Not much to say, really.
I did end up bringing a 5.45 S&W upper and it worked like a top, although, as m4fun pointed out, I only loaded my C-products mags to 16 rounds. So I was schlepping something like seven mags so that I didn't end up short.
There were no malfs or FTF's of any sort. As an aside, I remember only one round key-holing on the target. Very accurate round, more accurate than the shooter.
The drawback: due to the humid conditions, my upper began to rust almost immediately. Specifically inside the flash hider, the exposed portion of the handguard slip ring retaining ring, and inside the bolt carrier (cam hole). Not just light corrosion, but full-on rust. I had a hard time removing the cam and the firing pin (normally that doesn't happend). Again, conditions were really humid.
Surprisingly, when the C-Products Mags were loaded to only 16 rounds, they worked reliably. No issues whatsoever. They were more reliable than some of the new brown PMAGS I was later using (5.56 gun).
Heavy Metal brought some Lancer mags with him and loaned me one to try out. I was surprised at how well they worked. I think an ideal mag would have the Lancer body, but with a firmer spring (AK74?) and an improved follower (hard to find nowadays?).
Separately, I also had an M&P/9 that began to rust too (slide, rear sight, and slide release).
Bookmarks