Alex Robinson Comments Re: The XCR Rifles and Customer Service

I was reading The Firearm Blog post on the 7.62x51NATO XCR, and there was a comment left with a link to this post on the XCR Forum from Alex Robinson, the man behind Robinson Armament Company.

"The fact is that almost every 'new' rifle out there is based on someone else's work.   The XCR is not.  It is truly unique.   Yes, it borrows some concepts from other rifles, but each part had to be designed without copying anything else to get the result we wanted.   In short, Robinson Armament dared to challenge the establishment with a very different rifle.

Robinson Armament's efforts should have been embraced.  However, from the beginning, we have (sic, sentence structure) nothing but crap on the internet.  I distinctly remember posts on AR-15.com shortly after I announced the XCR.  The post (sic) were that it was "Vaporware".  Other posts exclaimed that it would never be built or never work as promised.  Such posts made it very difficult to get the XCR off the ground and made people very skeptical of the new XCR.

Other posts exclaimed that we were going out of business.  It seem (sic) that the whole rifle world was against us.  I have often wondered why so much negativity for a new weapon platforms (sic)?  It is as though people really don't want any new platforms.   Thee (sic) people claim to want the best but all they do is whine.  It is no wonder to me that others don't venture out with new designs - they are shot down before they begin."


"First, when you call for service, be polite.  If you are not polite to my staff, I guaranty you will have a pleasant experience.  Remember the old saying, 'You can attract more files (sic) with honey that (sic) with vinegar.'  If you call with an attitude, my staff has been instructed to put you on the back burner.  If you are nice and polite, you will get quicker service."


"Second, please read the manual carefully.  I know it's boring but there's important information there.  Many people do not understand that you need to set the gas correctly for function and durability.  It's really quite simple - put it on the setting that throws the brass 8 to 15 feet from the rifle for any given ammo.  Do not just leave the gas system on the highest setting,  If you do, for some ammo it will kick like hell, throw your brass 40 feet, give you trigger slap, and damage your recoil buffer (a cheap part).

Third, please send us the following information:

Name, Address, Email and Cell number;
Serial Number;
Signed Copy of your warranty Registration found in the last pages of the Operator's Manual; and
A complete description of the problem, BE BRIEF.  If you write and essay about your vast knowledge of firearms base (sic) on your long time relationship with your AR-15, we won't read it.

We will authorize the return to us of part or all of your firearm.  WE DO NOT PAY FOR SHIPPING TO US.

Fourth, if you post a bunch of whiny petty negative stuff here or anywhere, I guaranty very slow service.  I have made that a policy.  Yes, we've made lots of mistakes with service but that is behind us."


"We appreciate those who stand by and support us.  They are true patriots.  We have to question the motives of those who continue to tear us down on this forum.  They cannot stop us. Their petty feeble minds are easily exposed.  The XCR will gain momentum until it covers the whole earth.  There is no other platform like it and it is the best."

Yikes!!!

Although I think the Robinson XCR is a great design, I had serious concerns about parts availability, and customer service.  I decided that buying an XCR was a risk that I didn't want to take.  I had no idea that the customer service situation was as bad as this.

Thank You Precision Reflex, Inc. (PRI)

A couple weekends ago I broke a couple pins off the PRI AR-15 barrel nut wrench I was using. It's about as tough a tool as the application allows, but the barrel nut of the 9mm RRA upper was being really stubborn. I used the e-mail form on the PRI website, asking for a couple replacement pins, and the next day I had an e-mail from Tony Holdren at PRI. I sent him a few pictures of the broken wrench and he said to send it in, and they'd replace it. So I sent it Priority Mail last Tuesday, and had a new one back via UPS this Wednesday. I've had the barrel nut soaking with Kroil for a while. Wish me luck.

M&P 9 Pro Is Back From S&W

Aha!!  My M&P will now eject brass without pissing me off!  Similar to my 1911, except for the vigor of the throw, the brass is going out at around 4 to 5 o'clock, rather than 5 to 7 o'clock like it was doing before.

A note that followed the pistol home read:

REPAIRED: BARREL MODIFICATION

REPAIRED: REPLACE EXTRACTOR

REPAIRED: INSPECTED/TESTED & PASSED

I'm not sure what they did with the barrel.  It looks the same to me, with no obvious signs of modification.

I did have one rather odd malfunction while testing it after I got it back.  I pulled, and pulled, and pulled on the trigger, and it didn't fire.  The striker wasn't cocked?  I went to rack the slide and it was sticky, but with a sharp tug I got the round out of the chamber.  I loaded the round back into the mag, and continued shooting until the pistol was empty.  I didn't think to look at the round that it hung up on.  Hopefully there was just a burr on the brass casing that was holding the slide out of battery, keeping it from firing.  I dunno.  If it happens again, I'll note it.

Reading through the Pistol-Training.com blog's M&P torture test posts, it looks like Todd had a similar problem, with the trigger not resetting.  Weird.

I plan on taking a couple carbines out next time I go shooting, so it may be almost a month before I get to shoot the M&P again.  I have an LMT upper that didn't pass with a headspace GO gage, but seems to work with a carbine buffer, if not the "H" buffer.  The tech guy at LMT said the headspace is supposed to be tight, although it seems strange that it wouldn't pass with the GO gage.  I dunno, I'll have to see if it breaks in a bit or just functions anyway.