S&W 5.45x39 upper range report

[9mmkungfu]

I have one of these on the way. How are you all dealing with the corrosive ammo? I read a posting about one gentleman who discovered rust in his FCG area and buffer spring. Just wondering if you all are doing any "extra" cleaning after shooting this stuff.

[Jay Cunningham]

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...ight=corrosive

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...ight=corrosive

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...ight=corrosive

[Littlelebowski]

I am eager to receive my S&W15r upper that I ordered and I'm trying to get a handle on the feeding problems some folks are reporting. Is it a case where the magazines are troublesome or is it an ammunition issue?

Some say with new/different mag's the trouble goes away.

Yet others indicate it may be a buffer/ammo issue.

Almost sounds as though the feeding problems are all over the map without any single cause to point at...

Thinking aloud....

Maybe the perfect functioning "system" as it relates to 5.45x39/AR15~M16 has yet to be nailed down. Stating the obvious here but it would seem that this would really be the way to go as new 5.45 ammo is cheaper to buy than it is for me to reload .223/5.56mm any more . Now that is a sad state of affairs as I have been trudging along for thirty plus years reloading for my AR's in .223 cal. Well may be I'll be pleasantly surprised when all my parts/mag's & ammo arrive next week. I'll report back especally if there are feeding issues...

openbolt

Stop worrying before you've even shot it and report when you have shot it. Mine worked great out of the box.

[9mmkungfu]

Thanks Katar!

[openbolt]

I have one of these on the way. How are you all dealing with the corrosive ammo? I read a posting about one gentleman who discovered rust in his FCG area and buffer spring. Just wondering if you all are doing any "extra" cleaning after shooting this stuff.

9mm,

I have a similar set-up. Mine is a 5.45x39 KKF 16" middy barrel that I put together a few weeks ago. I just finished up the last of two 1080 cans of Russian mildly corrosive ammo from AIM.

The only rust I found (and it was very light) was inside of the flash hider. After each firing of 300 rounds or so I pulled the bolt carrier group out and wiped it down then oiled it heavy before replacing it inside the upper.

I did give it a complete cleaning yesterday and let some bore foam sit inside the barrel overnight. There was a lot of copper fouling as you would expect in any bore after firing 2160 rounds through it.

No rust at all inside the lower, bore or bolt/carrier.

openbolt

For what it's worth men, I have had good success using aluminum GI 30 rounders fitted with the older Magpul anti-tilt followers. I can only stuff 25 rounds in them but they have been 100% for me and I did not have to spend any $$ on new mag's.

[9mmkungfu]

9mm,

I have a similar set-up. Mine is a 5.45x39 KKF 16" middy barrel that I put together a few weeks ago. I just finished up the last of two 1080 cans of Russian mildly corrosive ammo from AIM.

The only rust I found (and it was very light) was inside of the flash hider. After each firing of 300 rounds or so I pulled the bolt carrier group out and wiped it down then oiled it heavy before replacing it inside the upper.

I did give it a complete cleaning yesterday and let some bore foam sit inside the barrel overnight. There was a lot of copper fouling as you would expect in any bore after firing 2160 rounds through it.

No rust at all inside the lower, bore or bolt/carrier.

openbolt

For what it's worth men, I have had good success using aluminum GI 30 rounders fitted with the older Magpul anti-tilt followers. I can only stuff 25 rounds in them but they have been 100% for me and I did not have to spend any $$ on new mag's.

I'm going to hold off buying any 5.45-specific mags for now. Could you give me some more info about the KKF setup? PM sent.

[openbolt]

Could you give me some more info about the KKF setup?

KKF = Kurt's Kustom Firearms.

He was one of the good guys. He was killed in a motorcycle crash about 3 months ago. Guess I'm lucky to have one of his middy barrels.

FWIW, I think some company like Sabre Defence or BCM could make a bank supplying replacement chrome lined 5.45x39 barrels & matching bolts.

openbolt

[sdacbob]

Bad day at the range today. I bought a S&W lower with Stag internals from a forum member and finnially got around to using it today. Nothing but trouble. I had mulitple struck primers/ failure to fires. Tried all 4 mags I had with me and had the same results and yes I did have the orange spring installed that came with my S&W upper. I also had 2 failure to extract the unfired round from the chamber. Ammo was Wolf 60gr hp's. On the other hand, my Bushmaster burned up all the Wolf 75gr I brought and my new Lancer 20 rd mags worked fine. Thinking of putting the S&W upper back on my Bushmaster lower. That combo worked fine before.

[BLACK LION]

All of you guys that had "out of the box" issues... did you generously
lube(bcg especially) and hand cycle your rig 500-1000 times before taking it out to shoot????
Is any of the surp ammo laquered???

Also, the heavy hammer spring should not pierce commercial primers. It should help the trigger pull and break a bit. I notice the difference between the wolf heavy hammer spring and the standard mil-spec spring.
I installed one so I could shoot my .50 upper from my standard AR lower.
I have not had one problem in hundereds of 6.8 rounds.