All posts tagged Bushmaster uppers

Blowing money or just having fun with a rifle?

There are several AR15 guns that we’ve seen come out that were basically a novelty.   I wouldn’t trust some of the direct impingement 5.45×39 guns with my life because it’s just a flat out bad idea to expect a gun to run on ammo that dirty and in a firearm like an direct impingement AR15 for very long.   Some of the differences in barrel life vary from firearm to firearm and the machining and matching of parts can mean the difference between a hobby gun and a combat firearm.  From my experience putting a gun together properly is a big deal and i’ve seen many imported firearms just not cut it because the gunsmithing and assemble were so bad a firearm like a FNFAL can get a bad image.

Century Arms was notorious for making cheap AKs and FAL amongst other things and there have been some dud companies that made AR15s.  AR15 rifle have improved and there are many guns that can become great hunting rifles with Bushmaster upper receivers that have the configuration that you might want for deer or varmint hunting.   I have a Bushmaster XM15E2 that is the second firearm that I train new shooters to use.  The iron sights on a carry handle and the long 20inch heavy barrel are very good training guns.

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Have enough guns? How about more upper receivers for your AR15?

I don’t think you even need to worry changing calibers if you want something different than a 556 upper.   I’ve seen guys turn an M4 Carbine into a varmint rifle with a snap of two pins on a lower receiver.  The real thing to look out for is changes in calibers, namely to a 5.45×39 upper.   Many times I’ve seen guys skip the hammer spring change and end up with a light strike issue with Russian ammunition. We sold a ton of the Smith & Wesson 5.45×39 uppers a few years ago but for some reason they just don’t seem to be available.

 

The LWRC M6Ak was a one off novelty deal which died a quick death and no word if it’ll ever happen again.
Right  now the biggest selling upper receiver we have are the Adams 5.45×9 uppers.  I had a customer take apart his gun side by side to my AR15 complete upper receivers and compare the piston differences.  There is a difference and I still love my LWRC M6A2 but this gun was a next best thing and a best thing for a 5.45×39 upper.  You still can’t beat the cost of ammunition for these guns and the  caliber does have a better reputation than the 30 caliber AK.   I’ve known guys that took hits from the AK it has so much energy that it just zips through you and the Russians finally caught on that the 5.56 was a better combat caliber.

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So many choices and so much good stuff!

Instead of getting a new AR15 upper receiver with a longer or shorter barrel, instead of buying a better quality bolt carrier group or doing some minor tweaking, just change the furniture.    Magpul industries is King of the AR15 accessorizing and the new MOE products really do give you something new to adjust to.   We have a blue rifle that we attach accessories to and let our customer hold them in their hands and try them out.   All gun grips should be customized by the shooter because just like footwear, our feet as well as our  hands come in different sizes, so why would we issue the same size rifle stocks or attachments to a Carbine.

A good operator knows that this is true and each of us has to be able to adjust our accessories to the job that we intend to do with our Carbine.  We have sold a lot of CMMG and Spikes Tactical uppers as well as many of the higher end AR15 uppers like LWRC and Noveske.   There isn’t really much of a difference between these guns as far as reliability, but there gas piston guns are much lower maintenance.  This year Spikes Tactical uppers have been so hard to acquire that many have actually chosen to save up their money and pick up piston driven uppers.  We’ve sold more LWRC M6 uppers this year than ever before.   Stay tuned for the new M6A5 coming out later this summer.

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Stock length and cheek weld and good shooting

There is more to a Carbine stock than just adjustability and length of pull.   Body armor can make  your standard Carbine feel really uncomfortable and put on a tactical vest and you’re probable a good 2 inches or more shorter on your Carbine stock.   One other thing that comes into play is the amount of play you might end up with if you have a commercial stock sitting on a Mil-spec buffer tube.

Knowing something about your Carbines parts history and if its all Mil-spec is going to be very important if you start to accessorize your parts.  Magpul accessories give you a lot of options for making your AR15 fit you right and adjust to the gear you may be using.   The Magpul MOE stocks and accessories are also something very new and original to consider.

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5.45×39 upper receiver options

I recently got to witness the Smith & Wesson 5.45×39 in action a zombie shoot competition.   This upper has been on the market for a few years, but in all honesty I don’t know anyone that has actually put one to hard use.   I always thought that the direct impingement design didn’t lend itself very well to Russian ammo.  Many AR15 jam up and do not work very well with Wolf ammo and from my experience there are more FTF when mixing Russian ammo with American guns.    Not only do many of these guns fail to fire, the ammo is ditier and can cause failures to extract.  Sure you can always get around some of these issues by constantly cleaning,  but I wouldn’t expect my AR15 to be combat reliable with Russian ammo, especially when the round count gets up there.   We’ve sold a great many upper receivers in the 2010 and the Smith & Wesson 5.45×39 is the number one seller.

Smith & Wesson 556 guns were one of the best made guns in 2009 and many of my fellow firearms instructors will testify to this.   Even though there are still some issues with the DI type guns, the guns being made today are superior to the AR15 DI guns from 10yrs ago.   LWRCI has their own short stroke piston upper receivers in 5.45×39 , but from what I have seen in the firearms market, I don’t jump on the bandwagon with new guns until they’ve been out in the field for several years.   I saw changes to firearms from Rugers LCP and LCR  and even the Springfield XD guns were all slightly modified after being out for only a year.   Let the feedback from the end user determine which guns are better unless you want to be the beta tester.

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