5.45mm Upper

[Bluez]

I been wanting a 5.45mm upper for a while to circumvent the ammo prices.
I had wnated one badly enough I ha dalready bought 2 cases (1080 each)

So I finally picked one up used (at a new price, sigh)
The guy threw in 2 Mags and had the original box.

Unit was in decent shape.

As whole i tdoesnt have the quality feel that say a SR556C upper or a Sig516 upper would have but I didnt expect that.
Am just happy to have gotten a melonited piston upper for 5.45

I wanted specifically piston since the surplus ammo is so dirty.


The Adams arms BCG looked real nice obviously had a feature to reduce/eliminate carrier tilt (check the pics).
Something else I thought was interesting was that the Bolt was spring loaded.
As the pics show the pisoitn assembly comes out real easy, easier than on any other piston guns I own.

I will have to add a rail to it and get rid of the handguards.
This is because I want to use this as a cheaper trainer.
I put on a set of Magpul flip ups I had lying around and yes I am well aware that the plastic on the front one may melt.

But i needed <something> on there for now.
I may yet get some metal sights for it.

And now for the gun porn:

 

[Bluez]

.................................

I mounted the upper on a spare lower I had.

 

[RangerDanger]

Very nice. I'd love to have a 5.45 upper one day

 

[STF]

So what was the price?

 

[Bluez]

$830 just for the upper w/ supposedly only 500 rds thru it .
A new 5.45 DI upper from midway is 650 BUT everyone always seems to be out of stock.
The MSRP for this Piston Upper form AA is $827

And the AA unit has the barrel and the BCG and bolt all melonited (nitrided)

I heard you have to put a stronger hammer spring on it since the soviet surplus ammo like a harder strike on its primers.

is that always necessary?

 

[RangerDanger]

Not sure about the hammer spring on the 5.45 stuff but it helps for sure on the 7.62x39 ar. I also just upgraded my firing pin to the model 1 sales 7.62x39 one but probably won't get a chance to hit the range anytime soon. Try brownells.com for the wolf power spring. I need to order another one sometime soon

 

[Bluez]

Today I took the ancient (production year 2000) EOtech off my 50 Beowulf (it came with it) and put it on the 5.45mm.

reasoning is that the 5.45mm is going to be a training gun and probably see some volume of fires where the Beowulf will only fire very few rounds.

Also the MagPul Mbus plastic melting up front risk is much less with the Beowulf since for the same reason.

On top of that less accuracy is needed with the Beowulf since my mission profile for it might be large things at under 100yds so the Irons will serve me just fine.
..............
Also I found out that ,as I suspected, the barrel AA 5.45mm is 4150 CMBV not 4140.
This makes me feel a better about my buy, as the Smith&Wesson 5.45mm upper with 4140 barrels seem to have reports about premature barrell wear, hopefull the harder steel here will not suffer the same fate.

Also everything is melonited including the BCG and Bolt which is also very nice and a good fit for soviet surplus ammo


I am waiting for a couple of minor parts for I can do some alternate configurations and then post updated pics of both rifles

 

[RangerDanger]

The model site says to only use their 5.45x39 firing pin with their bolt. The wolf spring may be a cheaper solution if you're having issues with light primer strikes. Heres a link to the firing pin

https://www.model1sales.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=421

 

[Bluez]

The firing pin thats in there came w/ the AA Upper.
I dont have light strike issues yet as I havent fired it yet.
My indoor range wont allow this ammo and in any event I just had eye surgery a couple weeks ago and am not allowed to shoot for another 2.

I hope by then I can get on a buddys buddy property for shooting

 

[RangerDanger]

Interested to see how well it works. I've read good things about the adams arms uppers so you'll probably be fine. I'll be watching this thread for updates

 

[Bluez]

Today the Quadrail came in that I ordered for this gun yay

Yes I know Quadrails are so yesterday... but I wanted a way to put a VFG on the gun to mimic my others so I would get maximum training effect due to similar configuration.

It was a UTG carbine lenght rail.

Well Guess what even tho the handguards are carbine length as is the UTG Quadrail , it still didnt fit because it had room on the upper rails only for a gas tube... but the piston was way too big and got in the way.

So I had ot put the handguards back on.

Hmm I wonder if Magpul handguards rails will fit?

Maybe I will got to my LGS because they would allow me to try a fit before I buy....

 

[RangerDanger]

That sucks man. Hopefully you get it figured out. What quad rails did you try? Free float? Some manufacturer's have a larger inside diameter and may fit your needs. Have you ever tried the magpul AFG (angled foregrip)? I feel the AFG is more comfortable for me

 

[Bluez]

I also like the AFG but these are regular old school handguards and I don't think I can attach anything.
not sure I would want to since they flex quite a bit too.

I experimented around and found that believe or not my favorite configuration is actually a combination of both AFG and VFG and I am slowly converting my rifles ot this configuration as rail room allows.

Maybe I can get a Magpul Carbine length to fit over the piston AA Upper then I can have a VFG on it, we will see.

Watch this space.