I recieved the replacement rifle from Global today.  If you haven't read the previous posts, I bought one that had the barrel misaligned in the trunnion and it was shooting way to the left.  It took 13 days from when it left my shipping point until I had a replacement in my hands.  Really fast service.  The new rifle came with all the accessories, so now I have two of everything.  It appears to be straight.  Wonderfuly smooth 2 stage trigger, action is the slickest of any AK type I have ever racked a bolt on.  I tried several magazines with hollow point bullets, steel mags fit slightly snug with no mag wobble, and they all fed perfectly while slowly closing the bolt, and letting it fly forward.  It appears it will feed perfectly.  The only thing that scares me is that the first rifle had all those qualities as well.  This rifle could not have possibly been test fired.  Gas piston shines like its right out of the package, no carbon in the gas tube, barrel is perfectly clean, and no primer ring on the bolt.  I won't get a chance to shoot it until this weekend.  Hopefully, this one will shoot as good as it looks and feels.
If it shoots to within reasonable sight adjustments, it will be a keeper.  Shooting report to follow this weekend.

Good luck!  I hope this one is right.

Warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down There's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell There's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze 'goodness me could this be Industrial Disease? The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post They're refusing to be pacified it's him they blame the most The watchdog's got rabies the foreman's got fleas And everyone's concerned about Industrial Disease There's panic on the switchboard tongues are ties in knots Some come out in sympathy some come out in spots Some blame the management some the employees And everybody knows it's the Industrial Disease The work force is disgusted downs tools and walks Innocence is injured experience just talks Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees That these are 'classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze' On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse Philosophy is useless theology is worse History boils over there's an economics freeze Sociologists invent words that mean 'Industrial Disease' Doctor Parkinson declared 'I'm not surprised to see you here You've got smokers cough from smoking, brewer's droop from drinking beer I don't know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees But worst of all young man you've got Industrial Disease' He wrote me a prescription he said 'you are depressed But I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest Come back and see me later - next patient please Send in another victim of Industrial Disease' I go down to Speaker's Corner I'm thunderstruck They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong There's a protest singer singing a protest song - he says 'they wanna have a war to keep us on our knees They wanna have a war to keep their factories They wanna have a war to stop us buying Japanese They wanna have a war to stop Industrial Disease They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind They wanna sap your energy incarcerate your mind They give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease' Meanwhile the first Jesus says 'I'd cure it soon Abolish monday mornings and friday afternoons' The other one's on a hunger strike he's dying by degrees How come Jesus gets Industrial Disease

WooHoo the Dire Straits!!!!! Excellent taste in music CAMPYBOB


Rick

Well Plateshooter I hope everything works out for you.  I just received my refund check and the damn thing was short $15.  They refunded me for a plastic furniture rifle instead of the optional wood furniture.  I think at this point I'm going to just take it and be happy I didn't get stuck with that POS.  All-in-all I lost $58 dollars on this gun.  That's the price for shipping, the $15 they shorted me and the transfer fee.  I look at it as a very inexpensive lesson.  One that I will learn from.  I still have about 600rnds of 7.62 and 8 steel mags awaiting a new master someday.  Right now I'm using the return money to help fund a preban Colt AR15 just in case the AWB is renewed.  A few months down the road I will be looking for another AK.  Let us all know how everything works out.

I normally don't like bashing the competition, but I think the following needs shared:

A few weeks ago, I ordered some trunion rivets from Global. I have ordered them before and have had no qualms with them. As most of you know, there are two different style rivets you use on the barrel trunion. Four have the extra meat(for lack of better term) on the underside for biting into the trunion. The other two are smaller in diameter and usually lack the extra meat. All six of the ones I received were the latter type.

I call and talk to Lori about this. I told her I believed they were the wrong ones. She said no problem, send them back. I did. About a week goes by and I get a call from one of their "techs". I think it was Ron, but can't swear to it. He wants to know what the problem is. I go through the whole story about them. I even included a correct rivet for comparison. He said they were from Germany, that is why they are different. I asked about the shoulder that was missing and the smaller diameter. He says, that's how the German do it.

I repeated that I had reservations about using them. He started get a little sharp with me at this point. He said that is what they use on their AK's and it should be okay for me to use them too. I explained that I build custom AK's and just didn't trust them. He repeated that if they are good enough for them, they should be for me. I flat told him I would not use them. To this he replied that they would send a refund, but would charge a 15% restock fee. Then hung up the phone.

That was last Friday. I sent an email to customer service and bitched about the 15% charge for a problem that I feel is theirs. No reply. They did credit my cc, minus the 15%. We were going to start using their receiver exclusivly when they get them out, but not now. They probably lost the sale of 100 or more because of this B.S.

Just wanted you guys to know about the rivets. I am afraid of them not setting completely in the trunions because of the smaller diameter and the lacking shoulder. I feel they will wind up ripping the receiver. Just my 2 cents.

Mike

00_Buckshot.  Thanks for the good wishes.  I too learned a lesson on this adventure.  I took a pocket full of cash to bulletfest to buy a rifle from me223, but they didnt have the one with them that I was interested in.  Soooooooo instead of being patient and waiting until the next time I could hook up with them, I bought the SSR from one of my favorite dealers at a local show.  I got it for $477 plus tax which would have been a great price if the rifle preformed as well as it looked.  I should have stuck to my original plan and waited.  I have or have had several Romanian AKs two Saigas, and a SLR95.  IMO, the Romanian guns are all an AK should be. Not pretty in all cases, but I have put many thousands of rounds through mine and they work great. I shoot them at plates almost every weekend, and their plenty accurate out to 250 yds on the plates I shoot at. If I had it to do over again, I would get one of Mike's WASR conversions and save myself all the hassel :).  If this one ends up being as good as my SAR and WASR, I will be happy.  I guess I'll find out this weekend.

Ron's a dick.

Ron is the owner/president of Global.  Yeah he is a bitch to talk to. He doesn't seem like a people person.  I've has several problems with my SSR-56s too, and I have yet to finish work on the current one I have to make it right. Global messes up orders as easily as Botach and things can get ugly if you push them a little. A couple people there are real penny pinchers and make it seem like it's all your fault for anything that's wrong with the rifle or a messed up order. Also don't expect them to call you back. You have to stay on top of them to get anything done.

Today I took the replacement SAR-56 to the range to see how it shot.  Put a 5" black bull up at 25 yds.  First shot, off the paper, shooting to the left.  Started moving front drum left, long story short, the drum is at the extreme left travel, and the gun still shoots left at 25 yds.  This finishes me with any Global Product.  Two rifles, 2 rifles that wouldn't shoot anywhere within the sight adjustment range.  They replaced the one with the barrel pressed into the trunnion crooked with another that will not shoot to within the sight adjustment range.  There was NO effort to see if this rifle was correct before they shipped it out.  I don't know how these guys stay in business.  I'm not going to send this one back to Global again.  I'm going to send it to one of the custom shops and pay to have it made right if possible.  Global has proven to me that they don't care about what goes out to the customer.

Plateshooter,
First off you have my deepest sympathy.  I know exactly the frustration of that POS rifle.  I would highly recommend you send that piece of garbage back and get a refund.  You will spend more money trying to make it right rather than buying something else that was made right from the beginning.  These fuckers at Global need to be taught a serious lesson.  Don't let them win by you keeping that rifle.  Your satisfaction is priority one and if you are not 100% satisfied send it back and tell them you want your money back.  I'm seriously thinking about spending the extra money and going with a Krebs AK-103 or maybe one from AK-USA after I get my preban Colt paid off.  Don't let those pricks keep your hard earned money.  Call them up talk to Jimmy and tell them you want a full refund.  Tell them to issue you a call tag so that you can be done with them.  Good Luck!  

I had the pleasure of accompanying plateshooter out to the range this morning as he tested his replacement SSR-56.  In the end, I came away pretty disappointed at the performance of the rifle.  From a cursory inspection, it looks like the front sight block is canted.  Who knows what else could be wrong.  This is not the type of quality you expect from a $500 AK rifle.  How someone could let a high-dollar AK out the door with such an obvious defect, I don't know.  One of the fundamental requirements of a gun, let alone a premium one, is that it should shoot to POA.  Hopefully this issue can be resolved soon by more competent smiths.

I was going to get a Global Trades gun a few months back. heard so many bad reports similar to this one, that I ordered a SAM7 Carbine instead.

SAM7 is nice BUT the front sight is way over to the right to get zero.

Do any of these AK builders know what they are doing (or care)

True test of a company is their customer service. I will be calling Arsenal this week to see what they intend to do about it.

My $300 SARs put these guns to shame - despite reputation and appearance.

Quoted: bfh...check hardwood block...check safety glasses...check. yup. i'm ready to fix global's latest whiz-bang 4-country ak.

Well Campy, if you decide to get into the gunsmithing business, let me know.  Got my rifle back from the KAG, which was sent to GG to have the sights straightened, and obviously none of the work was done.  I still have a very inaccurate SLR-95 and need someone to fix it.  I thought about Global since they are in Houston, but after reading these posts, I thing I'll pass.

After attending the on site Campybob school of front site base repositioning with the first SSR, I headed out the the range with the appropriate hammers, punches etc.  I aligned the fsb top dead center (it was canted to the right), centered the front sight drum in the base, and fired 3 shots from a bench at 25 yds.
Below is the 3 shot group.




Too bad they couldn't have aligned it properly at the factory.

My thanks to Campy for savin my ass again.

Quoted: we can do another session of campybob's "on the range bench" gunsmithing session this sunday.

Hehe, where were you last weekend Campy?  This last set of FSB pins were a bitch to get out.  Plateshooter was gettin' ready to take a torch to them.  I heard you guys had a much easier time with them on the first one.

I've got a Global story too. I sent a SAR-1 to them to get parked. When it came back, I opened the box grabbed the rifle and stared in awe for a few minutes at the beautiful black park job. Then I looked in the box for the gas tube, safety lever, cleaning rod, recoil spring assy and top cover. They weren't in there.

I called them the next day, talked to Andre, and he said he would send them out. Three days later a box arrives. I open it and find everything except there is a rear sight blade and no cleaning rod. I notice the rear sight blade has my SAR's serial # on it, so I reinspect my gun and find not only does it have a chinese rear sight, but the adjuster is on backwards and it won't catch in the notches. How damn stupid, can't even put a sight blade on right.

So now I call Andre back and tell him I still need a cleaning rod. He sounds like he doesn't believe me, but sends me one anyway. Now I have a SAR-1 with a beautiful finish and finally all the original parts. I think I got lucky and Global got their last dollar out of me.

And I've not had a call back from Arsenal yet !

Campy clone.

Utilitarian and functional: $350.00.

Now why is it that folks keep telling the noobs to spend the little extra for a nicer gun? A SAR may be ugly and the stock may be made from the crapoak tree, but they work, and a FSB adjustment is the same price no matter what yo orgiinally paid for the rifle (and by the way, I haven't been seeing near as many SAR's with canted FSB lately).

I wanted one of these *pretty* SSR-56's until I did a few searches for info on them on these forums.  Being turned off about them, I wrote Jimmy at GlobalTrades for his view on it all.
My email was this:

Jimmy, I am considering a SSR-56 purchase from you (Global Trades).  I am in AZ, but have few friends in TX who have bought the SSR-56 from you.  I also follow the boards on AR15.com and in all but very, very few cases, a vast majority report that the SSR-56 they receive was never test fired, has horrible cant in the front sight and even has barrel mis-alignment.  They all say that GT offers to fix/repair/replace such problem rifles, but everyone says that they receive the rifle back with no REAL repairs just pushing the canted sight back to place only to have it tilt again. I am ready to buy, but I simply cannot afford to buy a rifle from AZ, have it shipped here to my FFL, have a problem with it and have to go through the pain, cost and hassle of having to ship it back if it exhibits such reported issues/problems. Can you explain a bit what goes into the SSR-56's and why everyone seems to have so many problems with them? Thanks! - a potential customer

and he replied to me today (very quick reply - next business day) was this:

Jason This covers a lot of ground, but I can understand your concern. First, we are out of SSR-56s, and will be for several weeks until some parts arrive from Bulgaria.   I will try to get to things in order. First, all of our rifles are fired from 5 to 20 times in our test drum.  And they are then rechecked for headspace after firing.   We use Bulgarian or Polish 30-round magazine  as our standard.   To the best of my knowledge, we have never allowed a rifle out of our shop without firing it first. Front sight alignment is a tricky question.   The adjustment range on the front sight slide is 2mm each direction before the slide becomes flush on one side or the other..  Our standard is that the rifle adjust to center withing this range.  We use two special optical tools to align the front sight support.  We have in the past messed this  up sometimes.   The reports on the web are a bit exagerated.  You will also sometimes encounter people who tell you a good deal more than they know. We have this problem on a very small percentage of the rifles we sell.  And we do fix it when it occurs.   In examing the parts sets that we built the SSR-85B and SSR-85C rifles, it seems that this problem is common to all of the factories.    The alignment to be correct is within a very small angle. I looked at the picture of the mis-aligned barrel on the web.   Without having it here at the factory, I can't really tell what happened here.  The only logical explanation would be a mis-bored hole in the trunnion.   This is not something we routinely check for.  I can tell you that this is a very rare occurance. Finally, once we move the sight and re-pin it, the front sight would break in two before it can be rotated out of position.   It is not only a very tight press-fit, but it is retained by two hardened cross pins.   I guess all I can say is that you should not take everything you read on the net as gospel. I hope this helps. Jimmy

Not sure exactly what to make of it since it seems to directly contradict what others on this forum say - those who have bought SSR-56's from GT.  Anyone care to comment?

Jason, below is MY experiences.  Others may differ.

This covers a lot of ground, but I can understand your concern.

First, we are out of SSR-56s, and will be for several weeks until some parts arrive from Bulgaria.  

I will try to get to things in order.

First, all of our rifles are fired from 5 to 20 times in our test drum.  And they are then rechecked for headspace after firing.   We use Bulgarian or Polish 30-round magazine  as our standard.   To the best of my knowledge, we have never allowed a rifle out of our shop without firing it first.

My experiences.

If this is the case, they must have some ammo that has absolutely no fouling.  The gas piston was completely shiny, and no carbon in the gas tube. No primer ring on the bolt, barrel squeaky clean.  Must have been some special ammo in this case.

Front sight alignment is a tricky question.   The adjustment range on the front sight slide is 2mm each direction before the slide becomes flush on one side or the other..  Our standard is that the rifle adjust to center withing this range.  We use two special optical tools to align the front sight support.  We have in the past messed this  up sometimes.   The reports on the web are a bit exagerated.  You will also sometimes encounter people who tell you a good deal more than they know.

I know that the rifle shot 8" left at 25 yds with the sight drum in the extreme left positon.  I don't know what kind of optical equipment is used to align the sights, but they may want to have it checked.  

We have this problem on a very small percentage of the rifles we sell.  And we do fix it when it occurs.   In examing the parts sets that we built the SSR-85B and SSR-85C rifles, it seems that this problem is common to all of the factories.    The alignment to be correct is within a very small angle.

I have had 2 SSR 56s, none shot within the sight adjustment range.  After aligning the front sight base on the replacement  the rifle shot in one inch target paster at 25 yards with the front drum centered in the base.  It is now shooting great.

I looked at the picture of the mis-aligned barrel on the web.   Without having it here at the factory, I can't really tell what happened here.  The only logical explanation would be a mis-bored hole in the trunnion.   This is not something we routinely check for.  I can tell you that this is a very rare occurance.

I would think it would be rare also.  Jimmy replaced the rifle and he does have it at his factory.

Finally, once we move the sight and re-pin it, the front sight would break in two before it can be rotated out of position.   It is not only a very tight press-fit, but it is retained by two hardened cross pins.   I guess all I can say is that you should not take everything you read on the net as gospel.

Campy and myself moved the front sight base by driving out the pins and moving the base with a mallet with a rubber buffer over it, then repinned it. Nothing broke in two, or was damaged in any way.

I hope this helps.

Jimmy


Not sure exactly what to make of it since it seems to directly contradict what others on this forum say - those who have bought SSR-56's from GT.  Anyone care to comment?

My last comments.  The rifle now shoots  exactly to point of aim with the sights centered, about a perfect as I could expect from any AK.
It feeds great, has a great trigger, smooth action, and a beautiful finish.  It is about all I could ask for in a quailty AK.  If you buy one that is properly aligned, you can have a winner.  It just took one replacement rifle, and proper aligning of the fsb on the replacement to get it that way.
I may have been just one unlucky guy, and my experience may be the only one like this. I must say Jimmy and Andre had the replacement rifle on its way in ONE day.  Got to hand it to them for fast service.

You pays your money and you takes your chances.

Yeah, GT probably screws up less than 1 in 200 of the rifles they sell... but 8 out of the 10 rifles that they do screw up has an owner who reports online in some forum in detail how much they screwed up.  And the other 1,990 owners never report that they have no news to report about their fine working rifle.

The measure of the company is not if they are perfect, but whether they fix the problems when they are discovered.  GT seems to meet this criteria.

Quoted: Yeah, GT probably screws up less than 1 in 200 of the rifles they sell... but 8 out of the 10 rifles that they do screw up has an owner who reports online in some forum in detail how much they screwed up.  And the other 1,990 owners never report that they have no news to report about their fine working rifle. The measure of the company is not if they are perfect, but whether they fix the problems when they are discovered.  GT seems to meet this criteria.

That was my first assumption, but if you do a similar search for Rock River Arms AR-15's you'll see the opposite - everyone reporting how they just bought their and love it.

Anyway, they are out for now.  I'll probably take my chances and buy one when they have them in stock again in the fall.  Thanks for the input plateshooter and others.