I wouldn't mind picking up a conversion M16 lower to run a shrike upper on 100% of the time (Bot going to run it on my Colt M16 lower), but only want to do so if it will actually be as reliable as my other belt fed guns.  I heard horror stories, but have things pretty much been fixed, or is it still kinda....eh.....

I've had a couple of them, after the break in period I've never had an issue. But I ran new links that I got, and made sure that I didn't use any rusted and or stepped on deformed links. I think a vast majority of stoppages people ran into was ammo/link related. There was some feed tray stoppages that people ran into as well, and it very well could have been, but I never ended up shooting mine enough to get to ten thousand or how many rounds wore them down enough. I don't know that any conversion beltfed would be called 100% though.

collegeboy, I think that a shrike upper will be at least as reliable as your HK/MM23e w/sear combination.  Not sure if you have a Stoner 63 beltfed variant to compare it to.  Probably more reliable than any given Armalite/Colt/Ciener/Valkyrie beltfed upper.  

What have I missed that needs commenting on?  Do you have some kind of Minimi/SAW/Mk46 variant we haven't seen yet?

Or crap - you picked up a negev or daewoo belfted we haven't been teased with pictures of, yet?

I wish!!

Nah, just the HK, and the M60. Mg42 in the transfer process now.  Plan on picking up a pre sample SAW too, but financially that's not for at least a year.  The shrike is one cool, small, and badass package, as long as it's reliable.  

Yeah I highly recommend getting the steel feed tray as the aluminum one tends to wear out after a while. Other than that it's a good weapon system and I've enjoyed it very much.

I've had my Shrike upper for two years now with some 5000 rounds with really only two stoppages and those were from bent links. I have heard guys who did not break the unit in properly or have one of the first units. I purchased mine from Ruben with the 16" and 12.5 " bbl's and have had nothing but great luck. The upper is on my Colt M-16A1 and I use either the H2 or H3 buffer with little difference. She runs like a top!
I take turns with my Shrike and my MM23e/21e and love um both.

Good luck hope you get one.

See, now that's what I want to hear.  Now you got me thinking.  I guess I may get one.  Have you had problems with it scratching the Colt lower though?  That's the only reason I hate to put it on my Colt Carbine M16A1, and might just wait until I buy an EA lower from one of my friends.  plus then I can anodize it to match, even engrave it, etc and not care about the lower really for collectability reasons, other than it being a registered full auto conversion..

My Shrike has been pretty reliable as well.  Is it as reliable as my M60E4, its not. Then again other I don't think I have ever had a stoppage on my E4 when using Lake City XM80 ammunition.

I have also put a lot of effort into slowing my Shrike down and have found that at some point once you slow the ROF down to a certain point you start to compromise reliability as you get a link that is a bit tighter than the rest or a round that is slightly underpowered.    Let it run at 800+ RPM or more and its happy and has plenty of rebound energy to strip cartridges.  

One thing to keep in mind with your plan to run it on a M16 clone receiver is that (at least in my experience) the Shrike is really finicky about what lowers it will fit on.  It seems most happy on Colt spec lowers and fits them like a glove.  When I got my Shrike it would only fit on Colt lowers or an old preban Bushmaster lower out of the half dozen brands I had in my safe at the time.

If you try and put it on an Oly, EA, etc. you may be in store for removing metal from something (either the upper or lower).  To add complication, the "webbing" on the rear takedown lug on the Shrike is thinner than a normal upper and at least one or two folks have posted stories about modding their Shrike uppers to fit a non-Colt RR and ended up with the rear takedown lug on the Shrike eventually shearing off.

Before plunking down $15K on a registered receiver,  if you have access the receiver prior to the sale it I would make sure the Shrike upper fits without modification and/or be ok with potentially sending the whole thing off to M60Joe or the like to get the lower modded to fit the Shrike as you really don't want to mess with the rear takedown lug area on the upper based on others experiences.

I personally just ended up running my Shrike with a RLL and made minor clearnance mods to my custom host lower prior to molycoating it so the Shrike would fit.

Mine has been 100% and I run used, dusty, old links dangled off my left arm.....rambo style is the only good way to fire a shrike.

FYI: I had to modify the front lug on the upper to fit my Frankford Arsenal (Oly Lower), my lower will take 5 different uppers w/o any issues, the shrike would not open up all the way

I bought a MAC M10 instead of a Shrike,  I wouldn't be in the market for one for 5-7 years.

Now there's a guy moaning in the troubleshooting forum that his shrike won't feed belts properly.  Hopefully he's got an unreworked old one and that's the problem.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_66/652441_Shrike_Belt_Feed_Problem___Need_Help_____.html

The second thread is me





The shrike upper is a gimmick. Mine runs now, but I shoot other dedicated belfeds If I really want to shoot.



read this

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_23/423995_My_year_long_shrike_saga_I_finally_got_it_back.html





YMMV