All posts tagged Complete 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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Spike’s Tactical Upper Receivers #1 AR15 for builders

Spike's Tactical Upper ReceiversWe’ve had the pattern for over 3yrs now and that’s one reason we have been stocking Spikes Tactical products for almost 2yrs.   The AR15 is the modern musket and can be customized for just about anyone.   I’ve seen people in wheel chairs target shoot them and now many are getting SBR’s or Short Barrel Rifles, and even making AR Pistols.   I don’t see much of the need to have an SBR or anything longer than 20″ in my arsenal, there are a lot of people building their own AR15s, especially if they get  good deal on a lower receiver.  People often ask us if it’s cheaper to build your own AR15, and the truth is you might save about $100-$200 but atleast you get what  you want instead of buying a Carbine and then having to take of something off it and spend money on accessorizing it.

I don’t like the idea of matching more than 2 brands of parts because we’ve seen so many out of spec issues with people building guns that just because it says it was “milspec” doesn’t mean that it is.   There are so many manufacturers out there to choose from but if you don’t know where to start, you can go wrong with Spike’s Tactical Upper Receivers and Lower Parts kits. There are a lot of good deals on lowers right now because prices have come down and there are people that still bought into the panic buying 2yrs ago and are off loading them.   Whether you are just looking to put another grip on your AR, replace worn out triggers or springs, check out all of the Spikes Parts Kits we have to offer.

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Daniel Defense Upper Receivers for self defense and hunting

Daniel Defense Upper ReceieversWe are often asked questions that are simple questions but open us up to a lot of liabilities because in this industry, if you don’t know what you want, we can’t tell you what to get.   We can give you suggestions based upon your questions but questions like “I want a comfortable holster” and “what’s better, S&W upper receivers or Daniel Defense?”   There are some major advances it technology that have made military style rifles  much stronger and lighter than ever before and Daniel Defense is probable the leader in those regards.  Some of their upper receivers are in the 4lb range and are incredible durable.   The cold hammer forged barrels are incredible strong and a great many of these are used in Special Forces.

The barrels come pre-threaded so these are suppressor friendly which is a major plus since so many people are realizing the value of having suppressed firearms.     There are a lot of differences in Daniel Defense Upper receivers but the best thing to do when shopping for a build or hunting rifle is to go to a store that stocks them or hang out at a gun club with your friends that own them.   The Ambush line of Daniel Defense is geared more towards hunting because even though the AR15 started out as a military style weapon, it has been widely accepted as a good coyote or varmint rifle.   The versatility of the AR15 is in it’s ability to swap  out different upper receivers that can be  used for long range, different bullet weights and different optics.

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Bushmaster firearms and upper receivers for builds?

Bushmaster upper receiversI remember back in the day it seemed like everything was either Bushmaster, Olympic Arms or Colt when it came to AR15 rifles.   There were cheap AK’s, Cheap SKS’s and the guys with the AR15’s were the guys that had money.   Now that the AR15 is the number #1 most popular rifle in the Country, it’s the difference between lincoln logs and legos as far as the changes they’ve made.   Every AR15 out there is made of metal that is sometimes 7x’s stronger or more than barrels made 10yrs ago.   I still have a Bushmaster XM15E2 that I got which is the heavy barrel AR15 and that is almost a dated firearm.

Most operators are going for lighter firearms, but lighter does  not mean weaker.   The Bushmaster upper receivers that we get in now feel and look nothing like the gun I had from 15years ago and the price points still make them a competitive firearm for those that want something new, are doing a new AR15 build or just want a quality AR15.   There are many calibers of AR15’s from the 450, 5.45×39 and the 556mm and now 6.8SPC.    The 308 has really taken some ground now that companies like Magpul are putting out quality 20rd magazines which was something that was pretty scarce previously.

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Spikes Tactical parts dealer

Spikes tactical uppers We have been a Spike’s tactical parts dealer for several years and in all honesty, when we first started selling them it was through a drop shipping company and never actually held them in our hands.   One of the crazy things about being in the tactical or Law Enforcement business and running and e-commerce business, you can be dealing with products and items that you never actually hold in your hand, but you sell them everyday.   I remember the days when it seemed like Bushmaster, Colt, Armalite and Olympic Arms were the only ones making the AR15, but it seems like that industry exploded about 8yrs ago and every gun making is making a direct impingement or piston driven AR15.   There are still some big feature differences, but the quality of so many of these rifles has improved so much.

After seeing that our distributor could hardly keep these in stock, and a quick search around the internet proved that these were a hot item we contacted Spikes Tactical to become a direct dealer.   Our first shipment of Spikes Tactical Uppers came in nearly 10 months after we ordered them but we are getting more from them than any of our distributors especially since the crazy rush on firearms and even gun parts.  It’s always a good idea to stock up on extra gun accessories like lower parts kits ect. because a broken gun is as bad as not having ammunition.  The cold hammer forged FN barrels are as Mil-Spec as you can get, and the quad rails are probable the lightest metal rails I’ve held in my hands.

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The Versatility of the AR15, the shooters and the firearm

Adams UppersThere are a great many advancements the AR15 has gone through since it’s original inception in the 1950’s.  The gun is probable in about a Generation 5 if you want to look at it the way Glock handguns are updated, actually, it’s probable been more so.   It was always a very easy platform to shoot from but now that competition shooting has asked those that engineer and design these guns to do more with it.   There are so many rail systems, trigger systems, barrel lengths and weights, that there is so much to choose from, that I really think that the majority of operators over think there applications.   The quad rail was a cool thing when it was being sold on AR15’s 10yrs ago, but many found out real fast that all it did was add weight to the rifle and most people didn’t put more than a grip, optic, co-witness iron sights, and usually a flashlight.

Now that the Magpul MOE stocks have taken a strong hold in the industry, people are not wasting space and energy with the M4 Carbines.   There seems to be a new trend towards gas piston designs  like the Adams Uppers due to the improved designs of piston guns.  There were a few companies that test them out like the AR18, but it was always kind of considered to be an odd choose and it didn’t look like an AR15.  Now that things have changed, I have to stop and stare at a gun for a few seconds to see if it’s a piston gun or a direct impingement.  The Ruger 556 is a rock solid design, but Adams would be my next choose and then finally the LWRC guns.

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If you want an AR15, better talk to us soon!

AR15 Upper receivers in stock We have never seen the AR15 parts dry up like they have in the last 7 months but I’m sure we don’t need to explain why.  Last month we started to get word that some of the gun manufacturers were starting to take orders for upper receivers, so anyone doing a build party might be able to do one sometime in the Fall or if you are lucky, maybe sooner.   Some manufacturers like LWRC were only making complete guns and no parts unless you kissed somebodies ass and begged them for it.   Even the lower parts kits we sold from Spikes Tactical have been absolutely no where for almost a year, and there was already a run on those.   Windham and Bushmaster upper receivers have been at a total zero for over 8 months.   So what can you get now if nothing is in stock?

On our website we stock a lot of tactical gear and accessories and there is a email me when back in stock option for all of our items.   There are good number of Spikes tactical and Smith & Wesson AR15 Uppers Receivers in stock in the coming weeks.   There are several CMMG 9mm and 300 blackout coming in as well as a few 22 Caliber complete upper receivers.   Good luck trying to find 22LR ammunition though.  It seems like these all become available in waves based upon caliber so I’m sure it’s a production thing.  5.56 uppers are the ones people are the most concerned about, but considering the number of new gun owners and competition shooters that are out there, there is going to be high demand for AR15 firearms for a long time to come.  Gas piston uppers and direct impingement alike.

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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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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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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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