lol, touché WM...I stayed out pretty late, and was up 'till about 3:00 am playing around with it (hope I don't go blind
)
Overall, I love size, look, and feel of the Scout. It feels solid in my shoulder and my cheekweld lines up well with the sights and scope (UTG 3-9x32), but I might add a riser down the road. The bolt is a little rough and gritty, but that should smooth out over time and with a good cleaning - it feels easy and natural to extract and feed - there are just some areas that need polishing and attention.
Encountered a few problems right out of the box, but I am already in discussion with Joseph @ Maverick to resolve.
- There was no sling in the box, nor was there a threaded cap for the muzzle - Joseph is sending replacements for those items
- The bolt has some marring and bad machine-work on one of the feed "nubs" (see picture)
- The mag release lever system is f*cked (pardon my French)
- The lever itself is either bent or slightly curved which does not allow it to move freely/unobstructed without catching on the poly channel it sits in. This causes it to "stick" on the side-latch (for DPMS/SR25 mags) after depressing the lever, meaning the mag will not lock in place unless you push the mag release lever forward to force the latch out.
- With the magwell seated in place, depressing the release does not put enough pressure on the forward latch (M1A-style mags). I pushed as hard as I could and it would not release the latch. I removed the magwell and thoroughly inspected the whole release/latch system - which is a fairly simple design, but requires exact tolerances to work correctly. With the magwell removed, the mag release lever itself can be depressed even further and the forward latch functions properly - but this causes the lever to protrude too far out (on the side).
This explains what it happening - the lever is hitting the inside "channel" of the body before reaching full depression, so it does not release the forward latch. I will be taking more pictures and possibly a video, and provide the info. to Joseph/Mossberg for review and hope they can send a different mag release and/or magwell to try.
Snapped a few "beauty pics" this morning. She sure is purdy
Bolt Feed "Nub"
I won't be able to take it to range for at least 2 more weeks, until my hand is healed, so I have time to wait and make sure any little issues are (hopefully) resolved. Due to the mag release issue, I wasn't able to (fully) test which mags fit the best, but initial fitment proved that the CMI M1A mag fit perfectly with absolutely no wobble. Pmag was the least stable, with front/back wobble - but that should not affect feeding.
I will be taking more pictures and possibly a video of the mag-release problems to provide to Joseph/Mossberg for review; I'm hoping they can at least send a replacement Mag Release Lever and/or magwell to see if that resolves the magazine problem, but I may have to send the bolt in for inspection if they opt to replace that.
I also plan on installing a CHP Extended release when those are ready, so I am not too disheartened by this problem -- as long as it is not symptomatic of a bigger underlying issue.
All in all, I'm happy with the rifle, and I realize that Mossberg can be hit-or-miss in the Quality Control Dept.....they like to keep us on our toes