Hoot,
Before I ordered one of these I talked with my friend who has used one for at least 4 years. He has used it on both his .223 and his .308 ARs. He said he has not had one problem since purchasing it. I asked him about spent casing causing any problems with FTF or FTE. He said never. He also switches him mount between rifles. The mount is made of Polymer and has metal inserts that the screws fit in. He said it is as good today as the day he purchased it.
I bought mine and an extra mount for $71.00. Yes, it is a little pricey, but so are the cases and if it helps me save losing cases I figure in time it will more than pay for itself.
When I went to the range, I shot 20 rounds of 450 BM ammo with out emptying the bag and had no problems. In fact, it would have held more empty cases.
Another plus, once it was mounted and in place, it never moved and wa note affected by the recoil. Also, the way it is made, it did not get in the way while shooting. Able to reach magazine ejection button with no problem and able to insert and remove magazine without problems.
Thom
Hoot wrote:That particular style of catcher has had me almost finding my wallet half a dozen times. I have a UTG velcro wrap around kind that is simple and effective once you do the cut piece of plastic milk bottle mod. There is value in keeping it simple. However, when I'm shooting alot in one session, I clean in between every x number of rounds so that conditions are close to the same from one test lot to the next. The drawback with the UTG type of catcher (sold under a number of brand names), is I like to remove it when cleaning my AR. The time spent getting it positioned just right and the velcro tensioned just right is not bad if you leave it on, but gets tedious if you're removing it frequently. Naturally, when I saw the ones that slide into a mount, it was a eureka moment. Made total sense especially if you buy multiple mounts for each upper and share the bag between them. It does get spendy compared to the $8.99 I paid for the UTG, If you have say 5 different caliber uppers like me that you want to put a dedicated mount on. The bag and additional mounts are going to be up around $100. Of course, you can buy just one and move the one mount around. That would still be a plus if you're going to be cleaning or clearing out a stuck case several times. Hopefully the material that the mount is made from, takes a lot of screwing and unscrewing without the threads go punk. No doubt a spare screw or two is in order as well since gravity is always trying to steal them. Paint those bad boys blaze orange or hot pink!
Anyone care to jump in who's using one of those with real world experience?
Hoot
U.S. Army Veteran
NRA Life Member
"From My Cold Dead Hands."-Charlton Heston 2000