Smith and Wesson has a new AR platform rifle out for their M&P-15 line of rifles. What sets it apart from the current platform is that it's chambered for 5.45x39, the Russian service rifle cartridge. The advantage here is that mil-surp Russkie 5.45 is cheap and plentiful, and according to S&W will feed reliably in the new MP-15R.
The rifle has all the standard doo-dads you'd expect to see in a modern AR, a six-position collapsible stock, flattop receiver, 30 round magazines, chrome lined barrel, etc.
Obviously, the biggest benefit to this new rifle are the huge and widely available supplies of surplus 5.45 Russian ammo; you can buy spam cans full and full of ammo for half the price of 5.56 ammo; and since the Russian round delivers similar ballistic performance you're getting pretty decent bang for your buck in terms of a defensive rifle.
One thing that S&W does caution about are the magazines. While the 5.45 and 5.56 cartridges are dimensionally similar enough that you can feed 5.45 in a standard 5.56 AR magazine, the feed lips and followers are different enough that it is likely that you'll encounter feed jams trying to run the 5.45 through a 5.56 magazine. S&W recommends that you stick with their 5.45 magazines for the M&P-15R.
With the economy being what it is, and ammo prices through the roof, the ability to shoot the cheap and readily available mil-surp ammo really makes the M&P-15R appealing for me. Since I'm starting the process of AR shopping, I'm going to seriously consider an AR in 5.45 Russian. It gets cool points for being an evil capitalist rifle chambered for the former Soviet Bloc service cartridge.
5 comments:
Ugh. I think this is an awful idea.
Even if the ammo itself is less expensive, it isn't easy to find and requires a special magazine to operate reliably.
These facts make this rifle unsuitable as a self defense/SHTF tool.
isnt easy to find? how so? and its not like its hard to find mags for them. anyone with internet access can get both and for a good price. hey if you want to pay twice as much as me for ammo go ahead
I got one of these and am happy so far. The mags are available from C-Products and supposedly Mag-Pul 5.56 mags work just fine also.
The official, all-steel C-Products mags are very reasonable at $15.95 each right now.
I think it's a perfect SHTF weapon b/c I can afford to have a couple thousand rounds laying around for it. =)
I'm going to get one eventually. The ammo is not hard to find and is extremely cheap. 1080 rounds for 129 dollars? Come on. The rifle pays for itself. I don't mind having to buy special magazines, I'll just have a set of 10 for the M&P and mark them so that I know that they are 5.45 mags. If the SHTF I'll just bend the lips of standard 5.56 mags or modify them however I need to to make more mags that can use the 5.45 ammo.
I don't know why you would think this rifle is not good for self defense and training. It's great for training because you can go to training classes and programs and bring a bunch of ammo and train all day for almost nothing. The 5.56 is not good against people anyway, so if you believe the 5.56 is a great self defense caliber, then you shouldn't have a problem with the 5.45.
If the SHTF, there is a bunch of 5.45 ammunition all over the earth, it can be found in every continent for cheap, and as long as you have a set of magazines, you'll be fine. If you don't, just modify the 5.56 ones, it's called survival (if you're that worried about it not being a good "SHTF rifle").
I've been waiting for a manufacturer to make this since forever.
People who buy an upper or rifle in this caliber are not thinking through..
The original AK74 rifles are built around this bullet..Why in the hell not buy a rifle that was intended to shoot the round..
Stoner's design was for the 7.62mm and then we saw it was good for 5.56..Quit screwing around to save a dime..
Buy a damn AK74 and tons of the 5.45 ammo..The mags are unreliable,able to be confused with regular AR15 mags..
So when you load 5.56 into your 5.45 mags and shoot them in your little soviet AR..KABOOOOOOM..
Either way..Just buy an AK built for 5.45 and forget about the stupidity..
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