08-13-2013, 03:19 PM
If you guys read my post again, nowhere will you find the statement that AR-Stoner "6.5 Grendel" barrels are made outside the US.
If Liberty is in-fact the source for the barrels, they have a good reputation from the board members, and Steve Satern has said in the past that they are a great button-rifled barrel.
It would be nice if Midway advertised that, with a "Made In USA" flag on the page to give customers that added sense of calm. It likely is a business decision with their volumes to not list the barrel maker, when the time comes for them to have to source from someone else. If the customer is used to seeing one source, then it switches, that can lead to apprehension, even though there is no need as long as the barrel maker is reputable.
For example, when I order barrels from Fulton Armory, they are clearly listed as either Criterion, or not. Criterion makes amazing button-rifled barrels.
Also, Liberty is not a button-rifled version of Satern as many believed, but another company who Satern helped market their barrels, since Liberty didn't have the business infrastructure to market and sell, but they made a nice button-rifled pipe. Steve Satern is well-known among hi-power shooters as a great source for single-point, cut-rifled barrels worthy of national-level competition.
One thing that has come up in this is the 5R rifling engraving. I have only known 5R rifling to be done on single-point, cut-rifled barrels, but I could be mistaken. I have owned several 5R cut-rifled barrels, and am somewhat familiar with the history behind Obermeyer's patented 5R rifling. This is the first I have heard that someone is button-rifling in 5R.
For the record, I purchased my AA 6.5 Grendel barrel/bolt combo in 2009 for $269 from Midway. I have no professional relationships with Midway's competitors, and have been an active, satisfied Midway customer since 2003. The fake NiB BCG experience, and removal of my review put my smell-test meter on hyper-sensitive. If you wonder about my motives, know that 20 out of 50 customers (whose reviews are still there) have rated that fake/unsat NiB BCG with 1 star, all stating the same experience I had-flaking of the finish within a few rounds. How many of them would have wasted their money and time if they had seen my review?
I think my initial reaction to the AR-Stoner brand name was, "Oh, before he died, Gene Stoner blessed off on Midway to use his when marketing their own brand of AR parts?" Then there is no claim as such explaining the AR-Stoner name, and I wonder about the motive behind it. This is coming from someone who has spent hours on the phone with Midway and having nothing but a top-notch, professional exchange with them working for a dealer, as well as being a long-time customer. Why does that seem to change when the AR-Stoner brand comes up, at least in my point of view?
Was it done to add more clout to economy products to give them an air of higher quality? Is it an attempt to mimic Reed Knight's Stoner Rifle brand, which he directly worked with Gene Stoner on before his passing? That's just what goes through my mind as someone who has been into AR's since the 1980's. I don't have those answers. The whole thing has a feeling that is out of character for Midway, in my opinion. It's like a great family you love to visit, with a weird uncle who lives in the basement that usually behaves, but occasionally has a spastic outburst of unpredictable profanity and incontinence. If you say anything about it, people in the neighborhood look at you like a turd, as the family is wonderful.
If Liberty is in-fact the source for the barrels, they have a good reputation from the board members, and Steve Satern has said in the past that they are a great button-rifled barrel.
It would be nice if Midway advertised that, with a "Made In USA" flag on the page to give customers that added sense of calm. It likely is a business decision with their volumes to not list the barrel maker, when the time comes for them to have to source from someone else. If the customer is used to seeing one source, then it switches, that can lead to apprehension, even though there is no need as long as the barrel maker is reputable.
For example, when I order barrels from Fulton Armory, they are clearly listed as either Criterion, or not. Criterion makes amazing button-rifled barrels.
Also, Liberty is not a button-rifled version of Satern as many believed, but another company who Satern helped market their barrels, since Liberty didn't have the business infrastructure to market and sell, but they made a nice button-rifled pipe. Steve Satern is well-known among hi-power shooters as a great source for single-point, cut-rifled barrels worthy of national-level competition.
One thing that has come up in this is the 5R rifling engraving. I have only known 5R rifling to be done on single-point, cut-rifled barrels, but I could be mistaken. I have owned several 5R cut-rifled barrels, and am somewhat familiar with the history behind Obermeyer's patented 5R rifling. This is the first I have heard that someone is button-rifling in 5R.
For the record, I purchased my AA 6.5 Grendel barrel/bolt combo in 2009 for $269 from Midway. I have no professional relationships with Midway's competitors, and have been an active, satisfied Midway customer since 2003. The fake NiB BCG experience, and removal of my review put my smell-test meter on hyper-sensitive. If you wonder about my motives, know that 20 out of 50 customers (whose reviews are still there) have rated that fake/unsat NiB BCG with 1 star, all stating the same experience I had-flaking of the finish within a few rounds. How many of them would have wasted their money and time if they had seen my review?
I think my initial reaction to the AR-Stoner brand name was, "Oh, before he died, Gene Stoner blessed off on Midway to use his when marketing their own brand of AR parts?" Then there is no claim as such explaining the AR-Stoner name, and I wonder about the motive behind it. This is coming from someone who has spent hours on the phone with Midway and having nothing but a top-notch, professional exchange with them working for a dealer, as well as being a long-time customer. Why does that seem to change when the AR-Stoner brand comes up, at least in my point of view?
Was it done to add more clout to economy products to give them an air of higher quality? Is it an attempt to mimic Reed Knight's Stoner Rifle brand, which he directly worked with Gene Stoner on before his passing? That's just what goes through my mind as someone who has been into AR's since the 1980's. I don't have those answers. The whole thing has a feeling that is out of character for Midway, in my opinion. It's like a great family you love to visit, with a weird uncle who lives in the basement that usually behaves, but occasionally has a spastic outburst of unpredictable profanity and incontinence. If you say anything about it, people in the neighborhood look at you like a turd, as the family is wonderful.