I have a New Shrike that I have not gotten the belt feed to work yet. Only tried a couple of times. Any one have any experience with these? Also Ares has said I can return it to them for inspection/tune up etc but I am leery of turn around time. Has anyone dealt with their customer service before and if so what was your experience. Lastly I bought a Tac Con trigger to use on the Shrike while waiting on my RR form 4 return. I have run about 7-8 mags through it getting a decent ROF but not close to FA anyone have one and have tips for trigger manipulation for better mag dumps? I was directed here from the main forum as the place Shrike experts hang out I am new to this site as I usually spend time at Uzi talk. I have been a little intimidated by this sites complex look I am an ole dog and hard to teach new tricks
Thanks
Tom

Lots of us on this board own Shrikes and would be more than happy to help you get it to run based off our communal experience and can most likely walk you through to a solution unless there is something drastically wrong with the receiver or feed cover.

However, we are going to need some more details on exactly what the issue is with the belt-feed mech and "why" you say it doesn't run.  Failure to extract, failure to feed, not stripping rounds, light primer strikes, rounds getting hung up....if so where, what ammo, what links, etc.   The more details the better.

I can't be a lot of help on the TacCon trigger deal.  I believe there is one or two folks who have run a Shrike on a slide fire but the handful of reviews I have read on the TacCon trigger have not been favorable. (i.e. it basically doesn't work as advertised)

The tac con trigger IMO was a big scam, lots of big promises of high rate of fire combined, vague descriptions on how it worked combined with a fancy professionally made advertising video and they had everyone convinced they were buying a drop in trigger that was as good as a full auto machine gun. The trigger ended up being crap, very few ppl can get it to work like they promise and even then the ROF is no different than a giessle performance wise but for double the price. I would honestly recommend selling it ASAP while ther is still demand for them at the $500 price

I have belts made up of Winchester 223 55gr, PCA, and then some generic stuff made up on what I would say is new links. The Ares manual said use the 100 links they supplies first so I made up a 40rd or so belt today getting a very late start went out and tried to fire it. Not knowing or being able to tell from the manual how the gas setting was I had it turned all the way to one side which appently was off since it didn't eject from a mag or belt. I am going to try to get a earlier start and I will pay close attention as to what exactly is going on when I try to get the belt to run. The last time I tried to get to run it would just fire the chambered round but I don't remember. I will get you guys some more detail since I really don't want to send it into Ares. As for the Tac Con The jury is still out for me I can get a decent run with but I haven't got it to really open up like I was hoping it would do I am giving it one more chance then I will probally send it back. I am going to post a video let y'all comment. The video is about my 5th mag. Thanks for the help Tom

[youtube]http://s284.photobucket.com/user/V-Rod_02/media/IMG_2008.mp4.html[/youtube]

From my limited experience (4000k rounds and owning it for a yr) stick with LC ammo and LC links for belts and run whatever you like in mags, I have tried several times to use wolf and LC links with ZERO results (will not strip the rounds correctly, even soaked in wd-40), the LC combo as stated above is 100%.
Listen to what Jbntex and Amphibian has to say, they'll get you going...once it's running your next question will be: how in the hell do I slow the ROF down...LOL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cadAIX2pANY

If you want the rapid fire effect of an MG then get a Slide Fire bumpfire type stock. They do work. And your finger will thank you for it.

couple weeks back I linked up 100rd belt of wolf to try it out again (I still haven't gone), my gut feeling is there is so much resistance with the steel case and links that it will not work..

mine wouldn't run without jamming every 6th or 7th round.

the fix was an extractor upgrade kit with a D ring.

also, if anyone has surplus links and is having trouble with them, i wet tumbled mine in a friends tumbler to clean all the dirt off them and haven't had an issue yet.

also, the gas setting you want is like 2 O'clock if you are looking down the barrel. its the "first" gas position on the top right. thats "wide open" and should cycle just about anything you feed through it. i haven't run wolf through mine as i dont like the bi metal jacketed bullets, but it runs any 62gr ammo through it with ease. i haven't tried reloads as i dont have any reloads in 223. i am assuming if its hot enough it will cycle... can't be worse than wolf.

I was hoping to get out today to see if what I could get accomplished with the belt feed mech. but we got a little rain and it was already muddy down at the shootin spot. Weather says 66 & sunny so I should be able to get out pop a few caps. Any suggestions on getting the belt feed running? I have read several places that some people use a lot of lubrication should I try wetting it down good with WD-40 or some other gun oil to start with/

i simply cleaned my links. i did not put a single drop of lube on them. try picking up some surplus military links. once you clean them, they should work great... they have been fired before too and that should help stretch them out a bit. i dont think you need lube on the links, especially brass cased ones. ill pick up some wolf and try it out next time i can get free to shoot.

As others have mentioned, I would suggest minimizing potential issues that have been known to cause folks issue.

1.  Use Federal Lake City mil-spec ammo.   i.e. M193, M855, etc.
2.  make sure not to use M27 links that have holes in them (those are for HK belt guns).  

The links need to be cleaned and preferably lubed.  I personally dump my links into  5 gallon Home Depot buckets  (maybe 500 to 1000 at a time) fill with hot water and soap.  Snap a lid on and roll around on the garage floor.  I have another lid with holes drilled in it to strain the water out, but you could just pour the water out carefully instead.  Refill with fresh water a couple times to rinse and then lay them out on a tarp to dry.   If you are doing a small batch 100ish links than the kitchen or laundry room sink will suffice.    I think hit my links with that Teflon lube from home depot and link up ammo.  The teflon spray lube unlike WD40 dries after a day or two and wont attract additional dirt like wet lube.

3.  Used links are your friend as new links will really grab and want to hold onto rounds, especially with fresh park.  The new links I received with my Shrike were really stiff.   If needed you can use snap ring plier to stretch out your links a bit so they don't grab the rounds if you don't have any used links.  If you really have to push to get the round into the link you may want to consider stretching them  with snap ring pliers or getting some used surplus links.  The main links I use you can slide the rounds in almost effortlessly.

You will generally know if your links are too tight or dirty if you get the bolt riding under the round, leaving a partially stripped round in the feed tray.

For the gas setting, I don't remember the exact positions off the top of my head.  However if you take the regulator out of the gas block (just spin it all the way around until you hit the removal setting where it pops out) you can see the holes get progressively larger.  Make a mental note where the largest hole in the regulator is and its orientation and reinstall with the largest orifice in the regulator facing the barrel directly.  This will be the adverse setting and should make sure the gun will cycle in semi-auto since you are not really concerned with full auto ROF at this point.

Make sure the Shrike bolt carrier is properly lubed and you have gone through the recommended break in period with mags (200ish rounds if memory serves correctly)

If it doesn't function, let us know what the symptoms are and we can help try and figure out what may be wrong.  Pictures of the failure condition/s are a plus as well.

I got out today for a short time and had a short belt of PCA that did cycle pretty fair.  The other two belts made up of generic stuff would not. It seemed that the bolt didn't want to push or chamber the rounds very well manually or with the action. One problem could have been not enough lube on the bolt when I got back home I checked it and it was pretty dry.  The Tac Con trigger works fair I can get a decent ROF out of it but not a $500 one so I am going to send it back and get a gisley s3g and a fostech slid-fire. To play with till my RR transfers. So I will probably wait till all that stuff gets in before going back out again. Thanks for the advice.
Tom

I'll cover the obvious, which hasn't been mentioned yet.  Are you using the correct spring in the correct stock?  The Shrike uses a very powerful buffer spring because it needs more "oomph" to drive rounds through the links and into the chamber.  It should have come with a specific spring, which needs to be used in a carbine (collapsible) stock.  If you're using it in a full-length buffer tube, it needs an internal block to shorten the internal space and simulate the shorter collapsible-type buffer tube.

Using a fixed stock with the spring supplied buy Ares and the H2 ? Buffer supplies buy Ruben at Dealer NFA. I am going to switch it over to a Fostech  slide fire stock when it comes it which I think will be more similar to an adjustable but what type of block would you use to take up the spring space in case I want to put the fixed stock back on later.

A fixed stock as in one of these?



along with the supplied Ares/Shrike recoil spring and an H2 buffer like this



and without one of these Ares fixed stock spacers installed in the fixed A2 stock?



If you have it set up this way, don't continue to fire it as the bolt carrier feed roller will be impacting the back of the receiver ring on your lower receiver battering both the receiver and the roller stud until either the receiver buffer ring or the feed roller stud fails.

This would also explain why you are having round fail to strip as the Shrike (and the associated special Ares recoil spring) is designed to work with a carbine stock (or with fixed stock with the ares spacer installed).  With a fixed A2 style stock and without the Ares spacer installed,  probably 30% of the spring pressure is lost as the recoil spring over extends in the much longer A2 stock tube vs. the carbine length tube it was intended for.

You guys ate the best! Pictures and everything.  I would say that you hit the bulls eye. I wonder why the manual does not mention anything about that? Probally most guns thsy deal with have calsable stocks I guess which is what it shows on the photo in the manual but the cover shows a fixed stock. I have already sent a note to Ruben about the extention. I think that the Fostech may not need it shinch they ask and you have to pay extra if you have a fixed stock. That must be for a shorter tube. Thanks to you jbntex and other contributers for the help. I am sure I will need more in the future.  I am gonna hang here a little more often now that I have broke the ice. The site looked like it might be hard to navagite but seems easy enough. See below for a pic of my RR that's in form 4 limbo. A Sendora receiver with a Bushmaster build. I read that those are good rifles maybe even 2nd to a factory Colt. looks like it's coming with a short upper.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/V-Rod_02/20131123_080204_resized.jpg

So by reading the posts on here, it looks like the Shrike requires quite a bit of continual tinkering to run right if I'm correct? I'm seriously looking at a Shrike, but I'm not really looking for a project gun that requires work to make it run right.

In my experience, if you follow the instructions, use the recommended link & ammo, use the correct buffer, etc.  They will work with minimal fuss.

The only real complaint I have is that out of the box, the ROF is fast.  Like 850 to 900 RPM fast, even with belts.   With mags they are even faster.

The tinkering really comes in play if you want to slow the ROF.  This requires messing with the spring, the buffer, and the gas port to find an optimal balance where the gun is slow, but still has enough energy to run and strip rounds from links.

My final dedicated Shrike setup was a little more complicated as I have it built around RLL so I could use a custom belt box only lower.  Given I was using the lighter semi-spec carrier which wasn't designed for full auto,  the RLLs slightly more complicated timing  (vs say a Colt RR) and that fact that a RLL has a natural tendency to exaggerate bolt bounce to a degree (since the paddle can inhibit the bolt closing 100%), I peronsally had a bit more tinkering to get everything working the way I wanted with a reduced ROF.

However, if you buy a Shrike, put it on a Colt M16 lower, use prefired/tumbled & clean links, Lake City M193 ammo, an H2 or H3 buffer, and follow the break in procedure I would say more than likely you wont have any problems.

Is a Shrike as tinker-free or setup plug-in-play easy as say buying new Colt 6921 upper and putting it on your Colt M16....its not.  However, it isn't anything insurmountable either.

Using NATO spec ammo and loosening up the links should cure most of the issues.

I have a chance to buy a used Shrike and am very tempted reading that it won't be a huge headache to get going as long as I run mil-spec ammo through it.

Is there a reason to avoid a used one? Also will I need to modify my M16 at all to accept it?

Sweet. Mine is a Colt RR M16A1, so that's good news.

My Shrike fits perfectly on the 10 yr. old Bushmaster A2 that have it on currently. I think that the missing buffer extension needed for A2 stocks is the problem with mine not running belts. I have a Fostech bump fire stock. That I am going to try on it while the Sendora Bushmaster pictured above is awaiting transfer. If it runs like I have seen some others with slide fire stocks work I may leave it set up that was and leave my Sendora RR free to swap other uppers on without having to switch springs and buffers too.  

I tried the Tac Con trigger and it is good but I don't think it's $500 good. I am going to return it for a Geissele S3G . See below for a video of about my best run I can get. I might have been able to learn to shoot it faster but for the difference in the cost of the S3G & the Tac Con I can buy almost a !000 rnd. and I know I can learn to shoot that 3G with that much trigger time Plus with the Fostech I bought the universal adapter bar so I can put it on my AK and the 10/22 that I don't own yet.


[youtube]http://s284.photobucket.com/user/V-Rod_02/media/IMG_2008.mp4.html[/youtube]

I thought I that I already had a buffer extension on order from brommel's but when I went to check the order status tonight I found out that I had not finalized the order. I guess that's what happens when you get old. There was a problem with the website I now remember and I could not get it to accept a shipping address. Any way can someone give me the length of a standard buffer extension. I have a plastic tube that I put in today and it worked to fire mags but I think it is a little longer than hat it should be. I can hack saw a little piece of to size it till the one comes from brommels. I didn't have nay luck with the belt on the Shrike today maybe the links are too tight. I was having trouble just getting one to chamber. I bought a Ziess Conquest for my A-Bolt 270. I will give it another try tomorrow when I try to zero in the scope and also work on the slide fire stock. I got the Fostect which is a lot nicer that the Name brand Slide Fire but I didn't have much luck with it today I think I was holding it too tight.

Got a couple of 100 link belts to run with expanded links lubricated with WD40. I opened up the links with a pair of retaining ring pliers linked up some PMC rnds putting in a gallon zip lock and sprayed them down with lub. I am using a Fostect bump fire stock while my RR is being transferred and it's working pretty well also. I run these off a bag on a bench till the hot brass on the last half of the 2nd belt stated burning my arm I was able to stand up and finish the belt. I think I will try some more expanded links then may be after some more break in I can run the 4 boxes of 200 rd belts that I already liked up waiting on the thing to come in. Thanks for all of the helpful suggestions I am sure I will need more help in the future.

Tom

Mine wouldn't run, it gouge out the upper receiver 1 year ago after a few rounds-lots of feed problems.
I hope you don't have problems. If you do god help your soul.