[Dire_Wolf]

His hinge plate broke, as I recall... and at one game, I was using his lower assembly for the trigger mechanics, and within 15 shots, my hinge plate broke too.

However, MY lower assembly has one of the fixes suggested in the WETTI thread... a chunk of PVC cut to fit into the back of the lower and bear MOST of the impact from the bolt. (I bought it that way, I didn't install it)

The bolt catch still works, and i've NEVER had a hinge plate break when i was using this mod... the bolt doesn't hit the t-bar thing, so doesn't exert the force on the hingeplate. This puts the force on both the part 27 and hingeplate because of the rear connection, AND the front disassembly pin and the METAL hole that it goes through, connected to the frame.

The only real issue I've had with my scar is the one it came with, a trigger assembly that couldn't fire semi because of a worn trigger. The PDW and M4 both have the option of hardened triggers to go along with hardened hammers, firing pins, sears, etc... but nobody manufactures a hardened trigger for the scar, which is the only different piece between the two trigger assemblies.

It's handled both CO2 mags AND propane, without any other issues... though I haven't used the open bolt kit. The brass tube is visible, sure, but only from the side you're not on.