AAC quality still good?

[BlakeJ]

Have there been any problems with AAC since they have moved locations? I haven't had any problems with my post Remington AAC's vs the pre Remington ones.

[Chuck88]

I hear it is, but I still won't buy any of their products since their acquisition by Freedom Group/Cerberus.
I do everything I can to keep my money out of Steve Feinberg's filthy paws.

[rimshaker]

Quality wise, yes their products are still top notch.

Innovation wise.... I'd say they dropped the ball the past few years.

[sillycon]

This past weekend a gentleman showed up at an event I was RO'ing with a brand new AAC .45 can (forget the model) on his .45 pistol. Unfortunately, it was discovered the hard way that it had been inadvertently assembled with a 9mm end cap at the factory.

He got about 10 rounds through it before the end cap and baffles took a ride down range.

All but one of the baffles was found, and none were damaged nor was the tube hurt -- the end cap had been unscrewed by the bullets as they passed through it. The end cap, minus some finish wear on the exit hole, was also not particularly damaged.

Based on that, it's probably safe to say that AAC's materials/manufacturing quality is still top-shelf.

[JasonM]

it had been inadvertently assembled with a 9mm end cap at the factory.

completely possible. s--t happens.

the end cap had been unscrewed by the bullets as they passed through it

sounds suspect.

The end cap, minus some finish wear on the exit hole, was also not particularly damaged.

uh, sure. 10 rounds of 45 made it through a supposedly 9mm endcap and only provided slight finish wear?

AAC's quality is still top notch. There's a lot of opinions about them as a company, and many of those are fair, but the product seems to me to have been improving in terms of consistent quality and certainly availability.

[sillycon]

it had been inadvertently assembled with a 9mm end cap at the factory.

completely possible. s--t happens.

the end cap had been unscrewed by the bullets as they passed through it

sounds suspect.

The end cap, minus some finish wear on the exit hole, was also not particularly damaged.

uh, sure. 10 rounds of 45 made it through a supposedly 9mm endcap and only provided slight finish wear?

AAC's quality is still top notch. There's a lot of opinions about them as a company, and many of those are fair, but the product seems to me to have been improving in terms of consistent quality and certainly availability.

You're free to pose your own theory of how the end cap and baffles came out without ripping out the threads or bursting the tube, but other than the end cap being unscrewed, none of the half dozen or so 07's, 01's, machinists, and engineers that looked at it immediately after the fact could think of one. Also, given that the RH rotation of the bullet from the barrel corresponds to the direction in which the end cap must rotate to be unscrewed, and there will clearly be friction between a .451" bullet and a <.451" hole...

Not to mention, it's rather rude to put words in another's mouth; I didn't say "only slight finish wear" - I said other that some wear on the finish, the end cap wasn't particularly damaged. E.g. While the anodizing got screwed up (primarily on the inside of the endcap where the bullet would have struck), it did not result in catastrophic failure of (or catastrophic damage to) the end cap. I'm sure the hole was a few thousandths larger, and maybe even a bit out of round (though not to the naked eye), but after the "event" you still couldn't fit a .45 bullet through the hole.

Considering the similar result with folks putting 9mm through .223 flash hiders, I'm not sure why the lack of a catastrophic failure is so surprising.

What's next? Blue barrels are safe targets and can never cause a ricochet?

If so, I've got a bridge to sell you.

[66427vette]

Jason is one of a hand full of people with a brain left on here no reason to be a smart ass to him . Do you even know who he is or use to work for?

[JasonM]

Jason is one of a hand full of people with a brain left on here no reason to be a smart ass to him . Do you even know who he is or use to work for?

thanks vette, it's all good.

silly- Im not putting words in your mouth. I just don't find the story terribly believable. shooting an overbore bullet through a smaller aperture endcap will not wear the anodizing, it'll blow it out, causing a good bit of damage.

What was the outcome? AAC take care of the guy?

[samson7x]

This past weekend a gentleman showed up at an event I was RO'ing with a brand new AAC .45 can (forget the model) on his .45 pistol. Unfortunately, it was discovered the hard way that it had been inadvertently assembled with a 9mm end cap at the factory.

He got about 10 rounds through it before the end cap and baffles took a ride down range.

All but one of the baffles was found, and none were damaged nor was the tube hurt -- the end cap had been unscrewed by the bullets as they passed through it. The end cap, minus some finish wear on the exit hole, was also not particularly damaged.

Based on that, it's probably safe to say that AAC's materials/manufacturing quality is still top-shelf.

So he shot 10 rounds of .45 through a 9mm endcap before it launched? I'm having a hard time believing that...

[Sigproshooter]

Calipers are amazing!!!!!!

[Bendersquint]

This past weekend a gentleman showed up at an event I was RO'ing with a brand new AAC .45 can (forget the model) on his .45 pistol. Unfortunately, it was discovered the hard way that it had been inadvertently assembled with a 9mm end cap at the factory.

He got about 10 rounds through it before the end cap and baffles took a ride down range.

All but one of the baffles was found, and none were damaged nor was the tube hurt -- the end cap had been unscrewed by the bullets as they passed through it. The end cap, minus some finish wear on the exit hole, was also not particularly damaged.

Based on that, it's probably safe to say that AAC's materials/manufacturing quality is still top-shelf.

Sorry man, I am having a VERY hard time believing that even remotely.

I have fired 45's through 9mm cans and 9mm endcaps and there is ALWAYS damage 100% of the time. Endcaps do not pick and choose when to allow a larger bullet than the bore of the endcap to pass without damage.

Now if you said it was a .40 endcap the bore would be about .01 larger than the bullet so thats believable.

[Ookster]

A little off topic maybe, but I can vouch for their customer service still being top quality with a recent experience.

Last fall my Element2 started keyholing rounds in paper targets pretty bad. There appeared (to my untrained eye) to be a tiny ding in the scoop of the last baffle before the end cap. I contacted AAC customer service and Nick Hughes responded immediately and sent me a prepaid return shipping label. They fixed the issue and returned it to me good as new in about a week and a half. Didn't cost me a penny for shipping either way. That kind of experience makes me feel good about my couple AAC purchases, and I'd buy from them again.

[cdhknives]

I can't vouch for their suppressors, but I had a heck of a time dealing with bad 1:8 308Win barrels from them last year. After a lot of arguing and them even examining the barrel (they insisted my gunsmith headspaced it long...if you're gonna make stuff up don't make up something so easily checked) they finally replaced it. The new one was long shanked and had to be shortened a few thou (thank goodness for carbide tooling, their nitride is tough) to torque to the recoil lug properly. After all that it is a pretty decent rifle.

[sillycon]

Bender, you know, it may very well have been a .40 end cap. I took it at the dealers word (he came out to the event after the owner had the can come apart and called him a bit unhappy) that it was a 9mm end cap (as I was in the midst of running a squad it didn't cross my mind to measure it and verify the claim). All I know for fact is that a .45 round still wouldn't fit through the hole (I tried), the cap wasn't particularly screwed up (e.g. no catastrophic failure, no cracks, etc.) but the inside of the cap was clearly beaten up around the hole, and had NO anodizing left what so ever for about 1/8" around the hole. 10 rounds were fired before things flew down range (a squad of 9 shooters and 3 or so RO's watched it all happen), and both the endcap threads and tube threads were intact (along with one baffle going missing).

Given those facts, as I said before, the best we could come up with was that the cap unscrewed as it extruded the "over-sized" bullets.

I wouldn't believe it either if I hadn't seen it, to be quite honest.

Regarding the outcome of the AAC can, as I am not the dealer nor am I the owner, I don't know. We'll possibly hear from either the dealer or the shooter at our next match, but that won't be until April. I can't imagine them NOT taking care of it though, but maybe that's a jaded view based on my experiences with my dealings with Henry/SWR, SilencerCo, and Stalking Rhino.

So far as my "being a smart ass" with the barrel comment, my point was simply that there are things which, while they may be seemingly implausible, they are in fact possible. I can't tell you how many folks I've heard say a bullet won't ricochet off a plastic barrel. Sadly, they're mistaken. It may be anecdotal, but I've personally seen it happen and a buddy of mine has the bullet, scar on his neck, and hospital bills to show for it (and I'm sure he's not the only one ever hit by a plastic barrel ricochet).