A new thought Re: 5.45X39

[RonE]

Is anyone making a 5.45X39 Upper for the AR platform? Surplus ammo is really cheap. What rifles other than AK style are chambered for this round?

 

[Fingolfin]

Smith and Wesson is making rifles and uppers in 5.45 now.

 

[SimpleIsGood229]

Keep in mind that all surplus 5.45 is corrosive, which will be a pain a clean in the AR (I would think). I suppose one could just replace the gas tube every-so-often.

 

[MisterPX]

No harder to clean than any other time you clean.

 

[Bartkowski]

Mister, your kidding right? What will you do about the gas tube? And you will have to use water or windex to clean most of the parts, then dry, then oil.

There is some wolf 5.45 that isn't corrosive though, but then the price isn't that great.

 

[nalioth]

Alexander Arms made an AR upper long before S&W ever considered it.

They called the round ".21 Genghis"

They are out there.

 

[nalioth]

There is some wolf 5.45 that isn't corrosive though, but then the price isn't that great.

All current shipping Wolf is noncorrosive (current since 2 or 3 years back).

 

[Prince Yamato]

The Wolf 5.45 is only like $30 more than the surplus. I just pay the extra money figuring that it saves me time in cleaning.

 

[Macpherson]

I currently have a S&W upper on preorder with AIM surplus, they were supposed to ship in April but have not shipped yet...Word I have is that Smith had to send back 20,000 bolt carriers for not being hardened properly, no info on a new ship date either. I've been bummed all summer because I have a crate of 5.45 in my basement begging to be shot

As for cleaning, I dont see why it would be that big of a deal, just spray everything down with water before cleaning, then oil as normal. I've been thinking I'll probably just take it apart and dunk the whole thing in water before cleaning. It adds a little bit of extra work for a lot of savings in ammo.

 

[MisterPX]

Mister, your kidding right?

Running some water down the barrel is a non issue, easy enough to do. If you clean, you'll be reoiling anyhow, so a moot point. As far as gas tube, well, even if you never cleaned it, it's stainless, moisture won't hurt it.

 

[SimpleIsGood229]

The issue is the corrosive primer salts getting into the gas tube. That should eat away stainless.

 

[Ash]

And don't forget about the bolt and bolt face.

Ash

 

[Z-Michigan]

Gas tubes are stainless steel and cheap. I wouldn't worry about those.

But I would worry about the inside of the bolt carrier, and basically all of the bolt and bolt carrier parts. That would keep me from running any corrosive ammo in an AR.

 

[dispatch55126]

Olympic is starting to build them. Midway has them listed as coming soon. 1080 rounds for $100 sure looks good to me.

 

[Bartkowski]

Won't some of the salts go through the gas tube into the action?

 

[gtmerkley]

Olimpic arms

 

[SimpleIsGood229]

Bartkowski,

Good point. Just sounds like a great, big, ol' mess to me. I think the little extra spent for Wolf 5.45 would be worth it.

 

[Halo]

I don't have an AR so I can't really comment on the relative difficulties of cleaning it, but I don't even run corrosive through my AKs. I use corrosive surplus in bolt actions all the time, but I'm just paranoid about using it in my semis because I can just see the gas getting up into some nook or cranny that I miss. Personally I have to agree with the others who say spend a bit more and get non-corrosive.