I am taking the 5.45x39mm plunge! updated 09-23-09

[mos2111]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.htm...f=121&t=380028
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=14808

My review of my custom 5.45 upper. I got more traffic over there, so my updates get posted there. My issues were with the hammer spring and were resolved by changing them out. I am 3/4 of the way through a case of 5.45 and just got a second case to burn through.
I have pictures of the 5.45 mags and currently have my 4 loaded for an extended time for my range trip Monday. These mags work. I have been trying to run the gun hard and hot, as I want it to be mt class gun.

[mos2111]

Apparently the only difference is the hammer spring.

I think.

As far as I know, the only difference is the hammer spring. (If you bought the complete rife, the RE is milspec from what has been said)

[Jay Cunningham]

I ran four magazines (112 rounds) through the gun today. I had 15 rounds not fire due to the hit on the primer not being hard enough. Remember I did not install the supplied hammer spring because I wanted to try the standard spring first. I *think* I may have had one malf during rapid fire which was from a round taking a nosedive but I am not 100% certain of this.

I am going to install the new hammer spring and try again. If this mod indeed sets those pesky hard primers off I think this is going to work out well. All the rounds fed and all magazines locked back the bolt on the last round. All magazines dropped free. Accuracy was just fine and windage was dead-on out of the box, elevation will only need to be slightly tweaked.

note: the extractor has a black insert and an O-ring

[Littlelebowski]

What's that on the mag well?

[M4arc]

What's that on the mag well?

Redi-Mag

[NCPatrolAR]

I'm headed out to the range with mine on Sunday

[mndfusion]

Frankly I am not worried about it at all. Let me ask you - what metal is the gas tube made from? Is this metal known to easily corrode?

Just hit the parts with boiling water and some WD-40, then lube as usual.

Unless I am missing something, militaries around the world used corrosive ammunition for a very long time in firearms that were much more susceptible to corrosion than modern AR's and they all did okay...

Sometimes I think people worry too much.

My gunsmith friend says to mix up in a bucket hot water, soap, and Ammonia. He says Ammonia dissolves all the harmful salts. He also mentions that most commercial clp's that cost 100x as much as this gunsmith recipe contain Ammonia for that reason.

So yea, I clan my AK's like this after corrosive ammo then bust out the hairdryer, if I don't have an A/c condenser handy to just lay the parts on top of --after dryed, I oil up and store away...no problems ever with corrosive ammo here -- doesn't turn me off at all. I got 2 cases of the Bulgarian WASP from AIM not to long ago, its great stuff!

[Littlelebowski]

Damnit. You guys are killing me here. Should I just buy a 5.45 AR and 5 cases of ammo and pray there's no ammo embargo? I can use my AR mags, right?

[mos2111]

not really, if you want reliable feeding, you need the 5.45 mags. Forget 5 tins, buy 5 crates and see what the ammo market is doing when you eat through 11k rounds. At 115 a tin, you cant go wrong. If you get an ar 47 lower you can use 74 mags.

[jjw]

Damnit. You guys are killing me here. Should I just buy a 5.45 AR and 5 cases of ammo and pray there's no ammo embargo? I can use my AR mags, right?

yes you can but the mags are finicky, i am using h&k AR mags and the rifle is working fine. i have been shooting 1 for sometime as a beta site for smith. i have the full weapon.

f.y.i. also to someone above --- the lower works just fine with a .223 upper and a 10.5 h&k 416 i use, on a dailey basis

you can use standard mags but the follower is different.
have not shot the gun much bit due to back surgery the gun sat in my office for 2 months after they shipped.

ken hackathorn and i and Lynn freshly shot approx 4O0 rds 3 weeks ago or so. we were well pleased

ask i am around