Midwest Industries quality control

[DaveABQ]

I got in a new Midwest Industries SS handguard today, the barrel nut that comes with it, made for this handguard, is pure rust. Like this handguard sat in water and the nut had not finish on it:

I sent them a message with a link to the photo, but I want to get this upper built, so probably going to sandblast it and hit it with some gunkote or cerakote and bake it.

 

[FrankT]

The best guy they have and hooked me up, I am a fan

ANDY YOHNK
Technical Support
Midwest Industries, Inc.
W292 S4498 Hillside Road
Waukesha, WI 53189
Phone (262) 896-6780
Fax (262) 896-6756
andy@midwestindustriesinc.com

 

[DaveABQ]

I tried calling them first, then sent a message with link to the picture. One of the guys on the 6.8 forum said I shouldn't have posted, but he is wrong and here is the reason why:

These barrels nuts are supposed to be treated so that they don't rust. We know we are going to get in the elements and rain, fog, whatever, certain things should not rust. How many others have gotten these barrel nuts and haven't rusted yet, but are going to rust. Imagine them trying to get the gun apart with penetrating oil, heat and a hammer.

This is purely a quality control issue, that should have never went out. I got the hanguard from Brownells, the package was in great shape, not water damage, probably exposed to humidity which means that there is no finish on the nut.

 

[FrankT]

I wrote Andy w a problem, did not know him then, he answered 15 min later 7:45 Sat PM and took care of everything. I am not sure of the brownells warehouse, but like you say it is a lack of treatment from MI, should not happen but they will take care of it asap.

 

[Ratdog68]

Ya know? I gotta say, I'm a fan of giving a vendor an opportunity to right a wrong before implying "the unknown" is in fact a rogue batch of bad product. Today's climate is brutal for vendors, they're expected to do every little thing perfectly, never fail to communicate according to everyone else's expectations, meet/beat the lowest prices, exceed quality expectations... and, somewhere in there, make a living too.

What's KNOWN is, one barrel nut is sub-standard. Any "perceived" negative press is something to toss out to the masses AFTER a vendor is found to not be willing to take care of a customer.

 

[DaveABQ]

actually I agree also, not slamming on MW, this is just a barrel nut, this is for others that may have the same issue.

And I will give Kudo's to MW, as they responded to me already....here is the info:

Well, thanks to Midwest Industries for a quick response.

Here is the issue, which is somewhat an issue, and somewhat not. The rust is basically from the melonite treatment (i.e. salt bath nitriding). He said it should wipe off, but man I've been wiping like crazy on it and it is stuck in the threads and hatch marks on the side. So I sprayed it down with silicon and wiped to get it to look like it is mostly off, just needs to be scrubbed.

He said they have now changed their finishing process and all new nuts will be black. But heck, my last two were black and this one just came in today, ordered on Monday.

But I have to say, good customer service from MW, and he is sending me out the new style nut on Monday.

Here is an issue with this that I let him know, there was so much residue in the package that it was scraping against the side of the handguard in the package, the more it moves around as it is direct plastic against the handguard, the more chances of marking the finish, mine was only slightly after wiping it off.

 

[Wassman]

I read both this thread and the other and I didn't get the felling like you where bashing MI. Just giving others a heads up if they see the same thing and we all know that MI will make it right.

I like MI products and their price points. I have had zero complaints and will continue to use their products. Thanks for sharing bro.

 

[DaveABQ]

Yea I like them too, I've got 3 of them now. I like the SS one piece, easy to configure, install. People will read in to it whatever they want, of course when people say 'this is a POS', that's a different story. When I completed my Masters degree, I did an interesting paper, on Polaris, talking about their motorcycles, ATV's, snowmobiles, and how successful they were for an American company. Part of that is trying not to have anything fail, no recalls, it is amazing what recalling something costs, and how you try to avoid it....quality control.

I have to say, Andy from Midwest is a stand-up guy, emailing me on Friday night is pure customer service. He said the nuts were changed quite awhile back and estimated that mine is a year old lol, even though I ordered Monday this week and received today lol.

I

 

[DaveABQ]

The best guy they have and hooked me up, I am a fan

ANDY YOHNK
Technical Support
Midwest Industries, Inc.
W292 S4498 Hillside Road
Waukesha, WI 53189
Phone (262) 896-6780
Fax (262) 896-6756
andy@midwestindustriesinc.com

Frank, you were spot on about Andy. Talk about customer service, he is answering emails, taking care of customers on Friday evening, doesn't get any better than that. That type of customer service is unheard of and will definitely continue to recommend them.

 

[Wassman]

Wait!!!!!!
I meant to say all MI products are junk and should be properly disposed of immediately. I am a official recycler and will take your junk products, I will even pay for shipping. Just PM me for details.

 

[DaveABQ]

haha

you know what the bad part is, I got the 12" handguard, wanting to utilize with my 12.5" *** 6.8 barrel and WC suppressor, well the darn handguard is just over 12.5", not 12", and it says that on their site, but I missed it...

I wanted my suppressor to be close to the handguard, so now need to find a 12" handguard, but not sure who makes one.

 

[Wassman]

haha

you know what the bad part is, I got the 12" handguard, wanting to utilize with my 12.5" *** 6.8 barrel and WC suppressor, well the darn handguard is just over 12.5", not 12", and it says that on their site, but I missed it...

I wanted my suppressor to be close to the handguard, so now need to find a 12" handguard, but not sure who makes one.

You may want to send MI another email concerning their new FF tube, and ask if it is a true 12".
http://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1211

Either way I plan to get one for my next build, maybe my Six8. Just haven't decided what barrel I am going to use.

Here is another one, never used them but they say they have a true 12".
http://strikeindustries.com/shop/in...a-fins-ak-modular-key-mod-handguard-rail.html

 

[DaveABQ]

you know its surprising he didn't say if that SSK-Key mod was 12", he offered to swap me out for a 10" with handguard extensions, but that's not what I was looking for and wouldn't look right...

The Strike is good looking, I was seriously thinking of putting the SS in my milling machine and trimming it to the proper length, but the way the end is it wouldn't look right...

 

[DaveABQ]

found out the key-mod is 12.625"...so no go on that one

 

[FrankT]

Frank, you were spot on about Andy. Talk about customer service, he is answering emails, taking care of customers on Friday evening, doesn't get any better than that. That type of customer service is unheard of and will definitely continue to recommend them.

Dave glad it all worked out for you. Andy must not get any days off, checks the mail hourly on the weekends and reply's to people right away. Every Co needs a guy like him and I wrote up a complementary post on 6.8 about him and sent it to him also!

 

[Harris hawker]

That's weird.
The coating process went bad?
That's like sending aluminum out for anodizing and it comes back chewed up.
It doesn't make sense.
I'm glad all is fixed, but if they have made 100s if not 1000s of these things why did they have a problem?

It's just one of those problems that makes you scratch your head and ask,
WTF??