In the interests of full disclosure, I was provided with this upper receiver assembly free of charge, as a T&E sample.

Prior to this, I had never purchased anything from them, though they did send me a free DD Lite barrel nut a while back.

I was offered the chance to test this upper and report what I see and think...so here goes.

Fairly standard 16" M4 configuration. Provided with Troy rear and Magpul MOE handguards.



No mistaking the manufacturer; Spikes logos can be found on the upper receiver and rear sight. Upper receiver is laser T marked.



Also on the BCG.



The upper was clearly test fired before shipping.



F marked FSB.



M16 shrouded firing pin style bolt carrier; good staking on the carrier key.





Bolt is MP but not HPT.



Black insert & O-ring around extractor spring.



M4 feedramps, they're a better fit than they look from this angle.



Daniel Defense 5.56 Nato 1/7 chrome lined hammer forged barrel. Appears to have been bead blasted before the finish - made flash photography interesting. Barrels are HPT/MP.



Taper pins used to attach FSB.



Parkerizing under the FSB.



Gas port diameter is approximately .068". Calipers aren't the best way to measure gas ports.



Also included was a Spikes ST-T2 buffer. This was also laser marked with the company logo.



Photo isn't the best, but the crown looks good, and I'd say that a suppressor would be GTG on this barrel, but I'm far from an expert on that subject.



Other items not photographed:

-Barrel nut torqued to approximately 50 ft/lbs, nothing marred during assembly, FSB appears to be perfectly vertical.

Short of bolt HPT I can't think of any empty boxes on "the chart". It was assembled very well and, for the fit and finish crowd, looks really nice. It's probably getting some Krylon, so I'm not too worried about that sort of thing. If I had actually paid for it, I'd consider $600 for this upper a steal - that is, minus the rear sight and MOE handguards. I'll reserve final judgment, though, until I actually shoot the thing.

The only items I would change are bolt HPT before MP and barrel contour (prefer lightweight barrels or at least no M4 cutout - then again - Spike's does make those 37mm launchers, so they'll probably make barrels they can attach to). I also like midlengths because you can grip the rifle further out, but a carbine gas system does give you more options if you want to SBR.

Range report to follow mid morning (west coast time). 52gr, 55gr, 73gr, 75gr, and a Ciener conversion shooting Federal bulk 36gr and Aguila 60gr SSS.

Thanks! I've been curious about these uppers. Looking forward to range report.....

Nice detailed well documented review

thanks

Have one on the way with a DD rail.  Get a chance to shoot it yet?

Exciting!

Just returned from the range.

I was up until 3am - building a desk for HH6, in the "sanding and staining" stage - so I slept in a little, woke up around 7:30. Dragged myself around the house for a while then hit the range. I was at the range for about 3 hours.

Overview

I fired about 300 rounds of centerfire through the upper - mostly 55gr reloads but also some 52gr reloads, 73gr reloads, 75gr Prvi and 77gr reloads. I also shot up a few boxes of Silver Bear and PMC Bronze I had lying around. With the 22 conversion I fired about 200rds of 36gr Federal bulk - forgot to bring the SSS.

The upper was fired on 3 different lowers. Buffer use was as follows: Carbine, H, 9mm, rifle, and ST-T2. Magazines: TD Arc, Magpul PMag 20, 30, and 30rd M-Rev, Lancer L5, HK steel, CProducts 20rd steel, CProducts 30rd aluminum, CMMG, Colt and Center Industries 30rd USGI with green followers. The 22 conversion is a Ciener and it was used with 26rd BDM magazines.

Most of the rounds were fired at steel plates 50 yards distant; about 50 rounds were fired at the 100yd range on paper targets.

Reliability

Absolutely no failures of any kind were encountered. I did not lube the weapon at all; it was fired as shipped, with a moderate amount of lubrication on the BCG and a good wipedown of the upper.

The first 40 rounds I fired were 62gr Silver Bear HP. This particular lot of Silver Bear has caused a good number of stuck cases in other (top quality) carbines/rifles if I use it at all during the first few hundred rounds. Again, I experienced no malfunctions.

Accuracy

Initial accuracy was disappointing. I shot about 4 MOA with Prvi 75gr, which I know to be ~2 MOA in another 1/7 non FF carbine.

I called another shooter over, a man who regularly visits Camp Perry and I think comes home with shiny things.

He didn't have any better luck.

I should have figured it out when I had a diagonal group, or when POI shifted without a change in the optic's adjustments (EOTech 552 on LaRue LT-110). But it took me a while. What can I say, it was pretty hot outside, and I apparently wasn't drinking enough water. If I'd thought to try irons, I would have figured it out instantly. Coincidentally, once I did try irons, I found that only 5 windage clicks were required to zero.

The Eotech was loose on the LT-110 mount. I loctited & tightened the EOTech thumbscrew, rezeroed and fired this group with 10 73gr Bergers over Varget:



Yes, there were 10 shots, no, there is nothing under the calipers. I am perfectly happy with a 1.45" group from this carbine (from a rest). In fact it is better than I expected for a non-FF, EOTech-equipped carbine.

I didn't shoot 10 rounds of any other centerfire for groups, but the Federal bulk 36gr seemed to shoot about 6 MOA, which is good enough for steel plate work.

Function with the ST-T2 buffer

My shot timer wasn't working, but I noticed that the ST-T2 buffer seemed to reduce recoil ever so slightly and allow faster followup shots. I'll expand on this subject when I have some hard data. Ejection with this buffer was right around 3 o'clock, if I remember correctly.

Initial thoughts

It was a great day for shooting, the upper was perfectly reliable and quite accurate, and I'll be back at the range over the next few days for further testing, especially a comparison of the ST-T2 buffer with "standard" buffers.

Excellent write up, and now a question from someone who will never own a suppressor:

How can you tell if a crown is suppressor-worthy or not?

Not really the crown, I was mainly talking about the threads being concentric to the bore. If any suppressor folks need additional pictures or measurements, let me know.

Thank you for the detailed info.

I received my Spikes lower yesterday, and have been looking at these uppers.  

Can't wait to read more.

Alden

Nice write up, 87GN.

Good to see yet another high quality option out there at a good price.

Great write up and review as always.

Thanks for the report!  Has the other guy that got the complete gun yet done his range report.

I may have to pick one of these uppers up just to beat around with, in my experience Spikes makes a great product and has great customer service!

I bugged the shit out of Tom about lightweight barrels, he said DD is going to be making him some lightweight hammer forged barrels. I cannot wait to see one.

Hey, send me an upper with that new rail and I'll draw ya a pretty picture

Another (short) afternoon at the range.

About 100 rounds down the tube, no issues.

Shot timer still isn't working properly. Tomorrow...

Yesterday I loaded up some ammo that would be, I thought, hard to cycle.

Some well below minimum load, some cases resized improperly, my Dillon case gauge sure didn't like them. They needed to be mortared out of another AR when I was hand cycling them.

The Spikes upper fed and fired every one without a single malfunction.

Shot timer...yeah...

tag

Keep this going.  My upper should be here in a week or 2 but I won't be able to shoot it till I save up for an aimpoint and buis.

Good info .Do you have a link to this upper i didnt see it on their website . Is it priced comparable to the one PK firarms Put together ?

No offense  but 87GN has a good reputaion  on this board and is trusted .You not so much .

http://www.spikestactical.com/z/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=63_64&products_id=203

Comparable yes, I don't know what BCG PKF uses but I do know that the BCG in the Spikes gun is essentially second to none...

I have used no name BCGs from PKF in the past and with success, FWIW...

Looks like it here(with different hgs)


http://www.spikestactical.com/z/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=63_64&products_id=203



*EDIT*damn you 87...didn't need your shot timer to figure out you beat me






 

heh...I'm quick with a mouse...

My "shot timer" is an Ipod Touch with the Surefire shot timer app and a bluetooth microphone...unfortunately I bought a BT microphone that wasn't compatible with the IPod. I wasted an hour of my day trying to figure it out though.

Until I get a good BT microphone and some data all I can say is "muzzle seems to get back on target faster, recoil feels lower, hyuk hyuk"

That's funny you say that.  I was tempted to post that the shot timer on my Iphone always works.  It's good to see the buffer makes a difference, even if it is just psychological.



 

Very nice 87GN.
I was looking at Spikes and could not find any real detailed reports.Thanks for the review.

Good stuff.
Is the bbl. a 14.5 + FH or a 16.+ ?

It's 16".

I prefer to start out, at least, with a 16" barrel, because I can leave it that way, I can cut to 14.5 and pin/weld something, I can cut it down to 10.5, 11.5, 12.5 and SBR it...

If I receive something that is pinned and welded I am stick with it as is, or a costly and potentially damaging swap...

Also, easier to tear down when it's not pinned and welded, which was fortuitous in this case because I installed a DD M4 rail last night.

87GN,
Whats is your overall impression of the BCG quality,per eye ball,as say compared to a DD or BCM?

Hmm...

The specs are essentially the same as DD.

Only difference with BCM is that BCM does HPT.

No obvious physical defects (in any of the three MFRs that I have personally examined).

I don't have magnaflux glasses, though.

No "cobby finished with a file" observations,so good enough eye ballin...thanks again for the info.

No, nothing like that. Attention to detail is pretty evident for the whole assembly, right down to the very nice chrome lining job, as you can kinda see in the picture of the feedramps.

What does HPT stand for? Sorry still learning.

high pressure test?

Just got a shipping notice.  Mine will be here the 22nd

How bout a pic with the new rail?

Thanks for the review.  Saving my pennies to buy one to go with my Spikes lower.

Here's a photo from when I was doing the comparison of the two budget red dots...

I should have a front sight coming today.

Thanks, looks nice.

Is that a primary arms red dot?

Yes, was comparing it to the Vortex Strikefire.

Mainly for 22 purposes - not a lot of people can afford to put a $500 optic on their 22 rifle.

What are your findings on the Primary Arms comparison?  I have one and was wondering what you found.  I have it on my AP4.  I thought the .308 would knock it loose, but so far so good.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=18&t=460583