Bushmaster A3 16in Carbine information

[Rusty R.]

I posted this on the Simi-auto page and they suggested I come here and ask it. I am planning to buy a Bushmaster A3 16inch Carbine and would like to know your opinions, experiences, thoughts so on and so forth about Bushmasters. Particularly the A3 Carbine. Thanks

[gregdemars]

I recently purchased a bushy A2 AK "shorty" carbine. wonderful weapon. Like the handling. About $1000.00. From what I've heard most of the current AR copies are all up there in quality and dependability. I personnally like the bushmaster. My only gripe (but I understand they're all like this) is the wobble where the stock and receiver meet. Have'nt heard of a good fix for this yet.

[Mikey]

gregdemars:  if youhave wobble where the stock meets the action, glassbed it to take the wobble out.  

There is absolutely no reason why you cannot glassbed the stock on a semi auto, or lever or mil-surp 2 piece stock.  Lots of folks who own semi-autos think they have to live with what they get, while what they get may be no better or worse than any other factory stock.  Please understand that it may not take much bedding work at all, or even much stock preparation at all.  You biggest concern might be squaring the stock where it fits to the action before applying the bedding compound.

Now, this is just my 2 cents worth, although I have experiences with both the AK and SKS actions in this regard, and the bedding stiffened the stock fit right up.  You might be able to get some better ideas or better information by posing this question to gunnut69, the moderator at the Gunsmithing forum.  HTH.  Mikey.

[gregdemars]

Are you familiar with  bushmasters or AR's? The wobble comes from the design. When you remove the bolt, there is a pin near the rear end of the receiver that you remove and the barrel tips down to remove the bolt. I heard somewhere that someone filled in this area with an O ring but to me seems like a temporairy fix. This is not an area that you can glass-bed.

[Mikey]

gregdemars:  regrettably, my familiarity with the AR coems from the battlefield and not the gunsmithing table but there is better news...  A ways up the forum list one of the responders to your question about wobble on another forum provided a better answer - an accu-wedge, and even gave a link to where you can learn about them or obtain one.

That's a far sight better than the advice I gave you and I hope you find one of those gizzies and that it works out for you.  Let us know if it does.  Mikey.