I must say I am very happy my RFB is here, I have wanted one since the first time I saw pictures of them online over a year ago. I was actually very surprised the first time I picked it up and felt the weight of it. It was much heavier than I had anticipated. I have been around AR's a lot in the last 15 or so years so it is going to be a transition period I will have to get used too. I plan to start trying my hand at 3 gun and plan to use this for the rifle portions.
The overall construction is top notch. There are some welded parts that were tig welded, a bit more care in filling and sanding would have made these invisible after parkerizing, but they all appear very sound. There is a slight variance in the seams of the plastic parts which I will address this weekend before heading to the range with either a very small file or a sharp knife.
The firearm is truly an ambidextrous unit, but I would like the fire selection lever to have a more positive feel to it. It is very soft to move from fire to safe and back but I feel a firmer transition should be necessary to help reduce any accidents from occurring. Even a small detent to hold in each position would be an improvement. I am not sure if there is anything I can do for this though.
Inspecting the chamber is rather difficult with the only access is through the mag well. It will be difficult to tap/rack and inspect with the firearm upside down.
The bolt catch is going to take some time to get used to due it being so far to the rear of the firearm and I am going to have to get used to the FAL mags. Mine came with a 5 round metal DSA mag which I find a bit weird to use and properly seat. The mag itself is quite tight but I think with some light polishing will move with ease. I will definitely be getting some LAR8 mags (thermold) and/or some Metal DSA 5/20 round mags for it ASAP.
As soon as I got it home I tore it apart to really start to get a feel for it and give it a very detailed cleaning and inspection. There was a large volume of oil on the internals and I was actually surprised to find that it had not been cleaned after the test firing. There was carbon on the gas plug and ejection chute near the plug. The chamber was also a little dirty from firing. It was very strait forward to field strip and detailed strip the firearm. The manual walks you threw the process very well and contain some very high quality images. Before and after cleaning there was no rattles in the weapon at all.
I need to get a couple of snap caps to ease the springs when the action it cocked.
I already have a Burris PEPR QD mount coming as well as a cheek rest for it. I am trying to decide between a Vortex Viper 1-4x24 or Sightron 1-7x24 for the optic for it. But until I get a decent optic on it I will not post any range reports. I have a crappy Bushnell 3x9 on it for the upcoming range day just to have an idea where my rounds are going to set the gas setting and test it out. I also have an EOtech (copy) I am planning to try out and see how bad it really is. One thing I noticed after mount the EOtech (copy) was that objective height seems low for me and the base of the optic gets in the way of the cocking lever due to the wide base. I don’t really trust either of these optics that much and hence why I want to wait until I have something better to post a range report but think that the recoil of the .308 will test them.
I also plan to have the barrel threaded to add a flash hider/suppressor eventually as well and am a bit disappointed that all the RFB-C models don’t come with even a basic one.
The sling provided is nice but doesn’t fit my wants so I will be making my own 1-2 point unit, with the help of a local sewing shop. It should be very easy to do without modifying the firearm.
Now this is all just my opinion but I have been around a very large variety of black weapons in the past and fired many that would be considered prohibited here so I think I can make a fair evaluation. I may be biased due to many years of AR use and preference towards bullpups but I must admit I am very happy with the RFB so far. Once I hit the range I hope most of the early issues have been resolved and I will continue to smile if they are. I will also be smiling come hunting season when I can carry it out into the bush with me, unlike the AR’s I have used in the past.
The overall construction is top notch. There are some welded parts that were tig welded, a bit more care in filling and sanding would have made these invisible after parkerizing, but they all appear very sound. There is a slight variance in the seams of the plastic parts which I will address this weekend before heading to the range with either a very small file or a sharp knife.
The firearm is truly an ambidextrous unit, but I would like the fire selection lever to have a more positive feel to it. It is very soft to move from fire to safe and back but I feel a firmer transition should be necessary to help reduce any accidents from occurring. Even a small detent to hold in each position would be an improvement. I am not sure if there is anything I can do for this though.
Inspecting the chamber is rather difficult with the only access is through the mag well. It will be difficult to tap/rack and inspect with the firearm upside down.
The bolt catch is going to take some time to get used to due it being so far to the rear of the firearm and I am going to have to get used to the FAL mags. Mine came with a 5 round metal DSA mag which I find a bit weird to use and properly seat. The mag itself is quite tight but I think with some light polishing will move with ease. I will definitely be getting some LAR8 mags (thermold) and/or some Metal DSA 5/20 round mags for it ASAP.
As soon as I got it home I tore it apart to really start to get a feel for it and give it a very detailed cleaning and inspection. There was a large volume of oil on the internals and I was actually surprised to find that it had not been cleaned after the test firing. There was carbon on the gas plug and ejection chute near the plug. The chamber was also a little dirty from firing. It was very strait forward to field strip and detailed strip the firearm. The manual walks you threw the process very well and contain some very high quality images. Before and after cleaning there was no rattles in the weapon at all.
I need to get a couple of snap caps to ease the springs when the action it cocked.
I already have a Burris PEPR QD mount coming as well as a cheek rest for it. I am trying to decide between a Vortex Viper 1-4x24 or Sightron 1-7x24 for the optic for it. But until I get a decent optic on it I will not post any range reports. I have a crappy Bushnell 3x9 on it for the upcoming range day just to have an idea where my rounds are going to set the gas setting and test it out. I also have an EOtech (copy) I am planning to try out and see how bad it really is. One thing I noticed after mount the EOtech (copy) was that objective height seems low for me and the base of the optic gets in the way of the cocking lever due to the wide base. I don’t really trust either of these optics that much and hence why I want to wait until I have something better to post a range report but think that the recoil of the .308 will test them.
I also plan to have the barrel threaded to add a flash hider/suppressor eventually as well and am a bit disappointed that all the RFB-C models don’t come with even a basic one.
The sling provided is nice but doesn’t fit my wants so I will be making my own 1-2 point unit, with the help of a local sewing shop. It should be very easy to do without modifying the firearm.
Now this is all just my opinion but I have been around a very large variety of black weapons in the past and fired many that would be considered prohibited here so I think I can make a fair evaluation. I may be biased due to many years of AR use and preference towards bullpups but I must admit I am very happy with the RFB so far. Once I hit the range I hope most of the early issues have been resolved and I will continue to smile if they are. I will also be smiling come hunting season when I can carry it out into the bush with me, unlike the AR’s I have used in the past.
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