5.45x39 AR?

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Buzzdraw

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5.45 in an AR is still cheap. Aim has the milsurp stuff for $120 per 1080 round can, if you buy two http://www.aimsurplus.com/product.aspx?item=A54539R&groupid=33

The S&W M&P 15R carbine is a hoot to shoot. It's not big a deal to clean for corrosive ammo. C Products makes a quality, cartridge-specific 30 rd mag for this AR. I've shot over 2,000 rounds of the stuff though mine with no problems.

Some Wolf 70 gr non-corrosive has a bullet nose shape not conducive to the M&P chamber. Other lots of the Wolf 70 gr run fine.
 

TJohn

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Anyone shooting one of the 5.45x39 AR's? The way I understnd it will shoot the cheap AK74 ammo and is a cheap way to have ammo to practice. Are there any issues? Will it use regular AR15 mags? Where is the cheap ammo?

I have a Smith & Wesson MP15R, that I have shot a lot, never paid much attention until I started shooting paper targets and cardboard boxes with it, but it keyholes a lot. I don't know if it is an issue with the 60 grain Monarch 5.45x39 and the barrel twist rate, or if I just have a bad barrel that needs to go back to Smith & Wesson. I have purchased some different weight ammo to try once I get some time. Also recently purchased a Tantal and no keyhole issue with the 60 grain Monarch.

As for the magazines I have seen a lot of mixed reviews about the 5.45 C-Products 30 rounders, I must have hit the jackpot. The nine that I have purchased have been 100%reliable, no bad mags. As posted you can use regular mags, they will work as long as you don't load over 20 or so rounds in a 30 round mag.

If you purchase just an upper and not a complete gun you may need to install a heavier hammer spring to prevent fail to fires. The complete S&W MP15R's come with an orange spring which is suppose to be heavier. I have had no fail to fires with that complete rifle but when I switched the upper to a DPMS lower that I had laying around I did experience about 3 fail to fires out of each 30 round mag. However, all went off on the second time through. I have no experience with the corrosive spam can ammo.
 

Buzzdraw

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I have a Smith & Wesson MP15R, that I have shot a lot, never paid much attention until I started shooting paper targets and cardboard boxes with it, but it keyholes a lot. . . .

. . .

If you purchase just an upper and not a complete gun you may need to install a heavier trigger spring to prevent fail to fires. The complete S&W MP15R's come with an orange spring which is suppose to be heavier. I have had no fail to fires with that complete rifle but when I switched the upper to a DPMS lower that I had laying around I did experience about 3 fail to fires out of each 30 round mag. However, all went off on the second time through. . . .

Maybe one in 500 of the Russian milsurp 53 grainers will keyhole, possibly just a bad bullet.

My 15R runs fine with the special hammer spring; that's the orange-colored HD part included with either a full S&W rifle or with a S&W upper. The HD spring makes the trigger pull extra hard. It also runs fine with a standard hammer spring, so that's what's currently in it, along with a Rock River two-stage trigger kit.
 

TJohn

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Maybe one in 500 of the Russian milsurp 53 grainers will keyhole, possibly just a bad bullet.

If mine was keyholing 1 in 500 or 1 to 5 per mag for that matter I would not be too concerned. The keyholing I am experiencing with the 60 grain Monarch is 1/3 to 1/2 of each mag. I recently acquired a Tantal which I have only fired 120 rounds through, but so far not a single keyhole with the 60 grainers (same ammo that is keyholing so bad with the S&W). I have acquired some heavier ammo, so I will have to try that, or possibly some lighter stuff if I run across it to see if it makes a difference.
 

jtischauser

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I have shot about 2000 rounds or so through my 5.45x39 M&P15R rifle. I have 5 of those C Products mags and have never had any issues other than it being a complete ***** to seat a full mag. I download to 28 rounds. I was buying the 2160 spam can ammo from R Guns for $260 per. I guess I will try some of that $240 per case stuff mentioned above if shipping is right.

The only trouble I have had with my rifle is stuck cases when mixing the brown bear with the silver bear. Run one or the other and your fine mix them and you got trouble.

I run a JP tank break and lightened bolt carrier in mine for reduced recoil and muzzle flip. They work great! I'm gonna install a JP trigger with the heavy hammer spring this winter. It should give me a slightly heavy (5lbish) trigger pull with competition style take up and reset. I run a Millet 1-4x on top. It makes for a really cheap 3 gun practice rifle. Actually after 15,000 rounds of $.11 ammo compared to $.19 .223 ammo the rifle is free. I'm gonna have s free rifle this summer;)
 

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