Intro:
Here's a mini-review of my AR upper and experience from Hardened Arms (this will be a casual review, I am not an expert). The reason for this review is to help fill the void on the internet of customer experience with Hardened Arms. In doing my research I could only find a few opinions of their products from people who actually used them. A little background of the company, they are a Washington state based manufacturer. They seem to focus on more budget level AR rifles and uppers, but are gradually expanding their product lines to other calibers and feature packages. I can't seem to find where I saw this but, I've read before from them that they manufacture their own barrels, handguards, and some other parts, then outsource the others. They emphasize that they provide quality products at a budget price point along with great customer service. I look at them as competing with companies like Palmetto State Armory and Midway's own AR rifles. You may have seen them spamming sites like SlickGuns with sales. They do seem to partake in the spammy style of constant 'sale' prices and ad's. Personally I think it makes the company look a bit sketchy, but they are a smaller company trying to get the word out so I guess they deserve some understanding there.
Product:
Here is what I ordered (taken from website with description):
"M4 Feed Ramp Flat Top Receiver
Black anodized mil-spec finished upper receiver
Feed ramps for increased feeding reliability on barrel and upper
Laser etched T-Marked upper receiver
4150CMV Stress Relieved 5.56 Barrel
Machined In House
Black Melonite Finish
1/7 Barrel Twist
Chambered in 5.56 NATO (will also fire .223 ammo)
16" M4 Profile barrel with M4 Extension
.750" diameter at gas block
1/2x28 threaded muzzle/barrel
Low profile gas block
Barrel dimpled to secure gas block
Carbine length gas system
A2 flash hider
Tactical Quad Rail free float 10" hand guard WITHOUT end cap"
They seem to have removed the exact upper I bought (it is only in 1/9 twist now and the handguard's venting holes have been changed), but they offer other uppers in 1/7 with different features.
Purchasing:
This was my first (and currently only) AR so to start out I was looking for budget upper to mate with a lower I built. I did some research and decided to risk it, for a bargain, with a company that didn't have a lot of customer experiences out there on the web. I paid $347 (including shipping) for the upper, melonited bcg, and charging handle in April 2016. Prices have since come down more like most things firearm related due to market demand, but at the time it was a good price. The backordered time was 3-4 weeks listed when I ordered. It shipped exactly 3 weeks after I ordered. A small downside to using HA from a New York standpoint is that shipping takes a few days longer than normal simply because they are across the country in Washington, but that's expected going in. Here's a pic of it's arrival:
Fit & Finish:
Overall they are both good. I don't have anything to directly compare it to, but I'll give my general impressions. The finish seemed standard and the coatings even. I was impressed with the BCG. It's melonite finish seemed very slick and the lock up and tolerances seemed solid/good. Throughout my use, I've never encountered any strange burrs or machining marks. The fit to the lower was standard. Neither have adjustable compression nubs (or whatever they're called), so there is a bit of play between them. I generally do not notice it. The rails are numbered every other slot. There was no jump between the receiver and quad rail and the rail was aligned perfectly (using past tense since I've since swapped the handguard out). One thing I've noticed is that the rails they make have slightly less "bite" than the handguard I've since put on (ALG Defense). The positive of that is I never felt that the quad rail tore up my hands at all during use. The possible negative is that it may "grip" onto an attachment slightly less. In my use I have had some sights come loose, but it has been pretty obvious that the mounts themselves had loosened and I don't attribute any fault to the rail. I'd also mention that the quad rail seems quite lightweight. Most of the construction seems pretty standard including: the forward assist, A2 birdcage, charging handle, brass deflector, and dust cover. I'll talk about two things that are a little different. First the barrel nut. It looks like it is either proprietary or possibly a UTG one. It is pretty chunky, I would say in a good way. I don't see how it could ever fail even in hard use. It was a pain to get off, but I was able to use the armorer's wrench to do it. The barrel nut was really on there. I thought I may be damaging the gas tube holes where the wrench contacts, but they seem to be fine. The handguard threads onto the nut and is then held in place by one anti-rotation screw and friction from a collar that is backed into it from behind. Here is an exploded view of the handguard and a view of the face of the barrel nut:
The second point of difference is the flash hider installation. Instead of a crush washer, HA uses a jam nut backed into the flash hider. It works fine, it is just a bit harder to correctly time the flash hider if you need to take it off and put back on. I will say that I think the jam nut is more aesthetically pleasing than a simple crush washer. It adds some smooth transition lines towards the tip of the barrel.
Function:
This is where I had a hiccup that was rectified by the company. Initially I put a cheap red dot on it, bought some M855 ammo, and took it to the range. I had bad ejection problems. The ejection was anemic and I was having about 1 or 2 failures to eject per 10 rounds. I even had some failures to eject when I was hand cycling the action. I contacted the company through e-mail right away, and they got back to me right away. "Good", I thought. At least they were responsive (more responsive than PSA had been when I had a problem), but I was sort of ticked off after waiting a while to receive the backordered upper. They were very apologetic and had me fill out a sheet and send back the upper. Turn-around was about 2 or 2-1/2 weeks IIRC, not too bad considering shipping time both ways. During the repair, the customer service rep called me and asked me for some more info on the problems. Later when the repair was finished, the technician doing the repair left me a voicemail telling me what had been done and that it was running good now. They told me that they had replaced the bolt and... they replaced the standard low-profile gas block with an adjustable one for my trouble. Even though nobody wants to have a faulty product first, I was very pleased with the process and outcome of the service. They were as nice as could be when I spoke with them. After the service, the gun has functioned flawlessly. I have put probably around 600 rounds through it since and have had ZERO malfunctions. Of course I am not torture testing it and I've cleaned it 3 times in those 600 rounds, but zero malf's in 600 is good enough for me to be confident in it's reliability. Accuracy wise it seems to perform satisfactorily. Granted I do not have a gun vise so I am most likely not reaching it's potential, but I am getting about 2-4 MOA with standard brass ammo and I've reached about 1 MOA with higher quality ammo. I was only recently able to start seriously testing the accuracy potential since buying a higher power scope. I'll try to get some consistent groups on paper soon and add the pics. The barrel seems to stabilize everything from 75gr to 55gr, except for one type. It didnt like .223 Federal American Eagle, the stuff that comes in small black boxes, for accuracy but it cycled fine. Overall I'm happy with the accuracy at this price point.
Conclusion:
I think that about covers all the important stuff. After the initial problems got fixed, I am very happy with my purchase. I think Hardened Arms makes a very nice product for the price, and should be considered up against PSA and Midway by anyone looking in the budget level. As for the initial problems, I think it could have happened with any company, but I received noticeably better and nicer customer service from HA than from PSA.
(I might add some more pics in later, also let me know if you see any typos)
Edits:
4/14/17 - corrected description of barrel nut and added some pics of the handguard assembly.
Here's a mini-review of my AR upper and experience from Hardened Arms (this will be a casual review, I am not an expert). The reason for this review is to help fill the void on the internet of customer experience with Hardened Arms. In doing my research I could only find a few opinions of their products from people who actually used them. A little background of the company, they are a Washington state based manufacturer. They seem to focus on more budget level AR rifles and uppers, but are gradually expanding their product lines to other calibers and feature packages. I can't seem to find where I saw this but, I've read before from them that they manufacture their own barrels, handguards, and some other parts, then outsource the others. They emphasize that they provide quality products at a budget price point along with great customer service. I look at them as competing with companies like Palmetto State Armory and Midway's own AR rifles. You may have seen them spamming sites like SlickGuns with sales. They do seem to partake in the spammy style of constant 'sale' prices and ad's. Personally I think it makes the company look a bit sketchy, but they are a smaller company trying to get the word out so I guess they deserve some understanding there.
Product:
Here is what I ordered (taken from website with description):
"M4 Feed Ramp Flat Top Receiver
Black anodized mil-spec finished upper receiver
Feed ramps for increased feeding reliability on barrel and upper
Laser etched T-Marked upper receiver
4150CMV Stress Relieved 5.56 Barrel
Machined In House
Black Melonite Finish
1/7 Barrel Twist
Chambered in 5.56 NATO (will also fire .223 ammo)
16" M4 Profile barrel with M4 Extension
.750" diameter at gas block
1/2x28 threaded muzzle/barrel
Low profile gas block
Barrel dimpled to secure gas block
Carbine length gas system
A2 flash hider
Tactical Quad Rail free float 10" hand guard WITHOUT end cap"
They seem to have removed the exact upper I bought (it is only in 1/9 twist now and the handguard's venting holes have been changed), but they offer other uppers in 1/7 with different features.
Purchasing:
This was my first (and currently only) AR so to start out I was looking for budget upper to mate with a lower I built. I did some research and decided to risk it, for a bargain, with a company that didn't have a lot of customer experiences out there on the web. I paid $347 (including shipping) for the upper, melonited bcg, and charging handle in April 2016. Prices have since come down more like most things firearm related due to market demand, but at the time it was a good price. The backordered time was 3-4 weeks listed when I ordered. It shipped exactly 3 weeks after I ordered. A small downside to using HA from a New York standpoint is that shipping takes a few days longer than normal simply because they are across the country in Washington, but that's expected going in. Here's a pic of it's arrival:
Fit & Finish:
Overall they are both good. I don't have anything to directly compare it to, but I'll give my general impressions. The finish seemed standard and the coatings even. I was impressed with the BCG. It's melonite finish seemed very slick and the lock up and tolerances seemed solid/good. Throughout my use, I've never encountered any strange burrs or machining marks. The fit to the lower was standard. Neither have adjustable compression nubs (or whatever they're called), so there is a bit of play between them. I generally do not notice it. The rails are numbered every other slot. There was no jump between the receiver and quad rail and the rail was aligned perfectly (using past tense since I've since swapped the handguard out). One thing I've noticed is that the rails they make have slightly less "bite" than the handguard I've since put on (ALG Defense). The positive of that is I never felt that the quad rail tore up my hands at all during use. The possible negative is that it may "grip" onto an attachment slightly less. In my use I have had some sights come loose, but it has been pretty obvious that the mounts themselves had loosened and I don't attribute any fault to the rail. I'd also mention that the quad rail seems quite lightweight. Most of the construction seems pretty standard including: the forward assist, A2 birdcage, charging handle, brass deflector, and dust cover. I'll talk about two things that are a little different. First the barrel nut. It looks like it is either proprietary or possibly a UTG one. It is pretty chunky, I would say in a good way. I don't see how it could ever fail even in hard use. It was a pain to get off, but I was able to use the armorer's wrench to do it. The barrel nut was really on there. I thought I may be damaging the gas tube holes where the wrench contacts, but they seem to be fine. The handguard threads onto the nut and is then held in place by one anti-rotation screw and friction from a collar that is backed into it from behind. Here is an exploded view of the handguard and a view of the face of the barrel nut:
The second point of difference is the flash hider installation. Instead of a crush washer, HA uses a jam nut backed into the flash hider. It works fine, it is just a bit harder to correctly time the flash hider if you need to take it off and put back on. I will say that I think the jam nut is more aesthetically pleasing than a simple crush washer. It adds some smooth transition lines towards the tip of the barrel.
Function:
This is where I had a hiccup that was rectified by the company. Initially I put a cheap red dot on it, bought some M855 ammo, and took it to the range. I had bad ejection problems. The ejection was anemic and I was having about 1 or 2 failures to eject per 10 rounds. I even had some failures to eject when I was hand cycling the action. I contacted the company through e-mail right away, and they got back to me right away. "Good", I thought. At least they were responsive (more responsive than PSA had been when I had a problem), but I was sort of ticked off after waiting a while to receive the backordered upper. They were very apologetic and had me fill out a sheet and send back the upper. Turn-around was about 2 or 2-1/2 weeks IIRC, not too bad considering shipping time both ways. During the repair, the customer service rep called me and asked me for some more info on the problems. Later when the repair was finished, the technician doing the repair left me a voicemail telling me what had been done and that it was running good now. They told me that they had replaced the bolt and... they replaced the standard low-profile gas block with an adjustable one for my trouble. Even though nobody wants to have a faulty product first, I was very pleased with the process and outcome of the service. They were as nice as could be when I spoke with them. After the service, the gun has functioned flawlessly. I have put probably around 600 rounds through it since and have had ZERO malfunctions. Of course I am not torture testing it and I've cleaned it 3 times in those 600 rounds, but zero malf's in 600 is good enough for me to be confident in it's reliability. Accuracy wise it seems to perform satisfactorily. Granted I do not have a gun vise so I am most likely not reaching it's potential, but I am getting about 2-4 MOA with standard brass ammo and I've reached about 1 MOA with higher quality ammo. I was only recently able to start seriously testing the accuracy potential since buying a higher power scope. I'll try to get some consistent groups on paper soon and add the pics. The barrel seems to stabilize everything from 75gr to 55gr, except for one type. It didnt like .223 Federal American Eagle, the stuff that comes in small black boxes, for accuracy but it cycled fine. Overall I'm happy with the accuracy at this price point.
Conclusion:
I think that about covers all the important stuff. After the initial problems got fixed, I am very happy with my purchase. I think Hardened Arms makes a very nice product for the price, and should be considered up against PSA and Midway by anyone looking in the budget level. As for the initial problems, I think it could have happened with any company, but I received noticeably better and nicer customer service from HA than from PSA.
(I might add some more pics in later, also let me know if you see any typos)
Edits:
4/14/17 - corrected description of barrel nut and added some pics of the handguard assembly.
Last edited:
