Kingston Armory Steel 10/22 Receivers on Gunbroker
 

If anyone is interested, some the steel receivers that the now-defunct Kingston Armory had prepared for their M1 Garand replicas have shown up on Gunbroker.

The listing doesn't mention Kingston, but if you search for "10/22 parkerized", you'll find them. $98 plus shipping, seems to be a decent price; I grabbed one, but I don't have it in hand yet. We'll see if it was worth the roll of the dice.

Standard disclaimers apply, I don't have any association with the seller, etc. but I thought I'd pass it along for anyone else wanting to do a build without the integral rail that seems to be on most aftermarket receivers now.

Were there any issues with the Kingston receivers?

When did they go “ belly up”? I haven’t been following them.

Yes, what he said! ;)

Also, what kind of steel are they?

My guess is that they are made out of cast steel.
I would like to know what it is but any decent steel would be stronger than 6061 aluminum.

I haven't been following them, either - but when I saw these receivers on GB, I started Googling. It seems they went under sometime last year.

From what I can tell, the issues that people had with their replicas were caused by poor assembly (not using locktite/torque wrenches), an unusual non-standard bolt (thinner at the back) and problems with the magazine with the steel appearance plate epoxied onto it; I didn't see anyone having problems with the receiver itself.


As far as alloy, the wayback machine archive of their website doesn't have many details:

"The receivers are made of 100% U.S. Steel (not aluminum)."

But then, a review of their replicas on The Firearm Blog concludes with:

"I honestly was surprised the price was so low given the high quality of the wood and the 4140 receivers made in-house."

So, unless they just guessed at that, I would think maybe they asked Kingston while they were still around?

All in all, I figured it was worth a shot.

My understanding is that they were steel castings that were then CNC machined.

Hmmm....
 

It sure looks like the receiver slopes downwards at the rear

Would a normal 10/22 bolt work in this receiver?

Let me do some digging - I know I saw somewhere that one of the owners solved some problems by replacing the bolt.

EDIT: it's in this thread:

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...e=2&styleid=13

Interesting stuff in that thread....

Now, BeezerFire says that he swapped in a JWH bolt. So that answers my question. A 10/22 bolt will indeed work in a Kingston receiver

Now the next question is, should I buy one of those receivers? :D

Okay...

But ?
I have to ask-- why ?
I don't think I've ever heard of a aluminum Receiver go bad.
I've never heard of one wearing out either ?

For me the only reason to buy a steel receiver is to make the rifle as heavy as possible for a target rifle. Then it would also have to be threaded for the barrel instead of a slip fit, with lock down on rear of the receiver.

Not sure if it has all that or not, but if it does and I was building one then I sure would buy it.

It doesn't have a threaded barrel or the rear hold down - the only receiver I'm aware of with both of those out of the box is the MOA stainless receiver.

Ha! That's a question that is between you, your wallet, and your significant other. :D

Why?
 

Why you ask?
Well for $98

Steel or or aluminum,
WHY NOT!!

And between me, my wallet, and my wife
I don't have to ask permission

I got an email notification about the auction liquidation, probably in Nov or Dec. Tons of stuff, some complete rifles IIRC. Lots of work in progress.