All posts in AR15 Uppers

Novekse uppers in full form

Recently we attended the Contagion 2012 here in Pennsylvania at the new New Holland Rifle and Pistol club.  This was I believe the 5th year of the Contagion event and the 5th one we were sponsors at.  The beauty of events like this is its basically a please touch gun show.  You can ask shooters about the guns and gear they are towing around and and watch it in action.  So many times we watch people show up for the first time and have gear fail on them.  98% of the times we saw operator induced malfunctions but some times we saw optics fail.   There are guys with NCStar optics going up against Trijicon and Aimpoint optics and there has been a difference in performance.  There is a difference between plinking and hard use optics.

There has to be something said about mounting optics properly and using loctite on your optics so they don’t come loose.  The other thing we noticed is the guys that shot the most accurately at medium and longer ranges were using higher end AR15s or fitted with Noveske uppers who were also sponsors for the event.  The way that bolt carrier improvements have occurred so many firearms have become more reliable and have less use for high amounts of lubrication.  We’ve seen direct impingement AR15s perform as well as the LWRC M6A2 guns that were fielded that day basically because the guns, all guns have gotten better.

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Are you having a hard time finding the AR15 upper that you want?

After seeing about a 4yr increase in sales of firearms, we’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that certain .380 pistol magazines, gun holsters and firearm accessories are going to be hard to get for a few more months.   Much of what is going on is an increase in firearm sales due to the social and political problems we are facing.  We have elected individuals to higher office that do not have traditional patriotic values and seeing them gain power is disturbing to anyone that understands the Constitution. Runs on emergency food storage and ammunition were the next things to go prices have increased with the demand.  We’ve seen more sales of higher end firearms and accessories because the cheap stuff was all gone.

We have backorders for AR15 uppers going back to November for Spikes Tactical, Daniel Defense, Smith & Wesson and many more.  The real issue is that many of the manfacturers are selling more complete guns and making AR15 upper receivers for sale is not something as important as selling a complete gun.  Many gun shops would rather sell guns than uppers.  If you having a hard time getting the uppers make sure you put your email in the “email me when back in stock” option on our website.  We do get in many uppers but the quantities are small and come in sporadically.   It’s a hard time for people building AR15s because there are some waiting periods if you know what you want.

 

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What type of optic for a DMR 308?

There is about a 10yr record of the M14 and new 7.62 firearms showing up on the battle field because the longer shots needed to be more potent.  I’m well aware of all of the reasons why the military switched to the 5.56 round but that was due to the notion that most combat took placed under 200yrs.   Now that we know that you can’t always call in an airstrike in a fight and sometimes you can see your enemy clearly but you just can’t get through the wall he’s hiding behind and the 5.56 steel core penetrator is just  going to take too long to get through concrete.   From what we hear from the men coming back from Iraq, that was what the DMR’s job was.   To get through things that the 5.56 round couldn’t.

Now that optics are common on firearms, we have pretty much accepted that optics like Leupold, Trijicon and others are well deserving to be on a combat rifle.  One problem we see on non AR10 style weapons is finding good mounts, but LWRC uppers have pretty much taken the top tier of piston driven guns and the LWRC Repr is probable the most comfortable 7.62 gun i’ve fired.   I have to admit that many of the arguments against direct impingement guns are moot, but the ergonomics and quality of LWRC guns, parts and uppers is top notch.

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Coming this Fall at Rogue Elite

Not only have we finished setting up our new tactical shop here in Broomall, we are getting setup for the Fall outwear promo with TruSpec.  This year Gunny will be releasing his own tactical pant from TruSpec and we were happy to hear that this tactical pants has a gussetted crotch.  This has probable the only consistent complaint we got about the TruSpec pants.  They really are comfortable to wear and the pockets are very unique.  The material designs make it an easy transition from 5.11 tactical pants to the TruSpec design because they are both a polyester cotton blend.  Its hard to find places to try stuff like this on but now we have a location here in Southeaster Pennsylvania.

Tru Spec has a big 2 month long outerwear promotion going on from October 1st to November 30th and it will be a good time to stop in early October to get the best deals and selections.   There aren’t too many places to tryout things like this and Philadelphia Police and Security Supplies doesn’t usually mean that you are selling tactical pants.  Many stores that market that mostly deal with uniforms and the like but we are a full stocking dealer for Tru spec pants, jackets, vests, shorts and jackets.  We are located in the Broomall Industrial Park just right off of 476 South.  We are open Tuesday- Friday 12am-6pm and Saturday’s  10am-5pm.

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Spikes and Bushmaster Uppers

We’ve blown through a ton of the Spikes Tactical uppers in recent months but they have been so hard to get that some people working on a timeline ended up getting other things.  We’ve sold more LWRC uppers in the last year because so many of the less expensive products were all gone and it was like, spend another $500 and you got yourself a piston driven gun. And if you don’t want that, you’re not going to get your $600 Spikes Tactical upper.   Many people started out with Bushmaster AR15 and Colt AR15s but there have been so  many changes that i’d have to paint a broad brush on these guns and say they are all better than they use to be.

Even things like gun oils, MPro7 makes a darn good cleaning and gun oil and Its non-toxic which really adds up.  I have several Bushmaster upper receivers on my guns that I built and they are great guns especially for the price I paid.   The Standard A2 carry handle upper receiver is the 2nd firearm that I teach new shooters to shoot on.   First  it’s the Marlin bolt action 22LR and then I move to the Bushmaster XM15E2.   If you can’t get a hold of a Spikes Tactical Upper, the Bushmaster Upper receivers are probable the next best thing.

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The answer to what you want is to go to a store and hold it in your hands

I use to organize lots of gun club events and the best thing about it was being able to try out things that my friends would show up with.  We would even put out requests before hand and ask people to bring a certain firearm out if someone owned it.   It was very cool to have some of my requests fulfilled when I got to shoot a 5.45×39 AK next to a 7.62×39 one.   I did some long range testing with it and anyone with an honest mind will tell you that it makes sense that the Russians switched over to the 5.45×39 caliber.  Shopping for gun accessories online can be a pain and sometimes it’s always best to go back to the manufacturer and ask them.

We’ve had to sell off some of our high end upper receivers whenever we found out that a new version of this was coming out.  Sometimes a slight spring or finish occurs on the AR15 complete upper receivers and its all of a sudden an old version.   Just look at what Glock did with all of the Generations of Glock firearms and the infamous recalls.  I am never one to be the first to buy a firearm because ever since the XD45 came out, I saw guys send them back to the factory for improvements.   That never happened to me with my Sig Sauer pistols so it’s sometimes best to know you are venturing into unknown territory if you try something new.   Ask questions and try things out or put on your Lewis and Clark.

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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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Hard to find an upper you like?

We get a lot of window shoppers at our store and the one thing we pride ourselves on is that we are already very competitive with online sales that when people walk out of our store and look it up on Google or Yahoo, there is a really good chance they see our store listed there.  For many gun shops they tend to not make much money off of guns and ammunition that they really need to make money off of other things.  Some of those things like gun accessories, optics, holsters can be marked up 10-15% beyond what an online dealer might have but people are getting frugal with this economy.

Wilson combat magazines are one of those things that you don’t see in many stores but we are one of the best sources online for those.  When it comes to AR15 uppers the Noveske complete uppers are our recent hot sellers and the standard models are flying out the door.  There are many things like this that people want to hold in their hands before they lay their money down and gun grips, rifle stocks and gun accessories are not all that common in a fishing and hunting store.   Stop in our new Broomall PA location for the best source in tactical gear.

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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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