Brigade Mfg. Makasi Mk-15 and Olympic exemption Ruger MkII.
Makasi is fitted with an SBI Picatinny buffer tube adapter, Magpul SL carbine stock, modified Magpul K2 XL grip, ALG trigger. Extremely underwhelming construction with review to come soon. For those wondering, get the IWI Carmel instead.
The most significant issue without even firing the rifle is that the charging handle gets wedged under the handguard when you pull back and release it. This issue requires the shooter to mortar the rifle to remedy the problem, but it'll happen again the next time you charge the rifle.
Not to even mention the Picatinny and M-LOK rails are out of spec, the misaligned handguard cross bolts are forced through the barrel nut, no thread locker used, gas key isn't staked, gas valve spring pin is inappropriately sized and falls out, fit and finish is poor, etc.
Quality is on-par with Kodiak Defense. And this rifle is likely manufactured before the Canadian market ordered a ton which Brigade Mfg. QC will drop to meet the demand.
Modern machining is done by computer numerical control. Should be perfect every single time. How the fuck do they manage to screw that up?
Are they not taking the 5 seconds you need to tighten the clamps on the bar stock so the machining processes complete correctly? Are they maintaining their cutting tools on the proper schedule? Are they too illiterate to enter the correct numbers into their computers? (If that's the case, how did they even manage to design the rifle in the first place?) It's not like these things needs to be reverse-engineered; these are basically open specifications.
One wonders how the workers who are churning this crap out manage to even find their place of employment every day.
There is a bit more nuance than that. Beyond just work holding being more involved than you mention, machine tuning and the quality (and price) of the tooling make a HUGE difference. What's happened here seems like they didn't take the time it iterate on the design when some errors in their machines (all machines have their own signature errors) produced a tolerance stack problem. Other posters are right, this will only get worse as production volume goes up. This is the kind of thing I see in my field when some random shop is like "We bought a CNC!" and they don't really know what they're getting into.
I thought these had the gas keys staked. So I went onto CGN and took a look at photos Greentips had posted, and it definitely is staked. If that's the level of QC where they can't even stake the key, then I don't know If I want to order one of these. That's such a simple thing it should never be missed.
Good observation. Unfortunately my gas key screws were not staked from the factory. Even if they were, the screws themselves lack knurling on the outer diameter so the way Brigade Mfg. stakes the screws is near useless.
One guys opinion though? Who knows the IWI could be even worst, saw a lot more people talking crap about that build more (IMO I hope both firearms are actually great and we get even more good stuff while we can)
Greentip made similar comments on CGN, way earlier than OP. He self imported from IRG. The fact that two buyers drawing the same conclusion weeks a part tells me they have not improved the quality at all.
The fact that Brigade Mfg. has not fixed these issues which were evident 3 years ago, they will not improve the design for the Canadian market. They haven't even bothered to correct their DIGITAL user manual.
Yep. NR is not available yet. But should you take the chance because the only thing keeps them from importing NR is a longer barrel? Your money, your choice
The most significant issue without even firing the rifle is that the charging handle gets wedged under the handguard when you pull back and release it. This issue requires the shooter to mortar the rifle to remedy the problem, but it'll happen again the next time you charge the rifle.
Not to even mention the Picatinny and M-LOK rails are out of spec, the misaligned handguard cross bolts are forced through the barrel nut, no thread locker used, gas key isn't staked, gas valve spring pin is inappropriately sized and falls out, fit and finish is poor, etc.
Itās a shame, why canāt we get any good guns in this country anymore? Itās ridiculous, but how hard do you think it would be to bring this to a gunsmith to fix it up? For $2400 this shouldnāt even cross my mind.
Hey man, I also ordered a non restricted Makasi and hopefully will get it soon. What I am confused about is 3 things.
The cross bolts being forced through the barrel nut. I see 2 notches on the barrel nut itself, and I am assuming the bolts go through these notches to center the hand guard.
Is the hand guard actually crooked from the picatinny on the receiver.
How big of a problem is the gas valve spring falling out and does it fall out during shooting or just when taking the hand guard off.
The handguard cross bolts are supposed to clear the slots in the barrel nut. However, the cross bolt holes of the handguard are misaligned such that the cross bolts are forced to partially thread the barrel nut.
Yes, the handguard is not aligned with the upper receiver and the Picatinny rail fails to meet the tolerances of MIL-STD-1913.
The gas valve spring can fall out if improperly installed while under the handguard. It easily falls off when the handguard is disassembled. Removing the spring shouldn't cause any issues with the operation of the rifle, but why add a part that easily falls out. You can simply pinch the spring to tighen the fit on the gas valve to properly secure the spring.
Thank you for your valuable insight. Forgive me for my ignorance, I am not the most mechanically inclined person, but from what I understand the bolts slightly hit the castle nut which is not good. How big of a problem is this for operation? Will the threads on the bolts wear out if repeatedly unthreaded or does this have any other implications?
Yes, the threading in the aluminum handguard will likely wear out first as the steel cross bolts must be removed to clean the gas system. The cross bolts contacting the barrel nut may cause point-of-impact shift when loading the handguard on barriers or a bipod.
When you say the pic rail is out of spec, is that just on the handguard? What about the reciever rail, is that machined in or secured with screws, and is it out of spec too? Like is your LPVO mount wiggling around in there?
The Picatinny rail is machined as part of the upper receiver and is also out of spec. The LPVO mount was able to be tightened but not all mounts may work with this rail.
Have you received the 2nd exemption letter from BCtSA ? i got the first one in 2 days but filed my 2nd one more than 1 week, I have not heard back from them
Nothing. You only require an Olympic exemption for handguns. As this specific rifle is Restricted, an RPAL is required. The NR versions coming into Canada soon only require a regular PAL.
Ah that makes sense and are we going to miss out on anything fun on the PAL version? Just wanna know so I can weigh if I should maybe go the same route and import it
The Restricted version is registered and limited to use only at a range so the NR version is usually preferred. You're only missing out on a shorter barrel.
Ah makes sense. Just one more question, so many firearms got banned back in 2024 and 2025. I tried to get a few but none are available at g4c or others. How do I even find out the ones I can import? Thanks
Have people learned nothing from the OICs and ASFCP?
If you're buying the Carmel, or any gun as of 2020 it should be in store, or private sale, with cash.
That looks great though. Exactly how I had my planned setup, other than I was going to Midwest buffer tube adapter, but same stock, grip, optic planned.
Ask him to make 5000 of those in 3 months and maintain the QC.
Iāve been working with many manufacturers. Itās never hard to make one good gun. Itās about how you can make 99 good ones out of 100 with max efficiency. That, my friend, is the difference between a proper arsenal and a little gun workshop.
I concur. My serial number is less than 500 which likely indicates that this rifle is indeed a boutique, low production product. QC will be lacking to meet the Canadian market demand.
K so imagine you are running a team of 20 to 50 technicians but planning to supply the whole Canadian market. We are looking at perhaps 50 to 100 orders from each distributor in the whole country. Do you have enough man power and management resources to cover the operation? If you screw up one rifle, you need twice the time to make it right. Itās a nightmare for operation management.
Iāve seen some awesome projects from small arms manufacturers but they probably only produce a handful each year. In Makasiās case, they need to haul ass to fill all the preorders, QC then becomes a joke.
As simple as it sounds, those CNC machines needs regular maintenance. Also, the most common negative reviews about makasi at this point appears to happen during the assembly process. Forcing bolts through is a main concern, they also sourced less ideal parts for piston clip, this was the first report about charging handle being wedged.
I wonāt generalize and assume that these QC issues are due to one simple factor. The main reason why those w180 were garbage because they lacked of large scale manufacturing capacity and experience. Yet because of our brilliant government, we only have so many options for a much bigger demand.
I feel like the Carmel will be ass too, in the few unboxing videos I've seen this week from the few guys that got them the thing looks absolutely gigantic, like a tactical tuna with 2x4 furniture, also in every video the light catches the bolt nicely and you can see all the super rushed and kinda shitty machining all over the bolt, just like Cringesader, Ruger, and the soviets did
I have a Christensen Arms rifle that comes with machining circles on the bolt. Itās a laser beam accurate gun.
Polished bolt face is nice but can you get it from makasi? Probably not. The only thing I know is that Carmel is made by a real arms manufacturer. The same one made service rifle for the most active military forces.
Thats a fair point, but at the same time, a CZ Bren 2 has a well finished bolt and bolt carrier as well as a well finished race way on the upper, an absolutely well finished piece of machinery that is also made by a proper manufacturer and is activley seeing use in trench warfare today ( what a haunting sentence to type) but that being said the bren 2 was also twice the price of the makasi and the Carmel, however if savage can afford to properly blast and finish their equipment so should IWI
I'll have to go searching for it, because from the videos that have been released, it looks like a Ruger american bolt where you can tell exactly what processed they used to mill the bolt because the machining is so rushed and sloppy
That is quite a bummer, my Bren 2 doesn't, nor does my savage 10T-SR, you would think if savage can afford to properly finish their rifles then a mil spec manufacturer could too
I'd comnsider it a negative lol, you're paying how many thousands for somethjng with Cringesader quality? It is a mil spec modern sporting rifle... bit for the civilian market not the front lines, and a savage 10T-SR is about the furthest thing from a fancy hunting rifle, literally the bottom of the barrel most entry level target rifle at 650 bucks, and it comes with a 5R barrel and a finisher better than IWI, I think they can spare a couple min, slow their feed rate, and tumble their bolt carriers before bluing
I dont think there are many companies out there that could make a crappier rifle than crusader arms... but hey... at least their customer service is even worse.
Also I cancelled my Makasi pre order, as soon as I heard āKodiak Build Qualityā Iām done, I have too many paper weights of higher quality that Iād rather just not shoot than invest in poor qc.
Iāll wait for the Carmel reviews or better government, rather shoot my Bren š
So disappointing that the Makasi is getting poor reviews recently. Nice looking gun but at +2k its a hard swallow with the issues. That being said, I hope you all enjoy your Makasis and Carmels!
Hard to show many photos under a comment but here's a photo of the charging handle slide that wedges itself under the handguard. Metal is chipping and peening on both components. Even if enough clearance is created between the two parts, the bolt carrier engagement pin on the charging handle assembly will slam into the front of the charging handle slot, and the charging handle detent will not be aligned with the circular depression shown in this photo.
Iām so torn as to whether or not I should cancel my Makasi pre order and wait for more reviews. Iāve purchased so many accessories for it already (optics, mags, grips, ammunition etc)
Is this the restricted 16" or have some shops started receiving the first of the 18" NRs? The arrival date is coming up soon - last time I contacted the shop I ordered from, just a week or two ago, they told me it was still on track for August 10-15 ish.
BTW, looks sweet with the buffer adapter. I almost didn't even recognize it without the folding stock. Looks awesome with a normal buffer tube on it. Too bad to hear about the QC issues, I've heard of several guys swapping orders to Carmels, but ill still give the Mk15 a go because I prefer the look, and I dont love the pencil barrel on the Carmel.
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u/SmatheAverage Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Brigade Mfg. Makasi Mk-15 and Olympic exemption Ruger MkII.
Makasi is fitted with an SBI Picatinny buffer tube adapter, Magpul SL carbine stock, modified Magpul K2 XL grip, ALG trigger. Extremely underwhelming construction with review to come soon. For those wondering, get the IWI Carmel instead.