Read the fine print! Problems with the FoxTrot Mike 102 AR15? 

My FM15 (11.5”) has 3,500 -3,700 rounds through it currently and I’ve had literally zero issues! Bought it through AIMsurplus during Black Friday 2 years ago… love it! But it is quite different from this 102 model. Mine also is the Gen2 version with the adjustable gas block, and 90-95% of rounds fired through it have been suppressed, making the gun run dirtier than without a “can” on the end…. Again, I’ve had ZERO issues

The designer of the Ppsh said, “ To make something complicated is simple. To make something simple is complicated.

I have FM-15 13.9 pin&weld. I'll say this, yeah there are some pro's and cons. I don't have that issue with the cam pin and my charging handle sits farther forward. I did find adding a magpul bad lever to assist with bolt hold open beneficial. To date I have over 6k rounds in the year and a half I've had it. It did have a break in period with 3 jams in the first 500 rounds but none since. I've only cleaned it once after the first 1k, but wipe it down and lube it after use. I'm a CRSO and Firearms instructor and use it in classes I teach. It's reliable, lighter and flatter shooting than similar conventional ARs. I only changed the extractor pin once, but if you email FM they will send you a set for free, so I stocked up in case I need them. Im pleased with the rifle, it's handy and accurate. It does need slightly different care than a conventional rifle. Some may not care that it folds, but I like it for transport back and forth to work. Just stock up on some of the high wear small parts and you'll be fine, they are there when you need them. FM has excellent customer service. My muzzle device pin and weld came loose. They sent me a label and after sending the upper back they sent me a brand new one with a video showing they were checking it out before sending me the new unit. I thought that was awesome. Hey, things will break sometimes.

Phew ! that's a relief ; we were starting to believe that MAC was freed of his curse to receive lemons. Really happy to see that the tradition is alive and well !

What happened to Foxtrot Mikes response

You were being very diplomatic when you pointed out the issues with this gun. You made people aware of the numerous problems without making it sound like a piece of garbage. Well done video. Thanks.

Jeez... I was about to get one of these. I'm so glad I saw this video. Thank you.

Remember that BCM AR 15 you shot over 8,000 rounds through without any lubrication or cleaning? Makes you wonder why anyone would put up with this kind of hassle. Variety and innovation can be fun, but not with these kinds of trade-offs.

I’m glad you bring this up. I have heard a few things about it, and I’ve known people that work there. But this is important information to know.

Why did you delete the reply from Foxtrot Mike? In a video where you shit on a company one would wonder why you wouldn't allow the owner of said company or one of the employees to respond.

Love the info and honesty. Thanks man.

I haven’t seen Tim this excited to field strip a firearm since the Remington R51.

Thanks for pointing out the reality... Brownells did a bunch of videos recently... and at no point were these replacement items talked about... That's a lot of parts that have to be replaced frequently.

It’s not the greatest design but ive managed to take mine apart and put back together fairly easily despite the design. It never really bothered me as much as it seems to bother Tim.

It amazes me how companies can come up with design to make something more complicated, expensive, and less reliable than the original design and pawn it off to people as BETTER!! lol To me this rifle is scrap metal!

I bought one of the first rifles. I pretty much immediately contacted Paul the owner and said I thought the takedown needed to be improved. He replied with something to the effect of, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.” I had the same issues you did. My understanding was that the small parts incl. bolt and firing pin were all compatible with mil spec. Really disappointed to find out that’s not true.

They fixed the hour glass pin replacement issue, I got my new mike 15 yesterday and noticed that it didnt come with replacement pins and when I contacted them to ask why I didn't get replacements they informed me that they fixed that issue and the rifle takes milspec bolt faces and firing pins and extractor retaining pins now. Can't say for the 102 but for the mike 15 it's fixed.

Welcome to the club. After your original review of the rifle I went to their web site and was totally confused.

9:37 “that kink prevents it from being straight“ me too brother 😂

Great point. About the replacement parts

I have one of their 12.5” uppers. It works great, but it’s def in the “range gun” category for me. Just wanted something a little different that wouldn’t break the bank. My only disappointment is having to pay extra attention to the round count for maintenance.

Thank you I was Just looking into a FoxTrot AR15.

I was originally wanting the mike-15 because u love the idea of being able to fold the stock as well as the side charging, and the idea of something a little different from the typical ar15 but this turns me away a little bit, so thank you for the info. Great video as always mac

Thanks for sharing

I love my FM102. Its easy to take apart and reassemble I think the video is a bit dramatic. Just order extra parts incase SHTF. I always have the coolest gun at the range people are always wanting to look at it

Daaamn great review! Very clean and not offensive for FM.

Reinforcing the doubts I had while watching Brownells talk it up.. answered some questions as well. I did visit the site… tons of AR9 stuff… limited rifle items.

I really was hoping these would be a good option. It's an instant no if part of regular cleaning requires replacing internal parts. Just bought another zastava m90 instead

Gives a whole new meaning to "you'll shoot your eye out".

I have worked with many people that dont have the necesary skills. I call them “ use a bigger hammer”. That said that upper has too many issues for me to purchase. You saved me $800.00. Thank you that paper was really off the chart. I watched the Brownells interview and went to buy the upper. I was in checkout when your video appeared. Thank you again.

Can confirm that the extractor pin will function as intended even broken. I have an FM-15 that, after the initial break in period of about 210 rounds, was disassembled for an thorough cleaning. Upon disassembly i found the pin was in fact broken. Functioned flawlessly with exception to one failure to feed related to a bent lip on the magazine. Rifle is fine, would still recommend.

Best of both worlds to this gun would be the BRN-180. Side charger, buffer-less, and uses standard AR mags and reliable AF.

Nice on deleting comments

Thanks!

MAC, can confirm the frustrations with the proprietary aspect of this rifle. After 300 rds through my own 102 I said to hell with it. I removed and threw away the firing pin spring (has not affected function) and I replaced the extractor pin with a typical milspec extractor pin *insert shocked pikachu face* it didn’t affect function either. Additionally, the ball bearing and spring safety detent system was completely removed and replaced with a standard AR detent and spring. The gun inherently has an excess of “features” that weren’t necessary.

I feel close to the same way. I waited years to get a Sig 556 rifle. Now I have to get parts made or buy used parts. If I can find them. Like the rifle still, just not a go to one.

I've been looking for a side charging ar upper for a while and I've found that the Gibbz arms system is one of the better ones solely because it uses all AR15 parts except for just the proprietary cam pin. Downside is that it's a bit heavy.

Good, thx

I built and SBR'd a lower which I intended to get a 12.5 inch ARAK21 upper from Faxon Firearms. They since stopped making them. The only company that I found that made a 12.5 inch self contained upper was Foxtrot Mike. Would have preferred a Jakl upper or definitely a Virtus upper. But none available with a 12.5 inch barrel. I wanted to stay with the 12.5 inch instead of sending the AFT a letter to edit my stamp. So I'm stuck with the FM15 upper for now. Haven't shot it yet.

Was gonna say I kinda feel bad for these guys. They tried something new, good on em. The cam-pin situation is unforgivable.

My FM has had two extractor failure in 2000 rounds or so. First was replaced free. Second cost $35. Now it a safe queen that I only pull out to show people. I don’t feel like screwing with it all the time.

Jeeze. Fighting with that recoil spring gave me flashbacks to my Walther P22. I freaking hated that gun bc it was so dang hard to get back together. They even included some stupid plastic dowel rod to help the spring from kinking. Why companies choose to include parts to make up for poor designs instead of just building a better gun is beyond me.

I have an FM9 and the 13.9 FM15 from Primary Arms both the weapons and the company have been excellent.

Nope. I have a few AR's and a few BRN-180's. Thought about FMs in the past, but the weird proprietary nature of the guns and the many references to poor QC are a deal breaker. Good video Tim, thanks.

1 point locking mags are easy to not lock if inserted, whereas 2 point locking mags are impossible to not lock in once it's inserted. This is more true with a full mag with the bolt home. I also see issues with 1 point mags having over insertion issues, which is again impossible with 2 points

Took mine out today since getting it 2 months ago. Works been crazy. Anyway shot good first two mags third mag had a malfunction. Failure to extract. Now the bolt won’t come all the way back. As soon as I get it apart and fix the problem I’m selling it. Big mistake. 18:46

Man i was specifically told to never use the firing pin for dissassembly in the corp

It really seems like a solid design if they can modify it. Sounds like they threw it together, didn't test it enough and now have a ton of stock they need to sell. Hopefully they don't go out of business and can redesign this system to be reliable and more forgiving for disassembly.

If i can't open it out the box run it hard and if something does happen to go wrong or break and I can't fix it with relative ease i don't want it period

I use a titanium fire pin and regular extractor so I don’t get primer strikes, works well

I just got an upper. I delt with a few of the issues mentioned but the one that one i had issues was after it got hot, it got finicky loading rounds n extracting. Feild stripped it n removed more cosmoline, added more oil and got hot. Had a lot better run with less issues, not perfect. Please bring a 5.7 uppers to market next

Thank you, almost pulled the trigger on purchasing until I viewed your review. Always repect your opinion on firearms!

Sticking with my brn 180 and hopefully the psa jackal is reliable.

Why would anyone ever buy an MCX for $2600 or a dissent for $1900 when they have this option.

I've never heard of this gun before. Now I see why. LOL

I can hear that it’s not even through the break in period, or he hasn’t lubed the charging handle when he brings it back. It shouldn’t be that loud. Mine is well broken in, and there’s a very slight sound, but not like that. Also, it’s not that hard to take the recoil spring in or out, he clearly just didn’t take any time to watch one of their videos. It’s really not that hard. I will say, I find my method easier. If you palm an Allan wrench with your middle and ring fingers, push down with your whole hand covering the back plate, you simply hold the plate as you ease the tension off the spring, and BAM! No “lost” parts. I don’t understand what parts he could’ve lost in the process. The only things that can go flying are the back plate and spring assembly, none of which are so small that you can’t find, unless you’re incredibly lazy. The bolt will stay in there as long as the upper is face down, which it should be for disassembly. And changing the charging handle position isn’t hard either. I removed the charging handle to paint mine(just use an ear plug to cover the hole in the upper). As far as the bolt situation goes, my understanding is that most of the parts he’s complaining about can be replaced with mil-spec parts. But hey, you do you.

For my home defense I have the foxtrot mike 9 mm carbine which was built around the Glock magazine. So far so good for me. reliable, accurate, handles nicely and takes the same glock magazines as my kriss vector and glock 26 which I keep all in the same safe ... so utilitarian

I don’t quite understand why one would want an AR style rifle in 5.56 that takes AK mags? It makes sense in 7.62x39 due to how the round stacks and a quality issue with x39 AR style mags over 10 rounds.

I have the 9 inch 223. After 60 rounds it wouldn’t fire anymore, they end up replacing the bolt carrier. The top of the carrier was rubbing against the inside surface of the upper receiver.

Personally, I just like rock and lock magazines because they are theoretically easier to rip out with some leverage in certain harsh conditions since there is hardly a magwell. Not that I live in a place where a magazine will have ice form up in the magwell and freeze it in place or something, but I still think it's rather nice, even if it means slower reloading.

Just received the upper today and seen the paper. Now watching the video and what it actually means, I will be sending it back to primary arms. No where did it mention anything like that. Which makes it so aggravating. Have to look into other uppers to complete my build using this kind of setup.

I really thought these were cool after seeing other videos about them and was kind of waiting for them to come out with something in 7.62, which they had been promising in a few months. I was trying to decide between this and something like the 5.56 Templar because I wanted something different and cool. I really appreciate the honest thoughts and information that others had omitted.

So they fixed All the Many Problems the AR15 doesnt have!

Hmmm but they left a comment too explain everything and left a message and yes it doesn’t work like a standard ar because well it’s not a standard ar so taking it apart and re assembling will be different and probably more difficult. You somehow have the worst luck I mean I’ll probably be blocked after this but idk how many “defects” one person can get 🤦‍♂️ this again is not a mil spec but you can use a mil spec pin if replacing the whole thing you can’t you a mil spec pin if you just use their parts with it so you can make the firearm run again if this happened I mean they worked hard on this system and you’re reading into a little to much and every gun says clean their gun at so many rounds 300-500-1000 so whatever this is not for the person who has one firearm and their first ar who would decide too go outside of mil spec learning for their first ar you missed the whole reason for this and what it’s for it could be a great tool for service in the field if you know what it’s for and how it works a little better I mean what if you buffer tube spring broke? Gun won’t run on a mil spec this will did we miss that?

Is there a discount code for infinity targets? The code above is for challenge targets which does not stock the infinity targets?

It's "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

So If I were to buy 2 of these id have 1 to crap on and 1 to wipe with 😂 thanks for the up to date and truthful info

That sucks I was thinking about picking one of these up... maybe I'll wait till Gen 5

Well surprisingly there are a lot of 1911 owners that don't know that mil spec or stock recoil springs need to be changed out every 3000 to 5000 rounds, flat wire springs will last 25000 to 30000 or more. I'm told glock recoil springs need to be changed every 5k or so. A 1911 will run as long as there is enough tension to strip a round and re turn to full battery, about 3 to 5 lbs. They don't break. They just keep on running like the Eveready bunny

I have Foxtrot Mike FMP 556 1st generation with the free-floating mil-spec firing pin and 16-inch barrel. Since it has a non-adjustable gas block, I had too much gas accessing the bolt carrier while shooting suppressed. I contacted Foxtrot Mike and they provided me free of charge a new recoil spring, which has helped to shoot this weapon suppressed better. IMHO, Foxtrot Mike should have stayed with 1st generation of their FM 556. With more complexity, more problems occur.....

Thanks for making these video's, i bet they see this and open there eyes. It dont prevent me from wanting one tho lol

Sounds a lot like the Sig 516 that I sold because I couldn’t get replacement parts for it.

I still want one! Have you seen the Bilson Arms Pump activated AR?? 2024 release super cool!

I would love to see a side by side between this, the KS-47, and the Mutant. I love my KS-47

FM really needs to work on the disassembly of this and the FM15. There has to be a faster and safer way to disassemble these products.

Cmmg is my go to.

Sounds like the CMMG Dissent would be a better option if you want all the same capabilities with an internal piston gun.

Can you do another follow up video on the paper and show us the 2 hour glass pins please?

I saw a earlier video where the charging handle had the hk slap? All the recent videos I've seen haven't talked about it. So have they not gone through with that?

Watching before placing a bid on one of these. I have dozens of 223 AK mags for a Saiga, so this seemed interesting. Not so much after watching the video. I appreciate the information. Saved me a chunk of coin and potentially a bunch of irritation

All that proprietary, short-lived stuff and persnickety procedures, and on top of that it takes AK mags...sounds like this thing was designed by a committee whose members were all on different continents.

I had problems with my FM 15 upper

I never understood our love of bufferless weapons. Most of the folding stocks do not hold up well and are wobbly as heck, while the buffer tube provides a solid stock mount and provides endless possibilities for fine tuning your weapon with tube lengths, springs and buffer weights.

Fixing consumables is key

This rifle keeps popping up. Seems cool but impractical compared to all the other options. Me personally I'm working towards getting an MCX Spear LT, although if I was looking for a more affordable option, I'd go for the BRN-180 or the PSA Jakl.

thanks

Too Bad. Because it looks badass. 🤠

I was looking hard at these but not now! I guess I expected something more user friendly. Side note: what sight was that??

Looks like a bear creek arsenal upper on some type of modified lower.

FM products has the best customer service in the business. Second to none! Period.

No experience with any of the FM Products guns. And after watching this video I doubt that's going to change anytime soon. Forget not being suited for SHTF scenarios. The number of components that need to be replaced on a regular basis, all of which are single-source, as well as the reccomended cleaning cycle and the difficulty of dis/reassembling the weapon without losing key parts (and/or an eye) takes this rifle out of the running for competition use as well. Many years ago I bought an AR. It was a pretty standard model, a Stag Arms Model 2T. This was prior to Stag getting into hot water with the Powers That Be. I'm not planning on using it for an SHTF scenario, although I'm sure it would do fine. But it's a bog standard AR-15 operating system. If something breaks or gets lost, I can have a replacement by the end of the week. Sooner if one of the stores in town has the part. I could fill the text buffer with companies and stores I can buy parts from to fix or modify that rifle. Gun stores are full of rifles that shoot really nice, but are far easier to fix and perform routine maintenance on. Thank you, Tim, for posting this video. Your tact and restraint do you immense credit.

Do you happen to know if the lower on these fit a regular AR15 upper?

Damn, he deleted the comment from Foxtrot Mike lol.

Good points made here. I will add that the design of the recoil spring system bothers me. Ideally, you want the recoil spring in line with the force of the bolt thrust - like a normal ar15. This one has the spring in line with the gas tube instead, which is where you want it for a piston system. The spring placement combined with the short bolt carrier seems like a recipe for uneven wear inside the upper receiver. I will also add that the ‘hourglass’ extractor pins have that shape to make room for the firing pin spring. If you want, you can put in a standard firing pin and extractor pin.

I love my FM-15 side folder. Its a totally different design though. If you are considering FM products please sont let this review sour your view on their other products.

So glad I sbr'd mine -_-

ITs not just his. my upper from them is trash and their paper work makes it very clear they wont warrenty anything. Oh and even after break in period ( which is 500 rounds) it stil cant use a mag with more then 26 rounds) . also the firing pin thing makes this gun unaccpetable as a firearm. We are not beta testers . that pin will cause a run away. DO NOt buy Foxtrot

Until now I was considering getting a FM 556 pistol, but now I am back to having a serious doubt.

Apart from all the problems and issues mentioned, how was the rifle?

So this gun, no matter how good it is, is a safe/range queen? That's how I would call it, anyway.