All posts tagged Spikes Upper Receivers

Build your AR15 Complete Upper Receivers in the Winter and take it out in the Spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right now I’m hearing a lot of complaints about how bad the weather is and how many of the ranges are closed down due to bad weather here in Pennsylvania.  The best ranges are further from the major cities and getting to them or even being able to walk them, can be very difficult at this time of year.   Now is usually the time of year that I break out the Dillon 550 press and work on all of my best hand cooked 223 and have plenty of it ready for the rest of the year.   My Dillon 550 press sometimes doesn’t get used more than once a year because it’s best to just do large runs of 5.56 Nato or 223 handloads in batches.  The other thing I usually work on are all of the modifications.   I recently had to refinish and coat some of the firearms I had because I had them out in rainy Winter weather and they all came how covered in rust.   I have a few AR15 complete upper receivers awaiting the finishing of my Spike’s Gen 2 Stripped Billet Upper.

Not all of us have time to always be at the range or building firearms but when the weather is not so good, instead of sitting inside and drinking hot chocolate, or going sledding, schedule a build with a stripped lower receiver or a stripped upper receiver and work on it right now.   There is still a high demand of AR15 Complete Upper Receivers due to some States recently passing laws, but there has been a slight slow down since some panic over the election has subsided.    Right now we are running 3-5 weeks on most Spike’s Tactical Complete Uppers, but for some reason some of the 300 Blackout Uppers are getting made in about 3 weeks.   Adams Arms Complete Upper Receivers are coming back in Stock in about 4-6 weeks.    It all depends on the models and popularity.

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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.

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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.

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Too much to think about or lots to think about ?

After watching many Youtube videos about what is coming out in 2012 I was mostly bored out of my skull trying to understand why I would bother spending another $2000 for an AR15 that is slightly different than what I already own.   Sure there are improvements but spending $2000 on something that is 5% more of a gun than an AR15 that you already own doesn’t justify the cost.   I am a big proponent to upgrading what you have.   There was a really good article in Swat magazine years ago about improving what you already own and the small things you can do to improve your AR15.   Replace extractor springs, stake screws, lube your gun right and you’ve just improved your gun for less than $150.

If you are looking to make your Carbine a firearm that you can rely on, make sure you don’t over think the configuration and setup.   I understand why people spend $2000 on AR15 upper receivers that have folding front and rear sights, but if you have folding front sights keep in mind that you have one more step to getting your firearm up and running and that is something to seriously think about.   I am a firm believer that people need to adapt to weapons and gear and not always expect to adapt the firearm to them.  Fixed front sights have been around for a long time and I don’t think changing that another thing that needs to be folded or screwed on is worth the liability.

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