I got to meet Lee and David of Head Down Products this past weekend.
Head Down Products builds billet uppers and lowers for AR15 rifles as well as complete rifles using their uppers and lowers. Currently they have 4 offerings out at the moment. The rifles are known as the XPR's, I am not sure of the exact meaning behind XPR, but I think of them as the eXtremely Practical Rifle.
On saturday they had 3 rifles out on display, the SR, BR, and the EBR. The base model is the SR, it is your generic preban configured rifle, with the addition of a rear sight. It is ready to shoot out of the box, comes with a pinned front sight base, collapsable stock, MagPul MBUS rear site and Pmag and a 1/9 twist barrel (everyone wants to know twist rate on barrels so there it is).
Next in the line up is the BR, it is again a preban configuration but this time its got a few more features, and a few more MagPul goodies. Again this has a pinned FSB but the barrel is a 1/7 twist, MagPul MBUS rear site and is equipped with MOE furniture all around, stock, handguards, and grip. Now you want to cool thing about the BR, it is available in two colors, desert tan aka flat dark earth, and black. I am sure that you are saying whoo freaking hoo its got tan furniture on it, but it goes further than that, the uppers and lowers are actually anodized desert tan to match as well.
And the last rifle that Lee and David had on display was what I would consider their flagship model, the EBR. The EBR has a Head Down rail that they produce themselves and is available for 556 and 762 rifles. The EBR is again outfitted with MagPul goodies, this time it has both front and rear MBUS since the standard front sight is not there but a low profile gas block is used so the full length rail can cover it up. It also features a cold hammer forged barrel with a 1/7 twist. Barrels are made by a high quality manufacturer. Instead of a simple MOE grip and stock the EBR features a CTR stock and a MIAD grip. At the current time the EBR is only offered in black, but hopefully in the future will be available in Desert tan as well.
That covers the 3 rifles that were on display, the last model they are producing currently is a pistol version called the PDP. They did not have a PDP on display but I personally am not interested in a pistol version.
All the lowers are marked as MULTI cal, they are not marked 556 so changing between calibers wont raise a problem. Fit and finish was top notch as would be expected on an all milled piece of aluminum. I was supposed to shoot the BR and SR but by the time that the match was over and we were racing to get everything picked up before a storm rolled in I didnt get the opportunity to do so. Ill get with Lee and David here in the next couple of weeks and see if we can meet up and let me do a little demo with their newest offering coming out, which I dont know what it is, but from the looks of their current offerings it should be a winner as well.
Now I am not usually a fan of the billet uppers and lowers for a couple of reasons. But Head Down has addressed my biggest issues with billet uppers. My biggest issue with billet uppers is the bolt catch usually seems to be recessed into the upper and doesnt protrude like the bolt catch on a forged upper does. Also with a billet upper, most of those are not able to use MagPul's BAD lever, HDP's first generation uppers had the close clearance on the bolt catch, but they have since designed the second generation uppers which will allow for the use of a BAD lever. The gripe that I have with most billet lowers is the integral trigger guard ..... if the trigger guard is part of the lower you either like it or you dont, there is no changing it out at a later date. The HDP lowers use the same trigger guard that any other lower would use, so if you wished to just the standard flat ones thats fine, or if you prefer the integrated trigger guard on the MIAD kit thats fine as well.
Hopefully when I get a chance to see the latest offering and play with it a little bit Ill be able to give more of a review on it and give my thoughts as well. For now I think Head Down Products has a good thing going and if you are in the market for a billet AR give them a call and keep a look out for future stuff, I heard a 762 lower was in the works as well for these guys.
Head Down Products builds billet uppers and lowers for AR15 rifles as well as complete rifles using their uppers and lowers. Currently they have 4 offerings out at the moment. The rifles are known as the XPR's, I am not sure of the exact meaning behind XPR, but I think of them as the eXtremely Practical Rifle.
On saturday they had 3 rifles out on display, the SR, BR, and the EBR. The base model is the SR, it is your generic preban configured rifle, with the addition of a rear sight. It is ready to shoot out of the box, comes with a pinned front sight base, collapsable stock, MagPul MBUS rear site and Pmag and a 1/9 twist barrel (everyone wants to know twist rate on barrels so there it is).
Next in the line up is the BR, it is again a preban configuration but this time its got a few more features, and a few more MagPul goodies. Again this has a pinned FSB but the barrel is a 1/7 twist, MagPul MBUS rear site and is equipped with MOE furniture all around, stock, handguards, and grip. Now you want to cool thing about the BR, it is available in two colors, desert tan aka flat dark earth, and black. I am sure that you are saying whoo freaking hoo its got tan furniture on it, but it goes further than that, the uppers and lowers are actually anodized desert tan to match as well.
And the last rifle that Lee and David had on display was what I would consider their flagship model, the EBR. The EBR has a Head Down rail that they produce themselves and is available for 556 and 762 rifles. The EBR is again outfitted with MagPul goodies, this time it has both front and rear MBUS since the standard front sight is not there but a low profile gas block is used so the full length rail can cover it up. It also features a cold hammer forged barrel with a 1/7 twist. Barrels are made by a high quality manufacturer. Instead of a simple MOE grip and stock the EBR features a CTR stock and a MIAD grip. At the current time the EBR is only offered in black, but hopefully in the future will be available in Desert tan as well.
That covers the 3 rifles that were on display, the last model they are producing currently is a pistol version called the PDP. They did not have a PDP on display but I personally am not interested in a pistol version.
All the lowers are marked as MULTI cal, they are not marked 556 so changing between calibers wont raise a problem. Fit and finish was top notch as would be expected on an all milled piece of aluminum. I was supposed to shoot the BR and SR but by the time that the match was over and we were racing to get everything picked up before a storm rolled in I didnt get the opportunity to do so. Ill get with Lee and David here in the next couple of weeks and see if we can meet up and let me do a little demo with their newest offering coming out, which I dont know what it is, but from the looks of their current offerings it should be a winner as well.
Now I am not usually a fan of the billet uppers and lowers for a couple of reasons. But Head Down has addressed my biggest issues with billet uppers. My biggest issue with billet uppers is the bolt catch usually seems to be recessed into the upper and doesnt protrude like the bolt catch on a forged upper does. Also with a billet upper, most of those are not able to use MagPul's BAD lever, HDP's first generation uppers had the close clearance on the bolt catch, but they have since designed the second generation uppers which will allow for the use of a BAD lever. The gripe that I have with most billet lowers is the integral trigger guard ..... if the trigger guard is part of the lower you either like it or you dont, there is no changing it out at a later date. The HDP lowers use the same trigger guard that any other lower would use, so if you wished to just the standard flat ones thats fine, or if you prefer the integrated trigger guard on the MIAD kit thats fine as well.
Hopefully when I get a chance to see the latest offering and play with it a little bit Ill be able to give more of a review on it and give my thoughts as well. For now I think Head Down Products has a good thing going and if you are in the market for a billet AR give them a call and keep a look out for future stuff, I heard a 762 lower was in the works as well for these guys.
