I love the price of 5.45x39mm ammunition. I love my S&W 5.45x39mm upper because it lets me shoot cheap ammunition that has recoil and blast characteristics similar to that of 5.56x45mm ammunition.
I’m glad to see that many people have caught on to this same idea. However, I’m a little puzzled by the folks who are put off by the fact that surplus 5.45 is mildly corrosive.
Hey, these aren’t match uppers. They’re meant for plinking and training. S&W was smart and made theirs with chrome lined barrels, which helps extend barrel life, but also helps prevent corrosion. Still, you won’t consistently shoot 10 shot groups under 2-3 MOA with the weapon, unless you handload your own ammo, which doesn’t make much financial sense.
After 4000 rounds downrange and absolutely no cleaning, the bolt was showing signs of pitting. Had I bothered to wipe everything down with Windex hot soapy water after shooting, I wouldn’t have had this “problem.” I went ahead and nickel plated the internals of my 5.45x39mm AR, mainly because I could. I haven’t had any corrosion problems since (and I still haven’t cleaned it).
What I’m saying is that if you want a 5.45x39mm rifle, you’re most likely buying it because the ammunition is cheap. Buying new production Silver Bear or Wolf – which is essentially as expensive as steel case 5.56 – makes the 5.45 factor pointless. Beyond that, the surplus ammunition is very high quality. Some lots of Silver Bear 5.45 have had improperly sized cases, and Wolf is chronically underpowered. The surplus ammunition was made to be used by a military in wartime – it’s hot and it’ll cycle the action when the others won’t.
Use the money you save by buying eeevil corrosive ammo to pick up a bottle of Windex hot soapy water and give everything a quick wipe down when you’re done shooting.
hel yeah I been using the corrosive stuff and I dont worry about it. 1000 rounds for under 150 buck pays for the damn gun
I never understood why they went to the trouble of Chrome lining a barrel, but not the gas tube or flash suppressor.
I agree and persuade others quite often to go milsurp, my only caution is that they understand the market.
The ammo is usually of good quality, just sold off because of obsolescence. Whether replaced by an improved projectile, or different cartridge, it’s likely that its production has ceased so what’s there is there and when gone It’s gone. So always buy all you can afford while it’s cheap, because once you are forced to buy new the price advantage disappears.
This shouldn’t scare anyone off, at current prices one could invest $1000 and get 4000rds of 223 or 7700 of 5.45 in sealed tins, and not worry about availability concerns due to supply stock, new trade importation laws or new taxes. This is a seemingly difficult concept for some to wrap their mind around, as they may just buy what they’ll shoot that week. Or my favorite “I just use 2 to sight in and one for my deer…a box lasts me 5 yrs…”
A decade ago 8mm and 7.62nato were $.10 or less a rd now both are over $.50, when you find them…2 decades back 7.62 x 39 was less than $.10/rd …now $.25 is good….so stock up save in the long run and don’t worry about ammo.
As for corrosive issues…I shoot Ar, AK, and hk style actions. I leave the corrosives up to the AK’s as they are far easier to quickly thoroughly clean. And direct impingement Ars are simple to maintain with noncorrosive, since they just need the innards wiped down and reoiled with EWL and a snake though the barrel. But corrosives require removal of the oil film impregnation in the porous phosphate surface…so It’s back to square one on its protective coating…that sucks.