All posts tagged 5.45×39 Upper receivers

Now that the anti-gun movement has stalled, the panic buying has stalled

AR15 Complete upper receiversWe have gotten a steady influx of Spikes Tactical Upper Receivers as well as LWRC M6A2 uppers for several months now so it’s safe to say that if you wanted a new AR15, nobody is going to ban the AR15 in this Country.  If you are one of those that thought that, the AR15 is probable the safest gun to own because it’s popularity amongst hunters, target shooters and Law Enforcement is so common that nobody is going to put up with a gun grab.    The AR15 5.56mm round has so much versatility that many ballistics tests have shown that it is a much safer round to use in an urban environment than a 9mm pistol carbine.  Over penetration with a 5.56mm fragmenting round is not going to be as bad as a 9mm MP5 round.

We still deal a large number of gun owners that just like to build their own custom rifles.   There are so many AR15 complete upper receivers for sale  in our inventory that price ranges, quality, styles, handguard variations are so different that it’s really like going to a restaurant where you can have Chinese, Italian, Mexican or an seafood you want.   Customizing the AR15 to the users style of shooting is also one of the positive features about the gun.   Many of our local police departments are just getting around to getting these for their patrolman because of the proficiency that these guns can be  used in amongst less trained shooters.

Top

Are you having a hard time finding the AR15 upper that you want?

After seeing about a 4yr increase in sales of firearms, we’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that certain .380 pistol magazines, gun holsters and firearm accessories are going to be hard to get for a few more months.   Much of what is going on is an increase in firearm sales due to the social and political problems we are facing.  We have elected individuals to higher office that do not have traditional patriotic values and seeing them gain power is disturbing to anyone that understands the Constitution. Runs on emergency food storage and ammunition were the next things to go prices have increased with the demand.  We’ve seen more sales of higher end firearms and accessories because the cheap stuff was all gone.

We have backorders for AR15 uppers going back to November for Spikes Tactical, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson and many more.  The real issue is that many of the manfacturers are selling more complete guns and making AR15 upper receivers for sale is not something as important as selling a complete gun.  Many gun shops would rather sell guns than uppers.  If you having a hard time getting the uppers make sure you put your email in the “email me when back in stock” option on our website.  We do get in many uppers but the quantities are small and come in sporadically.   It’s a hard time for people building AR15s because there are some waiting periods if you know what you want.

 

Top

What do you want in an AR15?

So many people have that itch to constantly modify their firearms, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the one thing that I have constantly seen happen on firing ranges, especially Carbine courses, is people simplifying their firearms and accessories.   The different between a 7lb Carbine and a 10lb Carbine is considerable and you really feel it at the end of the day.  Even the best shot will have trouble keeping up the consistency under stress and physical stress will always occur at some point in the field.  If  you think about it like this, if you had to use a firearm in your home and hold it in a ready position, a double stack 45acp is going to be hard to kept upright on a threat for very long. People with experience in  using firearms always trend towards simplicity.

The trend towards simplicity actually occurred almost 50yrs ago when the Army adopted the M16 and replace the M14.   That was the first major transition towards simplicity and a lighter firearm.   The AR15 complete upper receivers that we sell have very diverse applications.   Some are for designated marksmen applications with longer and usually heavier barrels and then some are for Patrol vehicles and are as short and light as possible.  Right now the Daniel Defense uppers that we sell win the lightest AR15 contest but it’s been too early for us to claim they are as tough as some of the others.

Top

Finding a gun case for your expensive Carbine

It always bothered me that guys would call off going to the range with me when there was the slightest chance of rain coming down because they didn’t want their gun to get wet.   It’s funny that someone would spend $2000 to get a combat worth rifle and then be afraid they might damage it if it gets rained on.  Most modern firearms can handle the rain and you better get use to the fact that rain isn’t going to ruin it.  If you had a wood stock on your rifle that might be another issue, but people can be far too protective of firearms when real operators know that firearm parts wear out.  Guns get scratched and things come loose and anyone that is that concerned about it probable doesn’t really have a spike in a fight anyway.

One thing that I don’t have a problem with is people getting good gun cases and protecting their guns and gear in storage.  Sometimes rifle optics can double the value of your guns, and some people upgrade their guns with new AR15 complete upper receivers that can further increase the value of a firearm.  Guns, especially M4 Carbines should be rugged and tough and getting good Magpul Accessories on it and tightening them with loctite is a way to prevent problems.   There are some really nice gun cases from Elite Survival Systems like the Covert Operations gun case that has velcro straps for locking down your optics and firearm securely.

Top

Gas piston guns, are you going to get a good one for under $1000?

I have some very wise friends and when we first started to see the piston driven AR15s show up on the market “again” about 7yrs ago, it was mostly debates about the AR18, the LWRC piston driven firearms and the POF guns.   I think POF did a good job of staying in the market up until about 2yrs ago.   Now everyone and their dog is making one but I would still caution anyone from jumping in the fire and expecting theirs to be up to what LWRC is making.   The only argument you can make against LWRC guns is probable the H&K 416 variants.

Even with some of the earlier LWRC M6 rifles, there have been some changes, modifications and uprgrades.  I was fortunate enough to have been able to go to the LWRC factory and upgrade on of my LWRC AR15 upper receivers and get the new bolt carrier group without any altering of the firearm I have.  My LWRC M6A2 is a much older version compared to what is out now the barrel life is about 4x’s more.   There are still large variations in piston driven uppers and I got to shoot a Ruger 556 last year and was very impressed with the quality of the firearm, there may be more choices in 2012 and many of them look nice, but will there be modifications or changes to them and getting parts for yours might become harder and harder in 2-3yrs.

Top

Uppers and Lowers and endless modifications, what’s the answer?

The simple answer is get more guns.   The real problem I see with many people that tinker too much with firearms is that they can really mess stuff up.  I remember seeing this with guys that overly modified their 1911s and put springs in the guns that they should not have and they ended up with an accurate POS.   I don’t know how many times i’ve say behind a guy on the firing line that continuously informed me that his firearm was reliable but I’d watch them clear malfunctions all day and they would just blame the ammunition.

In my opinion, that is like watching a guy put tires on a car that are  not the same size and saying the only reason he crashed the car was because when he made the wide turn the tires that were not uniform made him loose control.   Well, stop messing around so much with your AR15 lower receivers and your AR15 upper receivers and make sure that once you get something that is reliable, stop screwing around with triggers and springs.   You are better off with multiple firearms that do different things than trying to push a firearm to do everything.  There is a trade off between reliability and accuracy and rarely does a firearm do both for very long.

Top

Gun Parts and AR15 accessorizing

Those statements can give some people a stroke, but once you’ve been there and done that, you hopefully have arrived at a happy medium.   Put me down as someone that was not a big fan of the AR15 design because I never understood why a gun was designed without worrying about how much maintenance it needed.   Don’t tell me that Eugene Stoner knew the gun was designed to do what it is doing today.  There was basically a disaster in place when the guns were first fielded and not until recently have the vast majority of AR15 owners realized that the direct impingement gun needs to be generously lubricated at all times to be functional.

There have been many improvements over the internal workings of the firearm from barrels, chamber chroming, gun magazines, improvements on ammunition and even changes to barrel twist have all gun us to where the M4 carbine is today.   The next major improvement with the M4 Carbine and M16 family of firearms is a lighter carbine like replacing your AR15 upper receivers without the compromises in durability.  That is something that has still been unproven with some of the newer lightweight uppers because of the time they have been out, but only time and testing will tell.

Top

Gun cleaning is a talent

When most people think about gun cleaning they usually think about how fast they can get it done and what gun cleaning supplies they can use to get the job done.  Most of the time I just use Break Free CLP on all of my guns and rarely bother with Hoppes cleaning solvent.   I’ve learned to avoid those really harsh gun cleaning chemicals and only use them when I am shooting lead or haven’t cleaning a firearm for awhile after shooting it.

Last week I got an opportunity to shoot some of the LWRC M6 rifles.   A few weeks before that I got to shoot an LWRC M6AK.   The only simliar type of AR15 upper receivers I shot were the Smith & Wesson 5.45×39 uppers.  These guns varied in cost, but when I cam home I don’t think I shot up more than $50 worth of ammo and I must have expensed more than 500rds.   When we were done I was told to clean them with Windex!  And that’s another story.

Top

Getting bored with your AR15?

It wasn’t until the later 1990’s that the M4 carbine really took hold in the civilian market.   We usually only saw the AR15 A2 on the firing line and that was about it.   Then we started to see the heavy barrels and then the light barrels.   In the last 6yrs there have been so many calibers and manufacturers making the AR15 firearms that I have completely given up on keeping track of them.   There are so many custom AR15 models that it’s really more like asking someone what kind of Legos do they like to build.

I am going to be taking the dive into the AR15 market again very soon.   I recently got to fire a Ruger 556 and was really amazed that Ruger of all people would step into the market, even more so than Smith & Wesson have the guts to make a 5.45×39 AR15 upper receivers.   CMMG makes a darn good version for the money and we’ve sold a ton of those to people that didn’t want to spend $1800 on another firearm.    Once again, the beauty of the AR15 design is that you can put any type of AR15 upper on them and only have a minimal amount of gunsmithing to do if something doesn’t fit quite right.

Top

It’s hard to have to wait, but sometimes it’s worth it

We got another large shipment of the LWRC M6AK upper receivers and some of these orders have been a couple weeks backordered.   A lot of the AR15 market is about accessorizing and my eyes hurt from just looking through the AR15.com website for product info.   After awhile,  I have to wonder what kind of life some people have to constantly attach and mess around with their firearms.  Sure it can be a hobby to work on a firearm, but nothing beats knowing how to fight.   I’ve seen so many guys with $3000 worth of gun and accessories that never leave the 5oyd range and  like to talk about accuracy, meanwhile, if I talk about what a Mini 14 can do at 300-600yds, I’m somehow over stepping myself.

Rifle optics has a lot to do with the job at hand and more rifle scopes tend to be able to really only do 1 or 2 tasks.   You are either close quarters fight, medium range fighting, or long range engagements.   And there may be a modification or accessory that can get you one of the other ones.    LWRC uppers have folding down front and rear sights on all complete upper receivers.  I have always preferred the ability to switch to iron sights and front posts never bothered me for optics, but now  that so many optics are zero magnification, folding front sights down may, depending on your tolerances, inhibit some visibility.

Top
1 2 Page 1 of 2