Quote:
Originally Posted by MacCool
The only advantage to a matched upper and lower is that they are hand fitted, so they mate up perfectly without any play. The disadvantage is that it does impair interchangability. Of my three matched Noveske sets, none of the uppers fit easily on any of the other lowers. A little play between upper and lower has absolutely no bearing on how the rifle shoots or its durability...it's purely cosmetic. Now, I like a nice, tight rifle, but I'm not sure the hand fitting is worth the downside, especially given the price premium and lack of availability. If I were going to build a rifle right now, I'd use a Noveske upper and lower, but I wouldn't make any special effort to have them be matched to each other.
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Hmmm, you gave me a thought to check out the play in my rifles, which I haven't given it a lot of thought before. The Bushies have only enough play to make a slight noise when I torque the upper and lower, with one being almost not noticable (I assume that is the one I bought as a complete rifle). Even the CMMG upper with the YHM lower isn't at all noticable unless I really mess with it. I remember I put an Accu-Wedge in a Colt and Armalite I used to own, but it just made it really hard to disassemble, so I guess I never was compelled to try that again. That proves your point since I have put many, many rounds through the Bushmaster that I pieced together and haven't had even a stovepipe jam. I do use supposedly good ammo though, so I am sure that has something to do with it. You are the right guy to ask since you have the exact experience that will help me with this decision. I am going to order them right now!
Of course you showing me all this nice hardware will result in me buy each times three! Would you say that the Noveske barrels are worth the premium price? I bought a Daniels Defense barrel which I thought was pretty nifty and expensive, but the Noveske barrel is twice the price.
Thanks again for the insight and info!
