Received my S&W 5.45 upper from Copes Dist the other day and took it to the range today for a workout. Only had a chance to put 120 rounds of surplus 53gr ammo through the 1 C-Products magazine that came with the upper. I changed the buffer in the lower to a heavy one and I used the orange hammer spring that came with the upper in a Rock River lower with a 2-stage NM trigger. The heavier hammer spring didn’t alter the trigger function and it still broke nicely and all rounds went off without a hitch. No failures to extract, however when I received the upper, I cycled some rounds through and several stuck in the chamber requiring considerable force to extract. No problems firing them, but I ordered an extended charging handle to help extract live rounds if I need to. I was firing off hand using an Eotech 512 at 100 yards and kept all the rounds in an 8" circle easily which is about all I can do without a rest. Had 2 failures to feed that were definitely magazine related. Both happened around 8 rounds into the 30 round mag and the round hadn’t pushed up far enough in the magazine and the bolt pushed the round into the feed ramp after hitting it mid-length instead of on the base. Will post an accuracy test after I bench it next weekend
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I love my 5.45 and I’ve seen a lot of people post about trouble with the magazines. All I can advise is to get a couple from CProducts and figure out which ones run the best.
Other than that they are a great rifle, and surprisingly accurate (given the cheap steel cased ammunition).
clc3251;
I found your post interesting and look forward to your range report.
I have 2 olympic arms 5,45 uppers that after a round is chambered, the unfired round is very difficult to extract. All chambered cartridges that have been extracted before firing reveal that the bullet has engaged the rifling. Each bullet shows signs of the rifling being embossed on the bearing surface of the bullet. You mention in your post a similar experience with your rifle. Although of different manufacture I am curious if your extraction problems persist after a day at the range. I have only put 10 or fewer rounds through one of the uppers, the other is yet unfired by me. I was using Wolf ammo. I would welcome comments from those experienced with the 5,45 in the AR type launcher.
Steelhankie
“Defending Polite Society”
I have the S&W upper and have had no failures to extract, including a 500 rd/day 3-day VTAC course.
The S&W upper is worth finding, IMHO. The barrel is ridiculously accurate with that crap surplus ammo.
I’ll echo the above sentiments. Only a couple of hundred rounds through mine, with two mags it has been flawless and occasinally will hiccup on mag number three. Seems you have to buy a couple extras C-Products mags to figure out which ones work. Definitely worth the investment as a training rifle.
With ammo prices what they are, I figure once I shoot 4,000 rounds through it the rifle is paid for, and after that it’s just savings.
If you’re having bolt over base malfunctions (where the bullet goes 30 degrees upwards into the chamber and is struck by the bolt), hit the inside of the C Products mags with Dupont teflon-silicone spray (Home Depot or Lowes has it) and your problems should go away. Just insert the red tube into the floor plate of the mag.
This is what a tech at C Products told me to do and it worked for me. YMMV.
I got one also and got to put it through it’s paces this last weekend at a two day urban rifle school put on by www.tdsatulsa.com.
I only shot about 600 rounds of Wolf mil classic through it and had no ammo or rifle related malfunctions. These Cproducts mags on the other hand SUCK! I brought four with me and marked them to keep track of malfunctions. I will be sending 3 of the 4 back for replacement…
I posted in the Magpul industry section on here asking them to make some mags but I doubt they ever will. Ya’ll should say you want some too and get all your 5.45 buddies too.
I picked up mine recently and put about 600rds through it so far and have had 0 malf’s. I recently tried a surplus GI mag I had around from my service days and it ran 100%. It was a little harder to load but it took 25rds if not 30. It had the black follower and a floor plate marked “Parsons”. Next step is buy a few GI mags and hopefully they all will work, even though I have a few coming from C Prod.
Anybody else have a similar exp.?
Sam.
I finaly found one for myself but have yet to shoot it.
I am wondering what the purpose of the orange hammer spring that came with the upper is for.
Is it really necessary to install it when using thus upper?
You’ll need the heavy spring if you are using any of the mil-surp ammo currently on the market due to the hard primers.
Oooooh. Well, DUH!! 
Thanks.
I had struck primers, failure to fire with Wolf ammo until I changed to the orange hammer spring. After that it was good to go.
I test fired 25-rounds out of it today and other than one FTF (it fired on the second attempt) it was good to go. I still plan on eventually installing the orange spring and then putting the rifle away until it is needed.
Anyone know how this “orange” spring matches up with a stock RRA spring? I’ve got an RRA Factory lower that I pinned my S&W 5.45 upper to, and would like to know if there is anyone who has matched up the factory spring to a higher compression orange spring??? If replacing the spring is necessary, any recommendations for online stores that have these?
Thanks in advance.
I’m sure the RRA hammer spring isn’t any different then what anyone else is using that needed the orange spring. I would bet the only source for a replacement would be straight from S&W.
I’m fairly certain that S&W uses the Wolff extra power hammer spring.
If I were to shoot with a 5.56 upper with my 5.45 lower (with the orange spring), would this cause any ill effects or not?
Maybe some pierced commercial primers, but I haven’t had any problems shooting 5.56 with my 5.45 lower.
Got to do some drills with this rifle yesterday and I only had 1 FTF (I still haven’t installed the orange hammer spring). The round fired on the second try.
The only other issue I had was ironically with the CProducts magazine that came with the upper. Not only will it not drop free, it would not hold the bolt open when empty.
The GI mags with green followers from Brownells, D&H, and other makers worked great though. No issues with these whatsoever!!