This is my first build and I decided to go with Model 1 Sales. Since there seemed to be a difference of opinion on their products and service, I figured I would detail my experience so that future 1st time builders or experienced builders, would have a first hand account of how it went, whether or not they should order from them, quality, ease of assembly, etc. I'll also include a review of the lower I purchase and the ease of assembly of fitting the parts. Thanks to ARin and Parabellium who helped me decide on what and what not to get.

Ordering Process: I ordered (3) 16" C.A.R. kits from Model 1 on Tuesday, May 23rd. I was told that there would be a 3-5 day wait while they processed and assembled the order and then a 3-5 day shipping time. That was completely reasonable and I assumed that I would receive the kits on/about May 31. Before I even indicated I would be ordering from them, the receptionist was very polite, answered a long list of questions I had, and told me to call back anytime if I had any more questions or concerns. Instead of calling back, I placed my order right then. Shipping was reasonable at $15 for the first kit and $8 for each addt'l kit. After completing the order, I hung up and marked May 31 on my calendar as the receive date.

On Thursday, May 25, a UPS package arrived at approximately 11AM and it contained all 3 kits. The kits look to be of good quality, the finishes are uniform, the stocks look sturdy, etc. As a first time builder, but having been around M16/M4's for the last 8 years, I have no reservations about the quality and am overall impressed. Quality aside, how about that shipping time? Two days? Wow

Thus far in the transaction, I'm very impressed. The customer service has been TOP NOTCH, the quality looks great, and the parts are all uniform in color. I'm more or less the leader of the build and have done most of the research, but the other two guys building with me concur with what I've said.

The next step is checking my local shops and seeing how much they charge for the stripped lowers.  There's a gun show coming up Jun 3,4 about two hours from my house just in case the local lowers are outrageous. I'll keep y'all posted on this build adventure and parts review.

I had the same positive experience with M1S.  The finish on all the parts was excellent, and in fact matched my Stag-15 LR.  They were actually parkerizing my barrel when I called them to ask about shipping - they had said Wednesday, but when I called - they said Thursday afternoon.

I was a little sad because I was sooo looking forward to getting my rifle on a Friday, so I could put it together and go shooting on Saturday.

Imagine my surprise when I got the tracking order and found out that they in fact shipped it out THAT NIGHT at 7:30 PM their time.

I work late, and I respect people that work late to put out an order.

I put the rifle together in a couple of hours (which isn't too bad, given it was my first time - and all I was using was a hammer and screwdriver, next time should take about 1/2 hour).

Shot it the next day and the next day - so far - over 500 rounds of AE223 - with NO PROBLEMS of any kind.  Here's the rifle after 500 rounds.  

It's scary and even scares my pit bull.

The ONLY problem I've had, and it's minor and is MY FAULT, is my bolt release lever binds, so I don't have bolt "hold-open" after last shot fired.  The reason it does this is that I bent the pin a little bit when I was driving it in the the receiver.  Totally my fault because I was rushing.  Because I'm in Cali, and have to release the bolt anyway to reload ('cause I have to drop the LR), it's no big deal, and in fact makes the gun easier to reload.  I could easily fix if I wanted to - but I hate driving pins, so I'm gonna leave it the way it is.

I'm extremely happy with my gun.  I'm not a gunsmith, but I've been a shadetree car mechanic for about 30 years, and all of the parts seem to be well made and well finished, and everything fit together well.

http://painlessmarketing.com/ar2.jpg

Nice looking rifle, and congrats on your new build.  It looks like you have the same Model 1 upper as me.  Except mine is painted.  I have no complaints at all with mine.

i built an AR from M1S and had no problems putting it together. the finish was great and it went together without a hitch. the only problem was the carrier key wasn't staked properly. my next build will probably be another M1S.

I called around to some of the local shops today and wasn't too impressed with the prices. The lowest price I found for a stripped lower was $175 for a Bushmaster.  Worse than that, the dedicated gun shops all wanted between $35-50 to transfer the lower. Finally, I called Gander Mountain and while they didn't have any lower receivers for sale, they did agree to do the transfer for $25. The gunsmith that was working at the time wanted to do it lower than that but the $25 was mandated by the manager. I have a feeling that when I get there it'll be less than $25 and certainly not more.

After that, I rang up Ameetec Arms and talked to one of their guys. Although there was alot going on in the background, he was very patient and answered all of my questions to complete satisfaction. He even took the time to talk about the FFL transfer and what I needed to do on my end. The price was good as well ($110) and he didn't gouge me on shipping. So far, I'd have to say that I'm pretty impressed with their customer service. As far as shipping dates, he was up front and told me there were 40-50 orders in front of mine, so it probably wouldn't ship until Mon, (May 29) and I'd have it most likely before the end of next week. From everything I've read about them, they have an excellent product and stand behind it. So far it looks like I'm 3 for 3 (Model 1, Ameetec, and Gander Mtn) with the vendors in the build, I'll keep y'all updated once I pick up the lowers and start puting it together.

Congrats and hope the luck stays with you. My first rifle kit was also from M1S. I bought the 20" A2 kit and am very happy with it. Very good fit and finish for the price. Only part I have replaced from the kit was the trigger (bought a DPMS for $15.00) because the pull was a bit rough. Haven't had any issues with carrier keys coming loose (I am paranoid so I check it often). My next build will be a 16" C.A.R. from them. Keep those updates coming.
Mark

Nice

like the strap

Here is my model 1 kit.  It is freakin awesome, extremely accurate with the 3x9 on the flattop

http://www.hunt101.com/img/408567.jpg

What kind of hand guards are those? That's a great looking rifle!

They are Samco M44's.  I have heard some people complain about them, but I have had nothing but good luck with this set.  They are very easy to install and are extremely tight  

Well, just got off the phone with Gander Mountain and I'd have to say I'm a little bit disappointed. The lowers arrived at their place on Wednesday, which was a little longer than what I expected when I placed the order. On top of that, Gander Mountain didn't explain the purchase procedure correctly the first time so now it's looking like I might have to wait even longer until I can take delivery. The first time I spoke with them, they basically said that when the part arrives, I come in, fill out the paperwork for the background check, then take the lowers home. Now they're saying I have to come in and sign some paperwork stating they ordered the parts for me, then wait two days while that enters the system, and then come back in, fill out the federal paperwork, and pick them up. That'd be fine if I was in the area all the time but I frequently travel and usually fly home on the weekends, which doesn't leave me enough time to go in, sign the paperwork, and come back two days later. Hopefully they'll allow my wife to sign for me....

So, for the update, I'd have to say that I'm disappointed with the shipping times of Ameetec. In addition, I sent them an email and a phone call to change the order and I never received any communication back from them. My wife called to confirm the order change for me while I was out of town and even then, there was still a bit of confusion on their end. I'm also disappointed with the fact that Gander Mountain didn't make more of an effort to inform me of the purchase problem before the lowers arrived, why couldn't I have signed their store paperwork earlier?

Although I haven't had a chance to check the quality yet, I would say that I'll avoid Ameetec in the future unless I don't need the product in a hurry. With so many other vendors out there, I'm looking to find a lower receiver supplier with the same type of shipping times and communication skills that I received from Model1. This isn't to say that Ameetec was rude or anything because that's not true at all. I'm just picky with who I spend my money and I'd like to see the service stepped up a notch. Plus, with the $77 Essential Arms lower, why not try them out and see if they can do better? Price wise they certainly have them beat, quality wise and customer service wise will be answered in the future.

I fly back next week to visit family and pick up the lowers, I'll give a quality report then. After that, I should be ready to assemble the parts and see how she turns out!

Alright, time for the next update.

I flew home last Friday and was able to pick up the lowers. Wow, they looked pretty good. One had minor tooling marks left on it but nothing particularly noticeable. I also found that Gander Mountain sat on the order for a couple days before calling me, so that makes me think a little higher of Ameetecs customer service and shipping times. On Ganders part, they were really friendly and will probably be my FFL of choice in the future. The firearms section was clean, the people were friendly, and they had a great attitude. Most importantly though, they weren't afraid to say "I don't know", rather than BS me and try to stumble through the transfer process (the clerk hadn't done many).

On Sat night, I sat down at the table, checked out the build your own sticky, and put my lower together in 35-40 mins. The fit and finish of everything was dead on and I'm very satisfied with my choices. The color match is pretty close and aside from a tiny nick mark that I made on the lower, it looks flawless. Next up is to see how it shoots...hopefully as good as it looks.

I called M1S and Wolf ammo definitely voids their warranty. I'll hit the local WalMart and pick up some ammo to run through it. I'm in northern VA right now, not too far from the NRA range so I imagine I'll head over there in a couple days and put the new rifle through it's paces. I don't have a rear sight yet but I do have a spare hunting scope so we'll see how she does. Everything is really tight and "scratchy" so I'll lube it up well before I start shooting, hopefully I can find something on here about how to break it in. Alright y'all, as always, I'll keep you posted!

almost sounds like gander was thinking about selling your lowers.... i don't know about where your at, but in alabama, once you order the lowers and contact our shop, all that is left is for us to recieve them, but them in our log books (same day) and for you to fill out the 4473, a 2 minute calls to nics and your done.

thanks for the feedback on m1s and amteec though. i was thinking about getting one of thier side charging uppers.....

I have two Ameetec lowers. The service at Ameetec was wonderful and the price was very good for the quality. The receivers have the right amount of material at the pivot hole bosses, and the buffer retaining pin hole is drilled in the right location. They do not remove a lot of the forging marks, which is a good thing since it keeps a lot of the material on the receiver. My trigger pins sit flush with the exterior walls of the receiver (another good thing).

They usually ship out their lowers via 2-3 day delivery. They recently had a large fire and shut down to move their facility. Perhaps that is the reason for your delay??

Model 1 and a few other vendors with sticks up their asses will say Wolf voids the warranty. Bushmaster uses and approves the use of Wolf in their latest ammo advisory. Chances are, most vendors don't want to deal with warranty service resulting from short stroking or stuck cases when shooting Wolf.

Arolfsen: At first I was thinking the same thing about Gander trying to sell my lowers but when I got to the store, I think it was more the case of a manager who wasn't too well informed of how things work in the firearms section. I'm thinking she was promoted to the manager position from a different section of the store because I wasn't too impressed with her knowledge of firearms, and neither were the employees. On the other hand, the employees were "gun people" and they squared the situation away. Walked in, took care of the paperwork, and walked back out. The whole 2 day delay thing was a non-issue and since they didn't bring it up, neither did I. All in all, I would go through them again but this time make sure to go in before I order and walk them through the process.

Metroplex: Alot of people swear by Wolf, but I think their old rep is sticking to them and keeping them in a negative light. At the price of their ammo though, the savings over a few thousand rounds will make up for the kit price of the weapon, know what I mean? For example, if I shoot 5k rounds of the cheap Wolf, the savings in the ammo price will pay for a new M1S upper kit. So, if I do decide to shoot Wolf and it kills my rifle, I just hope it does it well after 5K rounds. I do alot of practice shooting so the deal of 1k rounds for $99 is hard to pass up. The next closest vendor is at $187 so after 5K rounds ($88 * 5), the difference in price would pay for a new upper. I'm thinking I may forego the M1S warranty and run the risk (which seems neglible) of shooting Wolf ammo. I'm no ammo expert by any means though so maybe there really is a risk of shooting Wolf. I guess time will tell.

Like I said before, I'm extremely pleased with the quality of Ameetec, and knowing that Gander sat on the receivers for a few days means the shipment was only a few days late...not that big of a deal. I'm glad your quality was good too, it's nice when you order something and it arrives like it looks in the pictures and descriptions!

For your next build you may want to try Essential Arms lowers for $77+$10 shipping.  Also Title II has Stag lowers for $95 Shipped.

As for a FFL willing to do a transfer try the FFL Finder at gun broker.  I did and found a great FFL willing to do $12 transfers.

Great post BTW.

No intention to hijack the thread, but where are you getting 1k Wolf for $99?  Inquiring minds want to know.

AKXX: The $99 was a price that SG had a little while ago that sold out pretty quickly. Most of those that ordered are now on backorder status. In other news, Midway has Wolf for $124 a case. I guess the sale started today and I just put in for a case of it. Check out the ammo threads and usually you'll come across a decent deal every so often.