I remember when I was considering buying a 556 Shrike from Ares and the uppers were having problems with the rear take down lug snapping as well as broken charging handles. Are these still issues with the upper? What other problems are users experiencing with these uppers?

My understanding was that Ares/Flighlite has made recent changes to both the rear takedown lug geometry, the charging handle geometry, as well as placed a steel insert in the receiver "feed ramp" area to mitigate many of these historical design issues.

All that said I have had a pretty old Florida Manufactured vintage Shrike that was ordered from Ruben Mediola as soon as he had them for sale probably 6 or 7 years ago.

I have many thousands of rounds through my Ares Shrike upper and so far have only had to replace an extractor spring, recoil spring, and a "C-Clip" that popped off.    I also proactively replaced the original aluminum feed tray with a steel NIB version, but there was no functional reason to do so.

No broken bolts, carriers, charging handles, or rear lugs so far (knock on wood).  

I run my upper with a lightning link which theoretically places more stress on the rear lug, have heavily modified the bolt carrier with a sizeable reciprocating tungsten weight in it, and use the Mark Genovese's designed polymer feed insert in the top cover to prevent receiver wear.

I had my Shrike at a local machinegun shoot last weekend and put 500+ rounds through it without a single stoppage.

Mine runs good too, similar or same vintage as yours.  I run with a RDIAS.  As long as the ammo is hot enough, or the links aren't too new/tight, it runs great.

Jbntex is right. I have an early Shrike.

The rear lug has very little metal attaching it to the upper compared to an M16 rear lug.

Ares changed the offset of the rear most bore upwards a bit resulting in more metal holding the rear lug.

The newest versions are better, have better feed trays, better cam follower assemblies, better hand guards, better feed design to eliminate gouging by bullet tips, they include sights, barrel handle, new mag catch, magwell adapter, nut sack: they're all round better.

I might buy another one to get up dated.

"What other problems are users experiencing with these uppers? "

I bought my Gen 5 back 4-5 years ago from Ruben with the heat sink attached. I've got over 5000 rounds thru my Colt M-16A1. I must say that it's one of the "funnest" range toys that I own. No sign of wear, just goes and goes... Good Luck

I guess if your never going to shoot it like the rest of these guys itll last forever

My gen 5 worked great, i dont remember without checking my post from the time, but i got either 50k-55k or 55k-60k. Thousand rds before its receiver (upper)  wore out..
I can't say whether that is good or bad, but they did honor the one year warranty and set me up with a freshly rebuilt MCR.

You should have no problem if you buy new and direct from aries.. there are plenty of NOS and used shrikes out there that the sellers want the price of a new modern one.

Edit.
What wore out was the receiver where the charging handle rides and the part where the cup and spring for the oprod possibly development an alignment isue.

There is no issue with the bullet tip wearing the aluminium around  the barrel extension.on current production units

I can't say if the modern ones resolve the issue that caused mine to fail.
The charging handle has a larger cocking lug but for some reason the non-recipricating charginging handle somtime recripicates alittle while fireing.. i change the oprod incase it was bent(it wasnt) it may just be the detent on the charging handle is weak/defective....i have a spare im going to try.

Didn't know that any of these problems occurred until I read this thread. I saw FL at the nra show and bought an upper from them. I have the steel insert where the bullets feed. I can take pics of anything requested to show updates of the receiver if wanted.

Mine ran well yesterday, the charging handle still recipricates even though i changed the oprod spring, oprod, and charging handle.

I did experience a new issue which wasn't MCR specific. I ran one belt, then i was having issues.
A primer must have been punctured and a small piece of primer ened up obstucting the hole in the bolt face the firing pin protrudes from when firing.This cause light primer strikes.After it was removed it was running good again.

Other said they have experienced this on their AR15/M16.it was a first for me.
I found it interesting the tiniest brass flake ended up causing my issues..i have had entire primer end up in the lower causeing issue before.

Mine needed the links opened a bit. Even the "factory" links were too tight to strip.
After a break in, adjusting the links it has worked much better.

Attached File

This thread is starting to make me reconsider purchasing one.

The latest ones are really pretty good. There also the best ar15 beltfed on the market.All the other dont measure up.
I wish they made an all steel version. While heavy and going completely against its selling point which is a a light dual feed weapon..id buy one.

Id say if you have More money other beltfeds may be more reliable and have s longer service life.
In the beltfed game, you need spare parts and money to play.

I really have nothing bad to say about Ares.

I just bought a MCR and I cannot find any info about which is the recommended buffer to use. The manual says "heavy" buffer.
I recall ARES saying in the past that the Shrike was designed around the H2 buffer but now they offer the H3 buffer as an accessory.

Is H3 better?

I've had good/great luck with the H2 buffer with M855 ammo. And have good/great luck with the H3 buffer with other ammo and shooting suppressed.

did you use a link stretcher tool?

I bought a pair of bent tip snap ring pliers.

TEKTON 3572 7-Inch External Bent Tip Snap Ring Pliers https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NPPASY?tag=vglnk-c102-20

I find h3 reduces the rate if fire, and slows wear when used on the highest gas setting... you want the 62 grain ammo for sure.
I've used many spring/buffer combos, 55g just wont run... maybe if you reloaded it, it could work.

What's this I hear about the need for a steel feed tray and receiver insert?

Im not sure about neededing one or the other.its only a factor when buying used units.

Alot of times we tend to obsess over our guns..
You definitely dont want one with an aluminum feedtray, only because at some point it'll need to be replaced.
Any of the other ones they have offered over the years will last a long time

I dont really see the point of the heatsink in the handguard either

Fightlite has been a really difficult company to deal with to say the least. Between the lack of communication, poor customer service, quality control and repairs. I have two uppers, the first one has been nothing but problems and broken dreams. The second one suffers from the same design flaws and weak points.Failure to eject, failure to cycle belts reliably, (I use Fightlite links, XM855 factory loaded ammo) charging handle failures, premature wear on feed tray, and mangled unfired rounds. I sent Upper #1 back to Fightlite with a list of issues and some damaged bullets. Almost two months later, dozens of unanswered messages with no returned calls, I finally got my upper back. They said there was no issue with the upper, it was customer error and stated “no parts had to be replaced”. Because I was having extraction issues I marked the problematic extractor to ID the bad one. I went through my upper to find a new extractor, extractor spring/buffer, and o-ring.
The upper has less than 1000 rounds fired plus has been babied through the 1k rounds. I now have to purchase my 3rd charging handle. I spoke to Fightlite again on 10/11/2017 I was quoted $2,600+ to fix the issues and replace parts on my two uppers. I am speechless at this point, you mean to tell me there are no design flaws and my uppers are good to go but you can fix the so called “Non Issues” for $2600. And recharge me for stuff I have already paid for?

For what it's worth, Brownells sells them, and everything they sell has a lifetime no questions asked return policy.

Are the uppers the uppers without the steel insert? If they are, they are far more than one year old and not under warentee.if your upper only has 1000rds on it, id just run it more... if your on your 3rd handle and they break while the gun is running(not while pulling it) you might as well scrap them or have ares fix them. Obviously keep the bcgs, barrels, top cover and rear sights.... the old style charging handles, messed up feed trays arent worth much.

For your money you get new receivers and chargings handles. If you bought these new you should have used them more sooner.. if you got them 2nd hand that wasnt a good idea