Q: Where do I find an instruction sheet if I've lost the one that came with my White Oak product?
A: Here are the most common White Oak Instruction Sheets -
Service Rifle with Pinned Rear Sight
Service Rifle without Pinned Rear Sight
Varmint-Match Rifle Float Tube
White Oak Precision Adjustable Buttstock Assembly
Q: What is the difference between a White Oak Precision upper and a White Oak Armament upper?
A: The biggest difference is in the barrel and sights. The WOA uppers have Wilson barrels and the sights are not pinned unless you get that option. The sight parts however are the same. I wanted to offer something for the new shooter that would be competitively priced with the uppers from RRA, bushmaster, or Armalite, yet would have all top notch components so that when you were ready to upgrade all you have to do is replace the barrel and do a little sight work. You won't have to throw away a bunch of sub standard parts.
Whether White Oak Precision or White Oak Armament, all barrels are contoured and chambered in-house to the same exacting specifications.
Q: How should I break in my barrel?
A: I suspect that more barrels have been damaged than helped by "breaking in". Barrel makers take a lot of care to get a uniform finish on the inside of a barrel. Barrels are lapped not so that they will be smooth, but so that the finish and dimensions will be uniform over the entire barrel. When you use an abrasive cleaning compound you will change the finish on the inside of the barrel. Since some areas of the barrel are going to be protected by copper that you are trying to remove, and others areas are not, the surface finish is no longer going to be uniform. Since I got a bore scope I have backed off on my use of abrasive bore cleaners. I use them, but not nearly as aggressively, particularly on a new barrel.
My personal break in procedure is to take a new upper to the range and zero the front sight and shoot a group or two. This will take about 15-20 rounds. I then bring it back to the shop and clean it good with shooters and a good quality brush. I check it with a bore scope, but generally very little copper fouling is present. Depending on how it looks I may hit the throat lightly with some JB. That's it, it is now broken in.
This is for all for good quality hand lapped barrels. I will get a little more aggressive with mass produced barrels.
Q: What's up with the Winchester small rifle primers? I hear they pierce, but I don't have any problems with them.
A: It does not happen in every upper every time, but a lot of uppers will pierce the WSR primers with anything but mild loads. You should be able to swell a primer pocket before the primer will pierce. The old WSR primers were the same way, it's not just the new ones. Again, not every upper, and not every shot, but it happens enough that I don't see any reason to risk it when there are so many other primers that work just fine. If you are having good luck with them, then go ahead and use them, but I'll keep an new firing pin on hand with your name on it. The first few times it happens it is very hard to see, but as it gets worse, it gets very obvious, and with enough time it can ruin the bolt also. Just this weekend I was shooting next to a shooter that was using them and every one of his had the primer all pierced and the anvil was even protruding through the hole in the primer cup. He needs a new firing pin, and probably a new bolt. If you are not having problems with them then fine, but keep a close eye on the firing pin indentation, and the tip of your firing pin. It is enough of a problem that I cannot recommend them.
Q: What is your opinion of single stage AR triggers?
A: You will never get a single stage trigger on an AR that will stand up to the constant use of a competitive HP rifle unless it has a lot of creep, and I don't think you want that. The ONLY way to reduce creep in any of the single stage AR triggers is by reducing sear engagement. By time you get the sear engagement to the point that you do not have any noticable creep, you do not have enough left for reliability. For the casual shooter who shoots 500 rounds a year, or for the guy who likes to shoot little groups off a bench and can readjust his trigger ever shooting session, that may be fine. However, the HP shooter needs a trigger that breaks the same every time, and a trigger that can make it through at least two weeks of the nationals, preferably a whole season, without having to tinker with it. Also, if you get the creep down to a point where you do not have any perceivable trigger movement when you break the shot, the safety is not going to be reliable. The safety in an AR blocks trigger movement, not the hammer. If you only have .010" of trigger movement, then you are going to have to have the safety within .010 of the trigger when in the safe position. This is a little tougher than just removing the safety.
