Kevin James from United States, IN Public Profile

The description online and the package both say this flash hider has a nitride finish, which would be shiny and black as shown in the picture online. This flash hider has a dull dark gray finish which appears to be manganese phosphate, absolutely not nitrided. My 9mm AR pistol has a nitrided barrel, and I'm trying to get a flash hider that matches, but this is now the third brand of 1/2"-28 threaded 9mm A2 flash hider I have purchased that has been advertised as nitrided but not finished as-described, Aero Precision APRH200031C and a store-brand elsewhere being the other offenders. Otherwise, it looks fine, so if you want manganese phosphate, go for it, but it's useless to me.

The description on Optics Planet says this flash hider is anodized. Obviously that's wrong because you don't anodize steel, so i looked it up on Aero Precision's website. They say it's nitrided, and the picture shows a shiny black finish, which is exactly what i need for my nitrided 9mm AR-15 pistol barrel. What i received has a dull gray manganese phosphate finish, and, yes, it was in a sealed Aero Precision package. I could have gotten the wrong thing for half the price from a different brand. Anyway, i guess this would be fine if you needed to match a barrel with a manganese phosphate finish, but i dont think I've ever seen a 9mm AR-15 barrel in any finish other than nitrided.

I have purchased several of these Aero Precision rifle buffer kits in the past, including one about a month ago. I ordered another one last week and just got it yesterday, and the buffer tube is not the same. The previous ones had no tool marks whatsoever, had thick satin black anodizing, and had the correct mil-spec dark gray molybdenum disulphide solid film lubricant coating. The latest one has obvious machining marks its entire length, thin and shiny anodizing, and no solid film lubricant coating.  I contacted Aero Precision and confirmed that what I received is what they "usually include" in the kit.  The guy claimed to have no knowledge of the parts changing, but he did say it's a part that they outsource instead of manufacturing in-house. I've run into similar issues of receiving inferior parts from "manufacturers" who just buy parts and stuff them into their boxes. This latest one might be fine, but I don't like it.

I've tried this on multiple upper receivers including Aero Precision (mil-spec and M4E1), Anderson, WMD, store-brand generics, anodized, Cerakoted, and raw, and it doesn't fit any of them. The radius on the the upper ends is the same as on a mil-spec door, but the mil-spec door is a flimsy piece of sheet steel. The radius is simply too sharp for the thicker billet aluminum to fit into the recess on the side of any upper receiver. The Timber Creek billet ejection port door has a larger radius, so it fits, but it's about 50/50 on actually latching and even less on staying latched, so I can't win with a billet door....

The detent holes are drilled way too deep, like 1/16" too deep, so the detent spring loses force, and the safety selector is loose on the detent. I'm not sure if "safe" is really safe or if "fire" is really fire or if it would even stay at the selection when in use. I tried a couple of other safety selectors with the same lower, detent, spring, and grip along with trying it all on a different lower, and everything else worked fine. Unfortunately, I bought this seven months ago for a build that is taking forever, and I just discovered the problem yesterday, so I can't return it.

This was my third and final attempt at getting a "budget" carry handle, and I'm sure Optics Planet is tired of me returning these things. Apparently I'm just going to have to drop $100 on a good one to get something that's actually functional. I've definitely seen worse carry handles than this one, but it still has several problems. The sight base and the aperture are aluminum instead of steel like they would be on a mil-spec sight, and the range knob has no way to adjust its zero. The parts in the pictures look "correct", so I'm wondering if they cost-reduced it and haven't updated the pictures to show the new cheapened parts. The aperture has the finish worn off from rubbing on the base and the spring, and the side of the base has the finish worn off from the windage knob rubbing on it. Why is the finish worn off three places on a brand new sight? The detents on the windage adjustment are so weak that switching the aperture changes the windage setting, and the windage knob itself is a little loose on the shaft. The Picatinny rail mount must not be machined parallel to the handle, because when it's mounted on the upper receiver, the handle is noticeably crooked, so the rear sight appears to be misaligned by about 1/8" to the left of the front sight. Finally, there is a blob of shiny black stuff on the front of the handle that looks like somebody touched up damaged anodizing with paint.

First off, I have no idea what the previous reviewer is talking about regarding it not looking right. The forged aluminum carry handle itself is identical every other good quality USA-made carry handle I've ever seen. Perhaps he's expecting a flat-top receiver with a detachable handle to look identical to an M16A2 receiver. That said, this arrived missing parts, specifically the large coil spring that goes vertically in the bottom of the sight base and the small coil spring and ball bearing that go in the left side of the sight to keep it from rattling side to side. I have plenty of spare sight parts, so I was just going to fix it, but then I noticed that they had cheaped out on a couple of things. There are no marks whatsoever across the back for windage adjustment, so there is no easy way to return it to zero or any other setting. The range knob is a single piece instead of having a separate index ring and locking screw, so there's no way to adjust it for zero. The 6/3 marking which should be pointed left with the sight base bottomed points nowhere near left. I wanted to like this thing since it's made in USA and looks and feels like a quality item, but between the missing parts and intentionally deleted features to save a buck on production cost, I can't.

I wasn't expecting the best for $28, but I was at least expecting it to be functional. The aluminum handle itself seems okay, but all of the sight components are junk. The roll pin that holds the windage knob on the adjustment screw is too small and pushed right out. The only thing keeping it from simply falling out was the fact that it was smashed and bent in the middle. The windage detents are so weak that switching the aperture changes the windage setting. The range knob would not adjust all the way up or down. It would stop a couple of clicks above the bottom position and then would stop an entire turn below the fully raised position. Beyond that, everything is wobbly -- the sight base is loose in the handle, the knobs are both loose, the windage adjustment screw is loose in the sight base, etc. This might be okay for an airsoft gun or a wall ornament, but don't put it on a real gun that may be needed to protect your life, family, or property. Maybe you could swap out all the sight components for good ones, or maybe you could clean and adjust these parts to at least make them functional, but it would probably be cheaper, easier, and safer to just buy a good carry handle assembly for $75.

I bought one of each color -- black, tan, and green. It's hard to fault a decoration/toy, unless it's truly defective, but the black one was missing the stitching on the MOLLE webbing. I have returned it and am waiting for the exchange to ship. Hopefully they remembered to sew it together.

I bought this selector for "correct" appearance on an M4A1 clone. The detent snaps positively into place at the stops on this selector, but it feels and sounds like there's gravel in it when moving between the stops. Upon closer inspection, the groove that the detent rides in looks like it was gnawed out with a dull butter knife. There are pits and ridges that are never going "break in" and allow smooth operation. Since I'm past the return date and out $23, I'll have to try to smooth it out with a die grinder. Or throw it away. I should have paid attention to the previous reviews and not bought this junk.