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Posted: 9/13/2009 7:34:43 PM EDT
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Assuming plenty of existing lowers and uppers on hand as well as no preference to using an exising upper vs a dedicated upper, what would be your pick?
Emphasis is on a plinker, only reasonable accuracy needed. EDIT If you just want to see the results just hit "vote" without selecting anything EDIT |
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I have a Spike's dedicated upper that I picked up as a complete gun, I love it... once they are tuned in, they like a sewing machine...
My next upper is going to be a TacSol b/c "why not?" if I don't like it, I know ppl who will buy it... so I guess my vote would be for BOTH even tho I voted TacSol... |
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I'm open to anything, I've tried Ciener's, CMMG, M261's and Spike's. Ciener's and Oly's M261's are cheap, reliable and shoot reasonable well for shooting tin cans at 25 yards. CMMG's Stainless Conversion is nice, easy to clean, reliable, similar in accuracy to the Ciener and Oly. These units may be tight in one upper and loose in another. Taking the Spike's Conversion out of the equation for a minute, I'll talk about it in the next paragraph. I like the CMMG SST Conversion best, by far when compared to Ciener and Oly.
Spike's takes things to a little higher level with o-rings on the chamber adapter. These maintain the position and alignment of the chamber adapter and do increase accuracy about 25%, by keeping the bolt assembly tight in all the uppers I've tried them in. There is a cut in the rear of the unit so the buffer retainer isn't depressed when the unit is closed in the upper. If you take note, with the standard .223 / 5.56 bolt. it doesn't depress the pin either. Spike's Conversions being electroless nickel plated are very easy to clean and require a minimal amount of lube to function. I only have experience with Spike's Dedicated Uppers. The green mountain barreled option is slightly better than the best conversion combination I've fired. You may do well hitting tin cans out to 50 yards. on paper, it isn't serious competition material although it is satisfying. The Lothar Walther option from spikes on the other hand is a world class shooter. I've fired the best groups of my life from it ( I've fired over 600 weapons and nearly 1,000,000 rounds over the 49 years I've been shooting). I can't say for sure as I haven't tested it at 100 yards but I believe it to be capable of holding 1" or less at 100 yards under good shooting conditions. I may not be good enough to prove that anymore, but I'll give it a try later in the year. I've offered to shoot several other uppers to compare their accuracy with similar items from Spike's, No takers yet. CMMG is the only company to step up at all so far. I did shoot their Stainless Steel Conversion. With minor changes, I believe it will be capable of direct comparison with Spike's conversion in all respects. The mentioned o-rings or something similar and a notch at the rear for the buffer retainer are all it lacks. At some point, I'm going to do some form of those mods myself and compare. TacSol mentioned the possibility there would be a custom upper with an SBX Barrel available to ARFCOM'ers if they could put together 50 order commitments. It looks like that has probably fallen through. Right now, I go with Spike's for conversions and for dedicated uppers. open invitation to other companies, convince me otherwise. I'm open to that. SO-13 |
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I currently own the Spikes Conversion kit and love it. Prior to this I had the CMMG kit. Some of the problems I had were the weld at the rear of Receiver Plate Assy. tore up the end of one of my buffers before I filed it down. The lack of a notch on the same part made the buffer pin release and the buffer and spring shoot out on one of my rifles when I'd break it down to remove the kit. I tried all the tuning tricks on this site and never did get it to work right. Some peoples work perfectly so it's really just the luck of the draw. CMMG says don't attempt to tune theirs, just send it back. They didn't say they would pay shipping. Brownells took it back for a full refund. The Spikes is MUCH easier to clean both the kit and rifle. Not near as much crud in the receiver thanks to th o-rings.
My vote to Spikes. |
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