Accuracy of AA 5.45 upper with surplus?

[09stanggt]

I always figure barrels are meant to be worn out. I'm definitely not shooting it as much as I planned yet and I still need to buy a 1-4x for it. I've actually considered going to 5.56 with this when the barrel is gone. Kind of depends on how much 5.45 ammo is still available and if I have $ to buy it. I don't know if AA would replace the barrel like S&W. You definitely are getting your monies worth out of them, lol.

Here's a good one. I was out shooting my 40X .22 at 100 yards before I bought this upper. This guy commented to me about my rifle and struck up a conversation. I had ear plugs in, muffs, and I'm kind of deaf anyhow so I got his name wrong, but it was actually Jason Adams.

I didn't realize they were local to me until I went home and looked up their physical address. He was shooting one of their 5.56 models and I think he had an ACOG on it. He was shooting some flavor of Black Hills and it was MOA or better average from seeing his targets.

They're not setup for retail. I know because I called them to see if I could come up and buy another bolt spring after I lost it. They were really nice about it, but I had to bring the exact amount. Some of these older posts have said people had a hard time reaching them for CS, but that wasn't my experience.

I did forget something in my first post. I did manage to turn it into a single shot. I was quite zealous about cleaning it since this was the first time I ever fired any corrosive ammo. I would strip the upper and place most of the innards into the kitchen sink. I'd heat a tea kettle to boiling and pour it down the barrel and over the loose parts in the sink.

I guess I didn't get enough lube on the drive rod and gas plug. They rusted together in my safe. When I realize what I think is going on, I pull it apart at the range. Of course, this is a day that I have no CLP with me. I knock the parts on the bench and the bond breaks free. Ended up getting Amsoil off my car's dipstick and it ran all day after that. It runs if your forget the bushing on the end of the drive rod spring too.

[500grains]

Do these uppers shoot anywhere near as accurately as a .223 upper or is that just on the internet? Unfortunately in the past replies all I've gotten is gee, I don'

A friend of mine has a S&W 5.45 and he will not even shoot at a metal silhouette at 300 yards because his gun is so crappy. Or gun plus ammo are so crappy. I have shot the gun. It's fine at 100 yards.

[vicious_cb]

A friend of mine has a S&W 5.45 and he will not even shoot at a metal silhouette at 300 yards because his gun is so crappy. Or gun plus ammo are so crappy. I have shot the gun. It's fine at 100 yards.

5.45 at 600 yards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3edPfpSTR1Q

[Littlelebowski]

A friend of mine has a S&W 5.45 and he will not even shoot at a metal silhouette at 300 yards because his gun is so crappy. Or gun plus ammo are so crappy. I have shot the gun. It's fine at 100 yards.

Again, mine worked fine at that range at a class with witnesses who are here on this very board.

Also, Pat Rogers told me via PM yesterday (on LightFighter) that he endorses the S&W police series ARs as good to go.

[09stanggt]

5.45 at 600 yards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3edPfpSTR1Q

If you look at Midway's site reviews for the Hornady steel 5.45 you will see a couple of people saying they're getting 3/4 MOA. Is the Spikes upper in the video more accurate than the AA or S&W? Idk, or maybe there's an occasional unicorn out there. It would be nice to know why one of many is accurate.

I appreciate the fact that Hornady is producing the ammo, but it's at .30 carbine price per round with a steel case. I think I should be getting something I could reload at that price. Of course, that would defeat being able to lose brass at a match. I really can't understand why .223 is the price it is, other than that's where "they" want it to be.

As far as the video goes, on a MR1 target you could theoretically score 180+ with a 3 MOA rifle and little to no wind. The bigger question to me from the video was how could you only score 186 with a bolt gun? Of course he didn't mention what rifle/ammo/optic either.

I was going to buy a S&W and changed my mind at the last minute. I've never heard of many problems with their uppers or rifles. The only other internet story I heard about them early on was that they were somehow proprietary and you couldn't use any lower other than theirs. Cleared up that myth with my dealer's LWRC and a 5.45 rifle he had in stock.

[Littlelebowski]

I've never benched the $20 a box Hornady stuff. I need to.......

The S&W uses no proprietary parts. It does use parts specific to a 5.45 (bolt, barrel, heavy hammer spring) but that's it. I can't fathom why one would spend the extra money on a piston gun in this caliber. I have got to finish up a detailed blog post on the 5.45 AR if only to clear up rumors and BS floating around.

[09stanggt]

I paid right around $560 or so shipped for my AA upper with a discount from Midway. If you caught the 50 buck for 500 spent a while ago, you could've gotten it for 525 before shipping. I see the price on the upper has jumped about 65 bucks at Midway to 640 though.

It's the only piston upper I own. If there's ANY reason to buy a piston IMO it's to keep from blowing corrosive salt back into the action. Particularly back into my action with my Geissele trigger. I don't want to clean/lube, worry about corroding every time I shoot it. I don't have to replace the hammer spring either.

[Littlelebowski]

That's a fair price, dude. However, I have had no problems with corrosion in the lower receiver. Also, if you search this forum a bit, you'll find that these caliber in ARs does go through barrels (regardless of brand) a bit faster than 5.56mm. Usually, before 15k rounds.

Therefore, I recommend S&W because.....they replaced my shot out barrel on their dime, paid shipping both ways, and the whole evolution took six working days.

As long as you are rinsing with water or Windex after shooting, the corrosive salts issue.....isn't an issue.

[tpd223]

I have not shot any through an AR, but the Hornady ammo through two different SARs I used to own cut the groups in half compared to the Wolf I was shooting.

If I had a 5.45 AR and wanted to reach out accuracy wise, or use it for shooting coyotes, I'd go with the Hornady.

That's all I got.

[Littlelebowski]

I have not shot any through an AR, but the Hornady ammo through two different SARs I used to own cut the groups in half compared to the Wolf I was shooting.

If I had a 5.45 AR and wanted to reach out accuracy wise, or use it for shooting coyotes, I'd go with the Hornady.

That's all I got.

I agree.....except for my purposes when coyote hunting at the family ranch in Wyoming, it's extremely difficult and we like to use real varmint calibers that buck the wind better and hit hard. 25-06, 22-250 (my personal gun), .204 Ruger, etc.... The below coyote was hit in the chest at a little over 200 yards (he was sitting on his haunches) with a .25WSSM ballistic tip handload. The round exited his hip, sent him spinning, and I still had to track him a hundred yards or so into a small cave and finish him with a Glock. Coyotes are tough.