TYPE-A 14.5" Pro Carbine 1-Year Review (Part 2) -The Firearm Blog

TYPE-A is a premium/high-end AR-15 manufacturer based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They offer a variety of rifles and a few different calibers. The rifle I am reviewing here is a 14.5″ Pro Carbine with a pinned and welded Warcomp wrapped in 50 shades of FDE. This is Part 2 of this review. Part 1 is located here.

Type A @ TFB:

Accuracy

The overall accuracy of this rifle has been outstanding in my opinion. This rifle comes with a 14.5-light-weight contoured barrel. It is comprised of 416R stainless steel and the barrel has a 1:7 twist rate. In the last year of shooting this rifle, I have been almost exclusively using Winchester 65 grain, M855 green tip, and a few other random loads thrown in there. I have had no problems squeezing out 1.25” groupings at 100 yards. This rifle is definitely more accurate than I am and I did most of my initial accuracy testing with an EOTech EXPS3 and then a Leupold Mark 5HD 2-10. Overall, I would say, the accuracy is what you would expect out of a mid-tier to high-end AR-15.

Maintenance

Having an Army background, I can’t tell you how many times I have cleaned disgusting bolt carrier groups from M4s and other AR variant rifles over the years. I used to spend hours cleaning my rifle in the military to get it so that it was what I perceived to be perfectly clean. I would then hand my rifle to my drill sergeant for him to find the most minute piece of dirt or gunk, and make me clean the whole thing again. For this reason, I really hate cleaning rifles, especially AR-15s.

I’m happy to report that on the 14.5″ Pro Carbine, maintenance is much easier at least in regards to the bolt carrier group. The BCG has a titanium nitride coding with a rim polish, and while I thought that nitride coatings were a bit of a gimmick for many years, I am enthusiastic and happy to say that I was wrong and they’re awesome. It really is amazing when you can go out and shoot all day and then put the tiniest little bit of oil on a rag, and bring all of the grit and grime and carbon off of your bolt carrier group in a matter of seconds. For this reason, maintenance on this rifle is a dream and I’m not sure I’m ever going to own another AR-15 that doesn’t have a titanium nitride BCG. Also, if the gold coding is a little bit too Gotti for you, you can get it in black

Reliability

Over the past year or so I have put about 1200 rounds through this rifle. Most of that was range time but I did also get a chance to take it out to the Tacticle Games in South Carolina this past September. I’m happy to report that I have had zero malfunctions with this rifle and I mean zero. While I have been keeping up with cleaning and maintenance after the range, I’m still pretty impressed that I have not had a single failure to go in the battery or double feed. I did get this gun pretty dirty on several occasions.

I have also been using high-quality magazines and have pretty much been exclusively using OKAY Industry Surefeeds and Brownell’s STANAG magazines. This rifle did ship with one Magpull 30-round magazine and while that magazine feeds fine, I have noticed that the magazine catch on the mag has begun to sheer and loose material. This has led to the magazine falling out of the rifle a number of times. This isn’t an issue with the rifle as it’s more of an issue with the magazine in my opinion. I have not had a chance to run this rifle suppressed but again, I’ve had zero malfunctions at this point in time and I’m really impressed with that.

Shooting

Being someone who has shot a lot of AR-15s, I can tell you this rifle is very pleasant to shoot. The recoil impulse is surprisingly mild and that is certainly in no small part due to the muzzle device. I don’t have any time with the standard muzzle device that TYPE-A ships on these rifles. I did opt for a Surefire Warcomp to be attached to the end of the barrel. This was an add-on extra from the factory and cost me an additional $150 I think but it’s been a wonderful addition to the rifle.

Every time I let one of my friends borrow this rifle to shoot it either at the range or at an event, they always say the same thing to me “Man, I like the trigger”. The 3 1/2-pound trigger on this rifle is really nice. The trigger does not have a lot of take up to get to the wall then the break is very easy to predict. The reset is relatively short with a very nice audible click. I like the trigger a lot and I think a lot of other people do too. A lot of the other reviews I’ve heard of this rifle it seems that people get this rifle with the intent of switching the trigger out for something nicer and then find that either this trigger is good enough or it’s much nicer than expected.

Accessories/Modifications

Like most AR-15s these days, this rifle does not come with iron sights so you’re going to either need to get yourself a red dot or buy yourself a set of iron sights.

Here’s a quick list of some of the accessories that I am currently running on this rifle:

Cost

Is this rifle expensive? Yes, it is expensive. Is this a rifle for beginners? No, it is not. To me, this rifle has enough quality parts, craftsmanship, and uniqueness to it to make it well worth its price tag. It’s not really a custom-built rifle but you can get so many different parts on the rifle swapped out for other options that may be more to your liking. The rifle comes in a few colors, but for a small additional price, you can have it in whatever color you want and that includes any of the components. There is a small QR and cage code on the rifle so that if you ever have to send it back to TYPE-A for maintenance or adding something to the rifle, they know exactly where it came from and who’s been using it and I think that’s a nice touch. I hate talking about cost because it’s such a relative thing, but in my opinion, I think it’s well worth the asking price when also compared to its competition.

Likes

Most of the rifle is made in-house
Many options are available when building the rifle
The rifle is very well-made
Comes with a nice rifle case

Dislikes

Handguard can require trial and error when mounting accessories
The magazine release button is too tall
No ambi bolt release

Conclusion

In the end, I think this rifle is quite excellent. I love the trigger on it. I love the coating on the BCG. I love the fact that I can have it in whatever color I want and I love the fit and finish on it. I like that TYPE-A is offering a rifle that is semi-custom. Everyone I’ve ever let hold or shoot this rifle comes with a smile on their face. Is it expensive? Yes, it is expensive but quality things usually are expensive. This rifle comes with enough uniqueness and quality components that I think it’s well worth its price tag and if you were in the market for a mid to high-tier AR-15 and you want to get something that’s a little bit more unique then I think this is a great option. This rifle has served me well for the past year at the range and at events and I can’t wait to see how it handles the next 10 years of use.

The Firearm Blog

TYPE-A 14.5″ Pro Carbine 1-Year Review (Part 2)