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7.62x39 AR upper - any experience?

flaps

happy to be here
None
Contributor
also, its probably a good idea to get a good shooting coach
407856926_e784e48b17_z.jpg
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
I bought a S&W 5.45 AR upper that came with a Daniel Defense Omega Rail 7.0, Adams Arms Piston Kit, Ranier Arms Xtreme Darkness Flash hider, KAC vertical foregrip, Choate Machine Tool stock (similar in shape, config to an Emod or LMT SOPMOD), CMT iron sights and two tins (and the can opener!) of 5.45x39mm Russian surplus ammo totaling 2,160 rounds. Oh yeah, and 9 of the C-products 5.45 mags. All for $800... thought it was a good deal.

It shoots great, and I've only recently gotten tired of the extended cleaning sessions following each range trip. One day I hosed it down with windex after the range and put off the cleaning for a couple days, only to find some rust/corrosion on the flash hider and inside the piston. That Russian ammo is nasty and needs to be cleaned up quickly.

I'd say a 5.45 upper is a viable alternative as a training rifle thought, depending on your shooting schedule. Vuurwapen did a review of Spikes 5.45 offer and included a cost analysis, determining it will take ~3k rounds to break even with your additional investment into the new upper vs. 5.56. New, I think it's a good deal, especially since surplus 5.45 is at about 12 cents/round, roughly half the cost of 5.56

Resurrecting this thread for some thoughts...

I have a standard 6920 upper that I could keep and pimp out a bit but with decent 5.56 (like brown box 55 gr) now at about $.38/round from PSA (if you can get it), it made me start wondering about a 5.45 gun and its $.16/round option. I also found Vuurwapen's cost analysis and it got me thinking about an Adams Arms 5.45 upper. The 6920 upper would easily pay for the AA upper, but with the cost of ammo (said 3K), a different rail option and at least 4-5 mags (to compete with at the local fun place), I would need to buy an additional 1K of 5.56 before the 5.45 would be a better option. And that's if I buy another NiB BCG for the 6920 (they just make life so much easier when you clean). If I didn't do that, it'd be another 500+ rounds of 5.56 to match the 5.45 price point.

The magazine seems to be another thing that's hit or miss. Some say Magpuls will work 10 rounds at a time (which, ironically would be fine in CA), some say they have luck with the C-Products, but many say they don't. The ASC mags seems to have a decent rap with what little I could find.

Then again, I could just sell the 6920 upper and take all that money and do something like buy more ammo or something even more responsible like save it in a bank, but that's just crazy talk.

Any new thoughts?
 

CAMike

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
also, its probably a good idea to get a good shooting coach
407856926_e784e48b17_z.jpg




Although attempting a reach around on ones shooting coach may be acceptable in todays more "socially evolved MIL", the taping of the wrists transmits a clear uninviting vibe.

I'd get a more approachable shooting coach and stick with an Arsenal or Saiga for any 7.62x39 endeavors.

A coach more along these lines:

rachelleleahbaretta7x5.jpg


end partial threadjack/
 

eas7888

Looking forward to some P-8 action
pilot
Contributor
5.45 stuff

I have a Smith & Wesson 5.45 upper. The ammo, as you have noticed, is pretty cheap. The only down side is that you have to also purchase the 5.45x39 magazines, which adds to the initial expense. Also, I believe most of the surplus 5.45 is lacquer coated. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong here. . .but after firing off a few mags, I start to get casings sticking in the chamber. At this point, I have to drop the mag, and run something down the barrel to remove the round. To me, it's not much different than my experience firing off cheap Wolf ammo in my 5.56 upper (never again . . .). All that being said. . .the ammo is dirt cheap.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor

I didn't really see anything about 5.45 stuff. But... that's okay. I think I answered my own question with the several July 4th adds/promos I got via email yesterday and today. Pimping out the 6920 with a rail and Aimpoint/Eotech is, I think, the answer. When I eventually move back to a friendly state, I want a "true" M4, so maybe I'll just keep this one and cut the barrel down sometime in the future.

eas7888 said:

Congrats, by the way!
 

Junkball

"I believe in ammunition"
pilot
The magazine seems to be another thing that's hit or miss. Some say Magpuls will work 10 rounds at a time (which, ironically would be fine in CA), some say they have luck with the C-Products, but many say they don't. The ASC mags seems to have a decent rap with what little I could find.

Any new thoughts?

All of my C-products magazines have fed flawlessly through ~1700 rds split among them. Half of them don't drop free from the magwell when empty though. They usually stay in the bag...
They got a bad rap ("Crap-products") during the beginning of their production run but I think they fixed the follower/lip issue they were having.
 

sodajones

Combat Engineer
The 5.45 AR uppers are good to go. The 7.62x39 have trouble feeding. Magazines for the 7.62 are very hit and miss...mostly miss.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
So... Sometimes I do something I shouldn't. I ended up picking up a Spike's 5.45 upper because Aim Surplus got some in stock, which seems to be rare. After all the rounds and abuse that Andrew did at Vuurwapen, it didn't seem like a bad choice between the 4 or 5 5.45 choice uppers out there. I'm still waiting on a couple of ASC mags, but I took it out this weekend and put 150 rounds through it using some Magpul 10/20 mags and a 30 round mag (loaded to 15 or so). All three functioned flawlessly, other than the mag bulging slightly when loaded, so it was harder to get it into the mag well than a normally loaded Magpul mag.

I was really impressed with the accuracy of the gun (shooting Russian surplus) with nothing more than an Eotech. It was hitting the 200m steel plate with boring regularity as long as I did my part, and was able to hit the 100m plate 9/10 or 10/10 when shooting rapidly. Admittedly, this was sitting with me just holding the rifle (no bipod or rest). Basically, it was just like shooting Federal brown box, but less than half the price. The fact that the surplus is steel core is a little bit of an issue at some ranges, though. Not everyone acknowledges the fact that AR500 steel doesn't care about steel core, so it was an argument I was going to lose.

I didn't do any of the complicated clean up (windex, hot water, etc), just brought it home and sprayed it down with some MPro 7 (which is supposed to neutralize the salts) and then did a quick wipe down of the bolt, which was really easy since the NiB is still new. I put some oil on it and put it away. After pulling it out two days later, I couldn't find any corrosion in the tell-tale spots (flash hider, gas tube/FSP). I have a feeling the flash hider will start to go on me, as it's just a cheapo RRA brake (for CA rules), but we'll see.

Fun gun and I don't feel as guilty blowing through ammo.
 
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