AR45 RMW DI45 REVIEW *PIC HEAVY*

[SCatalyst]

I’ve always liked pistol caliber carbines and more applications are coming out for them with their growing popularity.

My first AR was a 9mm Spikes. I later bought an AR57 carbine upper and mounted it on a Spike’s lower. Now I wanted to pursue a carbine that sends .45auto down range.

There are some choices in the market when you venture down this path: Thompson 45, Marlin Camp 45, Hi-Point 45, Taurus CT G2, Beretta CX4, Military Armament Corp (MAC-10), H&K USC, and KRISS 45 (I just saw Total Recall and everyone's got a KRISS in there). There are others models out there, but that’s quite the design variety already.

I went with an AR platform from Justin at CNC Guns. The criteria I made for deciding this route: date of the design, visual appeal, cost of parts to repair/replace, and familiarity…I’m a creature of habit.

I also went with this lower because my research has shown that everyone that has one loves it. It’s rare to see someone sell their CNC AR45.




LOWER
CNC AR45 lower
LWRC Deluxe Lower Parts Kit (I’ll explain later)
LWRC QD Rear Sling Mount Latch Plate
Magpul ACS

The lower assembly went in like any other lower parts kit. I’ll just note some odds and ends to this portion.




Installing the front take down will reveal that it will not go all the way through the receiver. It will still detent securely in place when the upper is mounted, but I need a punch or pen to push out the front detent for field stripping. The Yankee Hill EZ Pull Takedown Pin Set would remedy this.




The LWRC nickel Teflon had this weird green/blue color on top of the coating, and was not as shiny as the Spikes nickel boron coating. Not knowing if the coating was on or not, I called LWRC and asked about it. I love their customer service, but this time the rep seemed annoyed by my question, like she gets it a lot. “YES, the nickel Teflon coating is on there.” She said with an exhaustive sigh. Oiling makes it go away.





I got this trigger set to see for myself, what kind of trigger people are working with when they pay over 2k for an LWRC rifle. After installation of it in my AR45, I compared it with my Daniel Defense trigger in my 9mmAR and the Spike’s NiB in my 5.56.

LWRC Nickel Teflon trigger set is beefy in construction. I don’t see the disconnector or disconnector spring ever being replaced after installation. Definitely solid with tight tolerances and the springs are pretty strong too, probably because it was designed to strike a primer for a NATO7.62 out of their R.E.P.R..

I’m not going to talk badly about the trigger because I know that it does need to be broke in. However, I was a little discerned comparing the LWRC to the other two (considering the price), because it has a more noticeable longer creep to the break than the Daniel Defense. It was just as smooth but has a harder break than the Daniel Defense, so I at least have an idea when I’m about ready to send one down range. A lighter spring (JP) would change this characteristic, but again, I know that the trigger springs will soften up with use and need to be broken in. So the tension characteristic will change, but the creep has to do with the sear design. The Spikes NiB trigger has that consistent glass break feeling while shooting. Comparing the three triggers and evaluation by amount of creep and release characteristics. I would rate them in this order: Spikes, Daniel Defense, and then LWRC. You can get these trigger kits and you can judge for yourself, but this is just my opinion.

Here’s the steel magazine catch that allows un-modified grease gun magazines. It takes two roll pins to hold it in position.





Since the pins move freely in the magazine release lever, I punched the top roll first, making installation easier. I then dropped the second roll pin in the lever and finished punching the roll pin thru while pushing the spring and lever in place, until they were centered. I had a patch of leather that I wrapped the receiver in to prevent any damage while hammering the punch.






I inserted a magazine just to see how it fits. The magazine snaps in securely, sits flush to the receiver and fits very well with very little wiggle once engaged. I shook the lower aggressively with a loaded magazine in it and it didn’t fall out. Once I pushed the steel magazine release, it drops freely out of the magwell. The steel magazine catch is a solid design.

[SCatalyst]

There’s a good and bad about the LWRC end latch plate. The good is that you can take a hex to the first screw which is a dog point screw that fits in the groove on the bottom of the buffer tube ensuring consistent alignment and easy installation.




The bad is there’s a second hex that has a pointed tip screw on the other end where when installed, grabs the castle nuts and eliminates the need to re-stake the castle nut…which won’t budge and doesn’t work. I don’t know where the design flaw is, but I’m thinking it’s the same reason why LWRC doesn’t have them on their website anymore. I don’t mind staking the castle nut anyway, it’s still a nice end latch plate.







UPPER
RMW Xtreme 16” 1:16 twist DI45 Upper w/A2 FSP and A2 flash hider 5/8x24 thread
Spikes Tactical 7” BAR
Vltor MUR-A1
LWRC Skirmish Rear BUIS

I asked Ron Williams at RMW Xtreme to build my upper assembly because he built the first purchasable DI45 upper with one in use by a Texas Ranger Special Response Team. I chose a direct impingement (DI) because it’s cleaner (my 9mm blowback gets very dirty), there’s less recoil (pertinent to FA and burst), less chances of an out of battery discharge, and I won’t be shooting cast bullets or reloads anytime soon (a language I’ll learn later).

Communications with Ron was great. He answered my many questions and I sent him specs from different uppers (Spikes billet upper and the Spikes 9mmV2) to see if he could work with either of them. He said both and any mil-spec upper would be fine because the bolt and carrier is standard size, and the upper has to have an opening for the gas tube (eliminating the Spike 9mmV1). The short ejection port door on the 9mm upper should be okay since a .45 auto casing is just as short as the 9mm casing.

I couldn’t wait for any Spike’s uppers…so I got a Vltor.




Since I was in a neighboring city, Ron was nice enough to invite me to down to test shoot my upper when it was finished. That day was a great day shooting; clear skies, nice breeze, and a shaded shooting stand. When I pulled up, he and some of his friends were all just enjoying the early afternoon with some snacks and range time.

To test fire, I brought out 100rds of white box Winchester FMJ 230gr FMJ ball rounds. I wanted to bring the cheap stuff to see how it would handle. I didn’t bring out any steel or aluminum cased ammo. I thought that would be a bad way to break in a new barrel and that would be a test for later time.

The ejection port door was opened and squared off a little because the .45 casing cannot hit otherwise it threatens to jam.

This is before…




And after




The Spikes BAR had to be trimmed for the lower to mount to the CNC. You can see the exposed metal here. This eventually calls for Cerakote sometime in the future.




Ron has had his DI uppers working on a variety of lowers. His experience with a CNC lower, proved to be helpful if the feed lips on the grease gun magazine were opened/ flared slightly. He used an adjustable wrench to open/flare out the feed lips 1/8th to 3/16th of an inch.

On the left, is a normal grease gun magazine. On the right is grease gun feed lips opened.



The CNC AR45 design puts the magazine more forward on the receiver.



I believe the lower was designed this way so the round doesn’t have far to travel and reducing the odds of a FTFeed. The 230gr ball rounds are pretty blunt, especially self-defense hollow-points. Such a bulky round (or any round for that matter) shouldn’t have to hit or rattle around a whole lot to be chambered.

Flaring out the magazine allows the round to angle up sooner and be more in line to find its home.




Doing this also gives the bolt less resistance to push the round into the chamber, giving more of a perpetual smooth engagement in battery, and smoother cycling. I’m glad Ron educated me on this. It’s such a simple mod that takes advantage of the CNC design and it’s costless.

[SCatalyst]

It’s free of the magazine feed lips at this point.



Bolt pushing round to battery.



No special buffer was used for this application. Ron also said he doesn’t understand why some believe that a heavy buffer is needed. He said a standard carbine buffer will do fine because between the hammer spring and buffer spring being pushed, anything greater can cause the system to short cycle. He even told me to put my Spikes ST-T2 tungsten buffer away and handed me a standard carbine buffer. I was happy to hear this because it saves me money.

Here you can see the low profile gas block is seated close to the receiver. From the front of the gas block to the receiver measures 2”. Diameter is .875 at the journal. Ron Williams can use carbine to rifle rails without issue since the gas system is short.



The barrel nut had to be taken down some to accommodate the gas block being so close, which is why you see there was only one set of screws (4) holding the Spikes 7” BAR in place. I didn’t have a problem with this since I see the Troy VTAC Alpha using only 3 screws around the barrel nut and the Troy VTAC using only two at the bottom as a clamp.



The test shoot was awesome, the AR45 RMW DI45 cycles and shoots like a dream. It chambered easily and the spent casings ejected aggressively at 4 o’clock, indicating that there was no slowing of the bolt. Using a brand new BCG, barrel, and lower, I had 0 FTF/FTE out of a 100rd value pack of white box Winchesters. Zero, zilch, no problems with the test fire. I thought that was amazing. I even dumped two magazines of rounds down the barrel as if my life depended on it and it cycled like a sewing machine. Even my SIG P226 TACOPS had 1 FTFeed during the break-in period.

I’m very happy with the RMW Xtreme DI45 upper, and having the opportunity to meet up with him and talk shop about firearms was fun and an educational experience. He definitely knows his stuff. This will not be the last DI45 upper I request from Ron Williams.








LWRC sight picture



Overall, I love this rifle, but I do have a few points of contention. This complaint has nothing to do with function, but more or less cosmetic. The upper and lower don’t match up the way I thought it would. This is purely my fault and I could have done more research on this.




I talked to a gentleman at DDLES who said that they’re coming out with a lower that is dedicated to Glock 21 magazines...in 2 weeks! Meaning that I can use the DI45 upper the Ron made for me with the Vltor MURA1 and get a DDLES Vltor matching lower that takes Glock 21 magazines.

I’ll have the best of both worlds CNC AR45 lower and a DDLES Glock 21 lower, both on RMW Xtreme DI45 uppers.

I’m excited. I’ll keep you posted when I get that one too. I’ll ask Ron to help me make it work. He got a 9mm DI upper to work with a DDLES 9mm lower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCnFj...msQ&playnext=1

[SpankMonkey]

Great post. What was the cost for the lower? Any idea on what kind of FPS you were getting on the WWB 230gr ball?

[SCatalyst]

Thanks bro, I didn't chrono the WWB unfortunately. With sweat in my eyes, these were from 25 yards using the iron sights.



I don't know what they were shooting at, but these were groupings by two other shooters, same distance using iron sights.



I brought out the 9mm AR that uses a blowback system to compare. The difference is significant. The 9mm AR definitely had more kick than the direct impingement(DI) AR45. The blowback also had this weird yoyo effect feeling when fired.

Shooters need the heavy buffer on an blowback AR45 but not for DI because of the unlocking step.

Everyone that shot both rifles had the opinion that the DI was smoother and more enjoyable to shoot than the blowback. Even a 110lbs girl my friend brought to the range, said she could feel the difference and liked the DI system better. Shooters that loved my blowback 9mm AR, now looked at it as archaic.

I still love my 9mm AR, I'm building another one.

[SCatalyst]

Oh yeah, $465 for the lower in my hands. But that's with a $50 transfer fee. I know there's other places that have cheaper transfer fees, but I've been a regular where I transfer my receivers to.

I also could have chosen a cheaper lower and method, but I'm a 'dedicated' kind of guy.

[slowkota]

Nice grouping!

What gave you the idea for flaring the M3 mags?

[SpankMonkey]

I'm wondering if you could convert existing blow back 9s to DI. I never understood the recoil impulse of blow back 9s. Con-paired to the MP5. The MP5 shoots like a 22.

The price of the 45 lower is worth it. Have you noticed any problems with the bent feed lips on the grease gun mags, are they holding the rounds or are they prone to slip out with the bent feed lips? I hate mags that lose rds sitting in a rifle case.

I really need to look into this. I love 45acp sub guns. What was your total cost of the rifle?

[SCatalyst]

Nice grouping!

What gave you the idea for flaring the M3 mags?

Ron Williams of RMW Xtreme educated me about it with his experience with a CNC AR45 lower.

[SCatalyst]

I'm wondering if you could convert existing blow back 9s to DI. I never understood the recoil impulse of blow back 9s. Con-paired to the MP5. The MP5 shoots like a 22.

As long as the upper receiver has a hole at the top for a gas tube you can convert it. You would need a new barrel that accepts a DI bolt, gas tube, gas block, and DI bolt of course. Once a barrel extension is installed on a barrel, I believe it cannot be removed because there's a one way pin that is pressed in to ensure solidarity.

You can have RMW Extreme re-build the upper for you, it can help you eliminate the guess work; where the port hole should be, barrel extension key fitting, etc..

I haven't shot an MP5, but would love to see how it works first hand.

The price of the 45 lower is worth it. Have you noticed any problems with the bent feed lips on the grease gun mags, are they holding the rounds or are they prone to slip out with the bent feed lips? I hate mags that lose rds sitting in a rifle case.

I really need to look into this. I love 45acp sub guns. What was your total cost of the rifle?

That's a good question, I haven't noticed any problems of rounds slipping out. The rounds do become free of the feed lips earlier, but if I dropped a full magazine at the right angle, I can see it losing the top round but not a '30 pickup' game. Original grease gun magazines are steel, I'm not sure what the aftermarket stuff is made of.

The cost is priceless.

I will say I spent as much as the low end price range for a HK USC and KRISS Vector. But that included the trigger and furniture I wanted, and it's on an application I understand.