The last rifle in our blaster cage match was the PSA. Palmetto State Armory is one of the largest companies on Earth for AR parts. They made their fortune by providing parts and kits at an affordable price. This also leads me to an important point. Many people are quick to dismiss a product purely based on price. This is the truth for both low-priced guns as well as very expensive guns. That can be a mistake, and I encourage you to look beyond price. This is exactly the case with our last gun.
The rifle we tested from Palmetto State Armory was actually one of the kits they sell. They were kind enough to send the rifle already assembled, which saved a great deal of time. As a kit it is labeled “PSA 18″ Rifle-Length .223 Wylde 1/7 Stainless Steel 15″ Lightweight M-lok MOE EPT Rifle Kit w/MBUS Sight Set.” For the sake of this article, let’s just refer to it as the PSA-18. This rifle shined during testing, and all three evaluators saw this as the bargain of the century at $899. The gun comes with nice features like Magpul furniture and a PSA enhanced polished trigger. It also included an 18-inch 416R stainless steel barrel, chambered in .223 Wylde, with a 1:7 twist, M4 barrel extension and a rifle-length gas system.
Advertisement — Continue Reading Below
We ran this gun with a Leupold VX-Freedom AR 1.5-4×20, which fit it very well. In every category the rifle performed like a champ. It even included backup sights, which helped it point wise. Accuracy was 1 inch at 100 yards, and it shot well at all distances we tested. When it was finally parked on the bench after testing, I could not help but think that it was one hell of a gun, and not just for the money.
