no way i can get it any further back with arm strength so i'll just have to wait until I can access a vise.

it all just amounts to the person who made it not giving a flying ####, but I can't blame them I wouldn't either if I had to make guns for other people all day while not being allowed to have my own.
 
I took it off again, the threads look fine on the barrel and I can't really see anything wrong with the threads in the flash hider, but for some reason it just gets really tight about half way on. I can't see any obvious cross threading and if I had to take a wild guess i would say whoever tapped the flash hider did half of it and then backed out and had a second go at it because it might have been like half a degree crooked? the only other guess is that the parkerizing is making it bind up but it seems to be to hard to twist for that to be the cause.
 
cheeseburgereatin said:
I took it off again, the threads look fine on the barrel and I can't really see anything wrong with the threads in the flash hider, but for some reason it just gets really tight about half way on. I can't see any obvious cross threading and if I had to take a wild guess i would say whoever tapped the flash hider did half of it and then backed out and had a second go at it because it might have been like half a degree crooked? the only other guess is that the parkerizing is making it bind up but it seems to be to hard to twist for that to be the cause.
Click to expand...

You could always just see if canam will exchange it?
 
More i look at them and the more i think, they are just flawless, good job Canam bringing those nice rifles to us... JP.
 
My SOCOM just arrived! Woohoo!

The CanPar guy rang my dootbell a couple of hours ago with my rifle...best vacation ever!

I've been spoiled [maybe] by the first two Norinco shorties I bought. No indexing problems, good metal work and finish, gas system nice and tight, decent triggers... no issues at all that weren't fixable with a little easy tuning [plus replacing the rear sight]. The new rifle is at least as good.

If the barrel is out of index, I can't see it...the front sight is properly mounted and straight. My rapidly-aging eyes can focus on the front sight a little better than on the regular shorties, so the shorter sight radius is a win. Flash hider came off without a struggle, no tools necessary. Metalwork and finish seem quite decent. I give the rifle a thorough wipe-down and greased it ready for the range. The action feels a little gritty...I can't tell whether it's just dirty oil residue or finish roughness, but I'll put some rounds through it and then clean it thoroughly to see if it wears in a bit. One interesting item...the op rod guide that required peening and Loctite on my other shorties, in the SOCOM is solidly pinned in place. The safety works perfectly...it was hellishly hard in my other two rifles until I worked them about 500 times...and they're still pretty hard.

Possible issues: The rear sight on this one seems to work okay, but I'll be taking it to the range tomorrow to see how it works in sighting in. On earlier rifles they have a habit of wearing out quickly [so I've heard]. At least the rear sight aperture is correctly drilled on center. I have a bunch of mags for my first two rifles, and I find them hard to remove from the new one. Will the mag release loosen up? Perhaps time will tell. The plastic stocks...yeah, they seem kinda junky, but they work well enough, especially with a little dehorning and maybe some paint. Anyhow, they're easy to replace. It would have been nice if the manufacturer had upgraded the op rod spring guide to something better than the standard flat stamped guide, but oh well.

So I'm quite chuffed, as our British cousins would say. I'll add more tomorrow after I take it to the range. Barney, I'll be sending you some fired brass for a headspacing check ASAP.
 
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Took the flash hider off mine (full length) today, and it came off SUPER easy. Almost like it wasn't welded at all... Well, it took a couple whacks with a 2x4, but not nearly what I was expecting.
 
SOCOM range report

Well...it works just fine...

I put 60-70 rounds of PPU through my SOCOM rifle today. Functioning was mostly great. At about the 45 round mark I had a couple of weak ejections, but after a few shots of G96 into the op rod groove and around the bolt lugs, it continued to function fine. Guess I didn't grease it up enough. Ejection was strong in the 2o'clock direction. The flash hider works...there was lots of flame with the hider reversed, but screwed in the forward position, no flame was seen by me. My range [Shooting Edge] doesn't allow steel cored OR jacketed ammo any more, so I can't tell you about the Norinco 7.62x51, tho' doubtless it will function.

Accuracy: I was shooting at 25yd indoors and I managed some 1.5" groups, although the 1-in-5 flyer was very evident [what does that??]. I had a lot of trouble dialing in the rear sight...adjusting for windage was very difficult. I was lazy and didn't clean the oil out of it yet, so that may be an issue. It still seems pretty grind-y, so if it doesn't clean up well I'll simply replace it with a good GI rear sight. I tried to adjust for 50yd but got tired before I could get it properly on the paper. I could make excuses about various factors, but basically I shot for crap...not the rifle's fault IMO. I'll try again on the weekend.
 
I just got my Socom as well, I'm fairly pleased with the quality although it had a couple small issues; The op rod was too loose in the receiver and would try and pop out when charging it, I was lucky to still have another op rod from a m305 I USGI'd but it is quite a bit lighter; I had to file the edge of the mag release a tiny bit as the mags wouldn't release without hitting them on something solid; and the op rod guide is quite loose, but I will wait till I shoot it to see if it affects it. The good news is the bolt is well fit in the receiver, the finish is quite nice and the trigger feels nicer than my USGI'd one did.
 
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