It's a well designed piece of equipment, addressing a problem I didn't realize existed, and now that I know about it don't care that it exists.
If I were assembling for other people who were paying me, I can see the utility. On my builds, for myself, nah. I have the time in a non-production environment to redo that junction between the tube and receiver as many times as I want until I get it 'perfect'. As perfect as I want it, anyway.
It's been interesting to see what is effectively manufacturing tooling working it's way out into the consumer world. Side effect of the AR being so ubiquitous as well as being unchanged for so long, I think. Some of these tools are extremely useful to me, others not so much. Different story if you're in production with these - when I see this sort of tooling I have to have a talk with myself. First, do I care about the issue this tool addresses? In this case, no. The buttstock isn't perfectly aligned with the grip? The buttstock that wiggles on the tube anyway? Can my shoulder and cheek weld tell the difference, or is it just an annoyance when I look reaally closely at it? So, no I don't care about the problem. Someone else might. Second, can I address this issue without special tooling? Probably - if the issue is play in the fit between the receiver and plate there's a few different ways I can think of to address it. Or, I can install a stock on the tube while tightening the castle nut, while torqueing the other way with a strap wrench to center it. I'd have to redo that about a dozen times before it's aligned, but since I don't have a customer waiting for it or a production manager staring at my bench, I can take as much time as I want.
I'm sure they'll do well with it, there are enough people who do care about this level of detail in their rifles. I'm just not one of them.
www.brownells.com
