In late Feb. 2013, I wandered over to the Black Rifle forum from the precision forum, to have a look. Thanks a frikin bunch! I had to get me one.
It had to be non-restricted, take AR mags, and be either .223 or 7.62x39.
On April 13, 2013, I left International Shooting Supplies with a new XCR, black, in 7.62x39.
Round count July 6, 2014 was 10060 rounds.
My first day out was with factory MI buis, I don't care much for them. The rear sight has a lot of play, and I'm a pretend precision shooter, I like glass.
Anyways, first day out. 2 x 5 rnd mags, 720 rounds of ammo, and no clue what I was doing
.
My first impression was good. 95% clean machining, very little thread lock run off that I'd heard about, and a very strong sturdy feel to it. The weight takes some getting use to for a newb, it's a heavy rifle. It's not the weight that's the problem, it's the balance or lack off, it's a muzzle heavy rifle. I had minimal wobble between the upper and lower and figured that's normal anyways.
The manual says break-in on gas setting 4, so I ran ~60 (iirc) rounds on 4. I wasn't impressed with the snappy feel it causes, and brass was flying out of sight. Within my first couple mags, I had a nice little burst fire, it was from too much snap and a poor grip. I read the manual and figured I'd get the gas as low as possible, right away. I noticed an immediate difference in the overall feel of the rifle, it was smoothing out. I did most my break-in, prone or kneeling.
I didn't buy the rifle for moa shooting, I bought it just for fun and to make some noise. After break-in, I was shooting ~2 moa, I was good with that.
The reason I chose 7.62x39 was cost, I knew I'd be putting lots of rounds through it. My cleaning process is simple, hot water, dry, and oil. I call it cleaning but it's not, I'm neutralizing the corrosive residue. I spray the rifle as soon as I get home. Strip the gun, muzzle in the sink with the op-rod and gas valve, spray with water. I fully strip the rifle and clean it every 2000 rounds, I keep track in my ammo log, and it's exact.
I've said this before and I'll say it again; my rifle was free. 10000 rounds @ $.19/rnd is $1900. Had I gone .223 at $.45/rnd, it would have cost $4500 for ammo. The difference is more than the gun cost. Listen, it worked on the wife ok...
I also chose x39 for versatility, I carried the XCR for deer season, and will again this fall.
I've shot the rifle in 2 black rifle matches, and did ok. A good sling is your friend. Mine cost $20 at the airsoft store.
This is what 10000 rounds of corrosive surplus does to an XCR.
I'm shining a flashlight on the barrel for this one, it shows a little better. The holes in the gas tube line up to this spot.
The bottom corner of the bolt cam shows some wear.
This pic looks way worse than bare eye, there's no sign of pitting on the bolt, though the pic looks like it.
I won't bore you with much more, but these targets were shot my last trip out. One is 20 rounds at 35 yards shot as fast as I can. The other is 5 rounds at 100 yards, shooting quickly.
After 10000 rounds the finish has held up very well. The rifle shoots about 2.5-3 moa. The play between upper and lower has increased some, a little more wiggle. The trigger is quite nice, she broke in good.
I've got a short list of failures in 10000 rounds.
Day 1, I induced 2 x fte running the gas on 1 too soon.
At 800 rounds, my op-rob bent a couple degrees. I monitored.
At 3800 rounds, the bent rod cracked about 300 degrees around. I fired 100 rounds like that, no issue.
The screw holding the safety together, backed out a full turn before I noticed it. Just once.
On one of my cleanings, I found a broken firing pin spring. 1 loop broken.
At 8000ish rounds, the gun locked up hard. I dumped 120 + rounds, tube was glowing, and it locked, I thought I broke her. I had to kneel down and slam the rifle in to my front bumper to open up. I field stripped, oiled, kept on firing. I went through another 300 rounds that day.
Not a gun failure but a user fail, I've dropped this rifle in a very fast moving river, 3' under water. Not a scratch. Ya, I didn't come out as good.
I mentioned I don't shoot for moa, I bought it as a gongbanger. This is how I like to play with my XCR.
The bottom line, I'd buy another in a heart beat. This is my favorite rifle without question. It's my go-to, carry all, gongbanger, noise maker, deer rifle, and sometimes, cozy night friend.
Have a good weekend gunnutz, I'm going shooting now.
It had to be non-restricted, take AR mags, and be either .223 or 7.62x39.
On April 13, 2013, I left International Shooting Supplies with a new XCR, black, in 7.62x39.
Round count July 6, 2014 was 10060 rounds.
My first day out was with factory MI buis, I don't care much for them. The rear sight has a lot of play, and I'm a pretend precision shooter, I like glass.
Anyways, first day out. 2 x 5 rnd mags, 720 rounds of ammo, and no clue what I was doing
. My first impression was good. 95% clean machining, very little thread lock run off that I'd heard about, and a very strong sturdy feel to it. The weight takes some getting use to for a newb, it's a heavy rifle. It's not the weight that's the problem, it's the balance or lack off, it's a muzzle heavy rifle. I had minimal wobble between the upper and lower and figured that's normal anyways.
The manual says break-in on gas setting 4, so I ran ~60 (iirc) rounds on 4. I wasn't impressed with the snappy feel it causes, and brass was flying out of sight. Within my first couple mags, I had a nice little burst fire, it was from too much snap and a poor grip. I read the manual and figured I'd get the gas as low as possible, right away. I noticed an immediate difference in the overall feel of the rifle, it was smoothing out. I did most my break-in, prone or kneeling.
I didn't buy the rifle for moa shooting, I bought it just for fun and to make some noise
. After break-in, I was shooting ~2 moa, I was good with that.The reason I chose 7.62x39 was cost, I knew I'd be putting lots of rounds through it. My cleaning process is simple, hot water, dry, and oil. I call it cleaning but it's not, I'm neutralizing the corrosive residue. I spray the rifle as soon as I get home. Strip the gun, muzzle in the sink with the op-rod and gas valve, spray with water. I fully strip the rifle and clean it every 2000 rounds, I keep track in my ammo log, and it's exact.
I've said this before and I'll say it again; my rifle was free. 10000 rounds @ $.19/rnd is $1900. Had I gone .223 at $.45/rnd, it would have cost $4500 for ammo. The difference is more than the gun cost. Listen, it worked on the wife ok...
I also chose x39 for versatility, I carried the XCR for deer season, and will again this fall.
I've shot the rifle in 2 black rifle matches, and did ok. A good sling is your friend. Mine cost $20 at the airsoft store.
This is what 10000 rounds of corrosive surplus does to an XCR.
I'm shining a flashlight on the barrel for this one, it shows a little better. The holes in the gas tube line up to this spot.
The bottom corner of the bolt cam shows some wear.
This pic looks way worse than bare eye, there's no sign of pitting on the bolt, though the pic looks like it.
I won't bore you with much more, but these targets were shot my last trip out. One is 20 rounds at 35 yards shot as fast as I can. The other is 5 rounds at 100 yards, shooting quickly.
After 10000 rounds the finish has held up very well. The rifle shoots about 2.5-3 moa. The play between upper and lower has increased some, a little more wiggle. The trigger is quite nice, she broke in good.
I've got a short list of failures in 10000 rounds.
Day 1, I induced 2 x fte running the gas on 1 too soon.
At 800 rounds, my op-rob bent a couple degrees. I monitored.
At 3800 rounds, the bent rod cracked about 300 degrees around. I fired 100 rounds like that, no issue.
The screw holding the safety together, backed out a full turn before I noticed it. Just once.
On one of my cleanings, I found a broken firing pin spring. 1 loop broken.
At 8000ish rounds, the gun locked up hard. I dumped 120 + rounds, tube was glowing, and it locked, I thought I broke her. I had to kneel down and slam the rifle in to my front bumper to open up. I field stripped, oiled, kept on firing. I went through another 300 rounds that day.
Not a gun failure but a user fail, I've dropped this rifle in a very fast moving river, 3' under water. Not a scratch. Ya, I didn't come out as good.
I mentioned I don't shoot for moa, I bought it as a gongbanger. This is how I like to play with my XCR.
The bottom line, I'd buy another in a heart beat. This is my favorite rifle without question. It's my go-to, carry all, gongbanger, noise maker, deer rifle, and sometimes, cozy night friend.
Have a good weekend gunnutz, I'm going shooting now.
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