Reliability with battle rifles

My Stag 10 (IRUNGUNS) has mag issues that still need to be sorted, FTF, FTE, and light primer strikes. I'm going to get it functioning 100% with time and money, but the fact that it doesn't function well out of the box is absolutely ridiculous

Is it a factory Stag-10 or one of the receiver sets Irunguns built up?
 
IWI Tavor X95 (and the older TAR21)
CZ Scorpion Evo (factory NR variant soon)
HK SL8
FNH PS90 (NR hard to find)
Robinson XCR
Beretta CX4 Storm
ATRS Modern Hunter
Ruger Mini14

Slightly lower on the reliability scale imho.

Keltec RDB
KRISS Vector
Freedom FX-9

I'd buy any of these guns before the BCL102, WK180, or Stag 10, but that's just me.

Out of all of them, if I had to choose one NR "battle-worthy" gun from that list, I'd choose the Tavor X95.
 
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So I am assuming you didn’t get a bent type 81? Can’t believe people are having that type of issue. Shooting 2 feet to the left at a 100m because it’s bent a few millimeters. Crazy. But I mean Norinco isn’t known for high quality guys either.

The one I got is ever so slightly off to the right.
It's hard to see with the unaided eye.
Meh you adjust the sights and I can still hit my 18" plate easily at 200 Meters prone and sitting. I can hit it at 300 prone with the same rate of success as any of my ARs with iron sights.
The point is it works. It works every time no matter what. No jams, no FTE, no FTF, no ammo finicky nonsense, no parts falling off, nothing coming loose, no parts coming loose and mangling the inside of the receiver. I haven't seen a single issue so far with any of them really on here. I was watching carefully before I picked one up for a while too as I was skeptical at first I'll admit.
That's what I want in a gun. Above all else consistent, rugged reliability and 4 to 5 MOA is plenty good enough for me.
I don't care if it's made by Norinco or Uncle Bills backwoods gun Co. My money ends up on the guns which meet that criteria.
 
Still sticking to my AR-15. Carried it for many years at work. I am most familiar with that one.

Reliability of firearms are also very very operator dependent (i.e. maintenance) regardless of the type of firearms.

Manufacturer of choice: Colt or Daniel Defense.
 
IWI Tavor X95 (and the older TAR21)
CZ Scorpion Evo (factory NR variant soon)
HK SL8
FNH PS90 (NR hard to find)
Robinson XCR
Beretta CX4 Storm
ATRS Modern Hunter
Ruger Mini14

Slightly lower on the reliability scale imho.

Keltec RDB
KRISS Vector
Freedom FX-9

I'd buy any of these guns before the BCL102, WK180, or Stag 10, but that's just me.

Out of all of them, if I had to choose one NR "battle-worthy" gun from that list, I'd choose the Tavor X95.

I've owned 3 (still have 1) Kriss Vector's and they were all damn near 100% reliable. My current gen 2 has been flawless other than 1 crappy magazine that I have that doesn't lock it back after last round.
Other than that I would add the Bushmaster ACR to your reliable list. I've owned 2 of them (still have 1) and after thousands of rounds they are 100% reliable and feed from every magazine I own.

Never buy a BCL/NEA product, too much risk when there are better options available now.
 
never buy a BCL/NEA product, too much risk when there are better options available now.

i hear this a lot but also see a lot of stag owners who are just as unhappy? seems to be luck of the draw which sux when shelling out 2 grand plus for a rifle, seems the oldies are the way to go these new rifles are all substandard in one way or another that being said I am biased as i own a bcl102 and so far so good for me and sure stag has a warranty but the best warranty is always one you never need!!
 
Love my SG542, well everything except the mag prices lol!

Ya, it's the biggest reason I haven't given one a chance yet. I was considering the 223 version since the mags are a lot cheaper.

Hey there,

Not a big poster. Looking to get into more serious firearms that are of the non restricted type.

The problem I see is it doesn’t matter if it’s stag, bcl, wk180c, etc, there seems to be a large string of issues with FTE FTF or mag fitting...

Is there any rifle out there that is more reliable, of good quality and not too much plastic, has good reviews, doesn’t fail, isn’t insanely over priced, and I can really bet my life on it.

Please let me know!

MK

Are you looking for a specific caliber? You've listed off 223 and 308 rifles.
Can you build your own from parts or do you need one already assembled?

If you're looking for a 308 based rifle I would go with an XCR-M or the SG542 or a Modern Hunter.
If you want a 223 based rifle I would go with the Bushmaster ACR, I would skip the DMR model and look for an enhanced model that has already been converted to NR. Second choice would be the XCR-L keymod model with light barrel, or if you can build an AR I'd go with an ATRS Modern Sporter receiver set, or a Tavor (if you like bullpups).

Insanely overpriced is a matter of opinion, just because someone can't afford something doesn't mean that it's overpriced. To me as long as the quality is there I don't mind dropping $4k+ on a rifle but if the quality is crap I have a hard time spending $1000 on a rifle. My Modern Hunter is a $6000 build if you were to order it from ATRS, I didn't pay that much but if I was in the market for a 308 class non restricted semi I wouldn't hesitate to save up the cash to buy the same rifle I have. Mine is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor and it's been very reliable and accurate for me. It doesn't like every type of ammo available but then again very few semi auto rifles will cycle any ammo you feed them. They are designed for ammunition built to certain specifications not just any factory offering. Nothing you do or wish for is going to change that. It isn't a design flaw it's just a fact of life with any semi auto rifle.

Being finicky with magazines isn't the end of the world either unless you've already got large piles of magazines that work well in all your other rifles but not in the new one. Just like ammunition, once you figure out what the rifle likes you just buy more of that. If it like Magpul Pmags just use Pmags, if it likes 168 HPBT more than 180gr soft point ammo then use 168HPBT. Some semi's will feed soft point hunting ammo and some won't, again not a flaw with the rifle but instead a flaw with your choice of ammo.
When rifles like this are designed they are designed as military firearms and as such are designed to be fed FMJ of a certain weight and that military ammo will also have a powder with a specific burn rate that is compatible with the pressure curves required by a semi auto. Taking these rifles and making a civilian version doesn't mean changing the operating system or chamber of the rifles to be more flexible with ammunition, they make as few changes as possible to make the civilian version which means that they still prefer FMJ and for a 308 that means 147-175 grain projectiles and for a 223 55-77gr projectiles. The heavier ones only in barrels with an appropriate twist rate as well.
This is one of the reasons I think so many guys have problems with reliability in their Stag or BCL. They buy a barrel with a 10 twist and think that because they have a twist rate that supports heavier/longer projectiles they'll just run the longest/heaviest projectiles with the best BC they can fit into the magazine. This does not work out very often, bullets are too long to feed correctly, pressure given to the gas system is excessive causing the bolt to travel too fast. Then throw in there that many of the guys have no idea what they're doing building one and add light weight carriers and other competition type parts that put the system out of balance because they only did one side of the system. The operating system of the rifle needs to be balanced, bolt carrier weight, buffer weight, spring rate, gas port size all need to balance out for the rifle to cycle smoothly and reliably.
 
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I have two stag 10, build quality and matching are great but not so great with assembly guys. Both have crook gas block, FTE on both.

My BCL 102 is working fine after 500 rounds and still going strong.

My best guest is for any new firearms nowadays, we should all wait a bit longer and let all the bugs sort out first.
 
Never had and problems with my VZ58, CZ858, 2 mini 14s (oem mags), and 3 tuned but mostly stock m305s. A well built m14 with usgi parts would be hard to beat.
 
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