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No. 109536
ID: 0d01d8
>>109485
Back when they were the Hot New Thing, on the popular Internet gun forums of the day (rec.guns, various mailing lists, etc.) serious QC problems were a common topic of conversation.
In particular the guns have some kind of quick-change barrel system, because the original full-auto Stoner 63 had a quick-change barrel system for the belt-fed SAW variant. Only it was "improved." And some guns were prone to launching their barrels downrange when you lit off the round in the chamber. No, I am not kidding.
There were also headspace problems, barrels with tight chambers resulting in extraction problems, (that $1400 they cost you back in 1999 or so didn't even buy you a chrome-lined barrel), and more.
I think they're a cool design with a Cold War retro feel. They're heavy and solid--seven and a half pounds, my ass, the ones I fingerfucked at gun shows back in the day were more like nine, with a massive receiver made of welded-together castings--and by all accounts if the dice rolled just so and you got a good one they were very rugged, reliable, and accurate, and they were a reasonable choice back when AR15s were almost equally expensive and the only inexpensive 5.56mm semiauto carbine was the Mini-14. But QC was spotty, Robinson Armament's customer service sucked donkey balls, and even back when they were in production there were problems with getting replacement parts. They were tinkering constantly with things like gas port sizes and placement to try to get the damn things to run reliably, so you get replacement barrels with gas ports in different places intended for gas blocks in different places.
And now I can't imagine the spare parts situation can be any better. This course of action is not to be countenanced, good sir. Not to be countenanced.
It'd be one thing if they were going to bring back the M96 in full production, only with a chrome-lined or at least nitrided 1:7" barrel, threaded muzzle, the lightening holes on the sides of the protective "ears" on either side of the rear sight, an HK33 style short birdcage flash suppressor, and maybe a Galil style folding stock. If you're going to go retro go all the way.
But this... what will you do if you get one and it doesn't run, and there are no more spare parts?
$2500 will get you a lot in the way of high-dollar toys these days. I get that the M96 is as close is as probably ever going to exist to a street-legal Stoner 63 clone. But is it going to run, and if it doesn't, will Robinson Armament fix it, or will they tell you it's an ammo problem, like they were infamous for doing back then?
You can get an Armalite AR180B for half that, maybe a third that if you find a used one in good shape at a pawn shop or a gun show, if you want to scratch that piston-driven Cold War 5.56mm rifle itch, and spend the rest of the money on mags and ammo. I'm just saying.
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