Give me the skinny on the CSA 5.56 rifles

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kevin13

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I have been thinking of picking up one of
these rifles. Can you guys give me some input on their reliability, things I should know, possible
issues ect.Don't forget to include some good points. I'm also interested in an ar15 mag adapter do they work well?
 
I love my CSA in 5.56 (non-restricted). I got one of the very early model, which had a turned down 7.62 firing pin that snapped off after ~400 rounds. It's now replaced with the new 5.56 firing pin and it works well so far.
The best addition I did was putting a railed dust cover (from Zahal) for optic, but with the original stock it was hard to have a good cheek weld, so I opted for an AR straight stock adapter.
The original magazines are really good, very reliable but are limited to 5 rounds. Being plastic can also be a turn off for certain people, but they are great mags nonetheless. Since I have one of the very early model, I won the lottery of free machining (they don't require it anymore) and free adapter from North Sylva. The mag adapter is plastic and I read horror stories but I have no issues with mine so far. Mine doesn't like Gen2 PMAGs but Gen3 are fine. LAR-15s are fine, XCR pistols are fine. I also had feeding issues with some ASC mags that I later realized are 7.62 5 rounders and not 5.56. I tried a shell deflector (before having the railed dust cover, with a scope mounted with an AK side rail mount) and it caused a lot of FTE, so I don't recommend it.
 
I have an 11.5 inch csa vz 58 in ,223 bought it last December 2012. Has never worked properly. Have phoned and emailed to get it in for warranty repair but still no response on how to get it fixed. The warranty repair facility is overwhelmed with them in for warranty repair and wont take any more. It appears to be hit and miss. Most guys are satisfied but there are still a few lemons. I happen to have one. Hopefully you will not get one
 
I also have one of the older CSA's and ya the firing pin broke 200 rds in , got a new one from Wolverine should be in today. If you are considering this as a high round count rifle get extra pins on order asap, and keep a few in the range bag with some simple tools to swap them out if required. Takes 5 min to re install super simple design. The only other thing I have had problems with is with the Norinco 5.56 surplus some times the head gets pushed into the case when the round contacts the feed ramp, I belive that this is not a rifle issue but ammo problem and is anoying because it causes fte double feed. But with huge ejection port finger banging not a issue to clear malfunction. I do think that CSA could have made the pin diameter 10 thou bigger and have avoided all these issues. Cheers Dirtdiver1
 
I had to break mine in a little and clean em good. But I bought two and love em both!

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I have two in 5.56, one is the non restricted version, one is the 11.5". Love them both. Accurate and seemingly reliable although I have never run them in ultra harsh conditions. I think the design is a little better suited to the 7.62x39 cartridge.
 
got mine on april 4th, so far.....warped mag well adapter, broken firing pin, csa bolt catch issues, less than 200 rounds and its heading back for repairs......
 
I have an early model nr 556. I have quite a few rounds through it and no issues. The plastic mags seem to function well. the rifle does not like steel cased rounds. It will not extract. I have mounted a posp scope and a muzzle break on it and so far, so good. What is this free machining and mag well adapter you speak of? my last 2 digits are 56.
 
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