5.45x39 AR-15??

[ironhead7544]

I saw somewhere that a regular mag with a 6.8 follower will work but cant comfirm it.

[1biggun]

Im reading other threads were wolf 223 ammo burn so dirty that the ar jams in 50 rounds. is the 5.45 any better or worse? I have a couple striped recivers that I plan on building down the road but to be quite honest all the if,s ands, all ya got ta do,s to keep it shooting is a bit of a buzz kill.

[hcpookie]

Originally Posted by 1biggun

Im reading other threads were wolf 223 ammo burn so dirty that the ar jams in 50 rounds. is the 5.45 any better or worse? I have a couple striped recivers that I plan on building down the road but to be quite honest all the if,s ands, all ya got ta do,s to keep it shooting is a bit of a buzz kill.

Don't believe the hype.

My LEO buddy and I disproved that Wolf = jams myth on his own Colt 6920. We shot perhaps 500 rounds through it over a summer, WITHOUT CLEANING IN-BETWEEN RANGE VISITS, and zero problems.

I can't speak for the chamber dimensions of other rifles but I suspect some AR builds have tighter chambers. That, and you can't really confim the veracity of others' claims. Were they trying to bump fire? Did they use KNOWN GOOD magazines, or gun show bargain bin specials? Do they REALLY clean their weapons? Spraying CLP down the bore does not a clean weapon make! So I tend to prefer you show me before I'll believe something like that. Ever since we spent that summer doing that, I've never wondered just how how good or bad 223 Wolf ammo really is...

Is wolf dirty? Well yes, but no more so than other surplus I've shot, including that stuff that was in the battle packs - I think it was Portugese? It seems that the military style surplus that you could find from all over was always dirtier than US-manufactured ammo.

Also keep in mind that .223 is more of a cylinder than 5.45. The 5.45 cartridge shape lends itself to easier extraction since it is more of a wedge-shaped cartridge vs. 223. That said, a properly tuned and maintained rifle should have zero issues.

Food for thought.

[j427x]

Originally Posted by hcpookie

Don't believe the hype.

My LEO buddy and I disproved that Wolf = jams myth on his own Colt 6920. We shot perhaps 500 rounds through it over a summer, WITHOUT CLEANING IN-BETWEEN RANGE VISITS, and zero problems.

I can't speak for the chamber dimensions of other rifles but I suspect some AR builds have tighter chambers. That, and you can't really confim the veracity of others' claims. Were they trying to bump fire? Did they use KNOWN GOOD magazines, or gun show bargain bin specials? Do they REALLY clean their weapons? Spraying CLP down the bore does not a clean weapon make! So I tend to prefer you show me before I'll believe something like that. Ever since we spent that summer doing that, I've never wondered just how how good or bad 223 Wolf ammo really is...

Is wolf dirty? Well yes, but no more so than other surplus I've shot, including that stuff that was in the battle packs - I think it was Portugese? It seems that the military style surplus that you could find from all over was always dirtier than US-manufactured ammo.

Also keep in mind that .223 is more of a cylinder than 5.45. The 5.45 cartridge shape lends itself to easier extraction since it is more of a wedge-shaped cartridge vs. 223. That said, a properly tuned and maintained rifle should have zero issues.

Food for thought.

i have been shooting wolf-,silver bear and other steel cased russian and other former soviet block ammo in a bushmaster ar-15 rifle since the mid 80's it is a tad more dirty than most of the brass ammo but i can go an easy 500+ rounds between cleanings which is about as far as i'll go between cleaning an ar-platform anyways. my lmt 14.5 m4 has been firing it for some years now--no problems. my newer lmt-16 inch upper has had some coughs and short strokes with it--turned out to be a problem with that upper and a fairly easy fix.

you shouldn't have a problem running it--and you should be a clean-freak with the m-4/m16/car's anyway.

i can't see the steel cases hurting a proper rifle chamber either. even the non chromed 4040 steel barrels should hold up to many more rounds than the average sportsman will ever fire. a hard chrome 4150cva barrel chamber should run the steel just like the brass

i think the most dirty ammo i ever fired was some olympic ball 30-06 and 5.56--so dirty it makes wolf look spotless--could have just been a bad batch of powder--i suppose

[1biggun]

I ran close to 500 rounds of wolf 223 through my varmit AK build this summer along with 600 rounds of brass reloads. wolf is way dirtyer than my reloads. and I did get a couple extraction issues with cases sticking. this gun runs a savage varmit bolt action barrel and tight chamber so I cant really blame the ammo.
my main question is the 5.45 dirtyer than the wolf? I also see that the more taperd body may be more reliable than the 223/5.56 stuff. I can live with 500 rounds before cleaning but not 100. I am runing patches through the varmit ak build about every 75 rounds for acuracy reasonds mainly. i havent cleaned the gas port or block in over 1500 rounds and that is with a very small port. I may look into a piston style upper for the AR at any rate.

[MandM]

Originally Posted by j427x

on the S&W they claim you can load 27 5.45's in a AR-30rd mag?

i question if that is actually doable?? or is it??

S&W says it works but they tend to jam more frequently. I bought their M&P 15R (5.45x39) and got a 5.56 mag in the box...still waiting for S&W to get me the "correct" mag...they say they're backordered...

[blackbok]

With all the WASP I've got, I need one.

[[486]]

Originally Posted by 1biggun

I SEE. DOES THE 223 BOLT WORK ON THE 5.45 AMMO AS IS??

5.45 has the 9x19mm rim size, which is way too big for the .223 bolt...

Stimpsonjcat [over on FALfiles] made an AR in 5.45, with a 74 barrel, if anyone wants to go look at the thread he made for reference...

[calibre7.62]

I've read the bore size for 5.45 x 39 is different than for the 5.56 x 45 round & some AR's chambered for the Soviet round may have barrels for .223 re-chambered for the 5.45 x 39.
Any truth in that?

[j427x]

i think a proper 5.45 bore is closer to a 221 than a 223.

if you were going to make a scratch barrel it would be better to go with a 221 blank i would guess.

my 5.56 bolts are far too narrow for the 5.45 case to fit. i think the 6.8spc bolt is the same- but i don't have a 6.8 bolt to check it with. the 7.72x39 bolt is obviously cut out way too far.

model one has barrels and bolts on their site last time i looked. i think the cheapest 5.46x39 barrel they had was $220 and the bolt was $70 or so IIRC.

i think in the future we will be seeing some 5.45 barrels--likely would have seem them sooner but the obamma panic got in the way.