Anyone interested in bolt/barrel combo and mags for building an AR-15 in 5.45x39?

GlassLightning

GlassLightning

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I started this thread in the Black and Green Rifles forum late last night, but thought it might garner some interest from people over here as well. I'm new to the forum and I hope that's alright. Anyway, anyone interested in the AK-74 caliber?

I've off and on thought this would be a cool caliber to own and certainly so in the AR platform. Long story short, I asked an AR parts company, True North Arms, if they'd be able to get them in and the answer is yes with enough interest. The barrels would be from Canadian National Arms, they would run around $299 for the barrel/bolt combo. The barrels would most likely be 20". Mags would be around $30 a piece. If you know the caliber or have done any research then you probably know it is kind of scarce to find ammo around here. Currently Bulls Eye London can order in Hornady V Max for $34.99/50, WOLF 60gr FMJ Military Classic is available for $15.99/30 from CanadaAmmo, and SFRC have stocked the Hornady stuff in the past but are currently out. I'm looking into other sources for bringing this ammo in, but for now that's it. If enough people were to start buying these kits, who knows, more could always come in. What I'd like to see is cheap surplus eventually come to Canada but that would be a ways off if at all, regardless it's a cool caliber and the scarcity kinda makes me want it more.

I've read threads before about people expressing their interest in the caliber so, anyone out there interested now? It would only be a small initial shipment so we only need a little more than a handful of people interested to get it going. If anyone is interested or has any questions just reply to the thread and let me know.

Here's a link to the wiki page for the caliber, for your minor convenience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.45×39mm

And here is the WOLF ammo from CanadaAmmo: https://www.canadaammo.com/product/detail/wolf-5-45x39-60gr-fmj-30-round-box/
 
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IMHO the only reason it's popular in the US is cheap surplus ammo. 5.56 has better ballistics, so unless the ammo is cheap, there's no advantage. I wouldn't be interested unless bulk ammo were available.
 
I like all those Russian calibers. Plus I generally gravitate towards calibers or firearms that are harder to actually get shooting because you can't get ammo for them like the Swiss Vetterli for example. I see from one potential source (waiting to hear back) it looks like you could get Hornady Black Ammunition for around $22/20 and Hornady Varmint Express for approx $35/50. Certainly not the same price as 7.62x39 or 5.56 but $35/50 is still cheaper than shooting a lot of the same quality 308 available, and is certainly a price that you could get away with as long as you didn't shoot hundreds of rounds every trip to the range.
 
GlassLightning said:
I like all those Russian calibers. Plus I generally gravitate towards calibers or firearms that are harder to actually get shooting because you can't get ammo for them like the Swiss Vetterli for example. I see from one potential source (waiting to hear back) it looks like you could get Hornady Black Ammunition for around $22/20 and Hornady Varmint Express for approx $35/50. Certainly not the same price as 7.62x39 or 5.56 but $35/50 is still cheaper than shooting a lot of the same quality 308 available, and is certainly a price that you could get away with as long as you didn't shoot hundreds of rounds every trip to the range.
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If 223 doesn't float your boat, 300 aac blackout is something to consider. It uses the same bolt, and uses 223 for a parent case.
 
Its been talked about before and i personally bought the last 5 boxes of hornady 545x39 that SFRC had for a sks project i am thinking about. Basically what it comes down to is there is no rifles in canada that shoot the round so no importers really are going to bring any in. However if you build it they will come
 
I've been interested in this for a long time,but I've talked to several importers and the issue ianthe large amount of 5.45 that's available to them currently,would come in at around the same price as current surplus 7.62x39,and it is a fairly finite resource due to the current trade restrictions,so it's not really worth their time.


I'd love to have the caliber available as an alternative to 7.62x39,but importers don't really have the interest in it
 
I've always wanted to get an XCR. This could finally push me over the fence... Now the real question is who will import surplus ammo for us?
 
mt666tm said:
I've always wanted to get an XCR. This could finally push me over the fence... Now the real question is who will import surplus ammo for us?
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Send Canada Ammo an email and they'll bring it in. As it stands right now they stock wolf 5.45
 
MiG25 said:
I'd like to see a converted SKS.
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An SKS would be amazing. Or a Type 81

If ammo were plentiful I'll bet a run of one of the above would sell easily.

This just seems to be one of those situations where a rifle itself in this caliber wouldn't be hard to get, restricted or non. It's the ammo that's the issue. Once someone brings in a BIG haul of surplus then the rest sells itself.
 
Several years ago the surplus ammo was retailing in the US for $99-120usd/1080rds.
At that pricing it was potentially wonderfully cheap surplus bonanza for unlimited shooting!:dancingbanana:
Now the surplus seems to be $250-300usd/1080rds. At this time I"m not sure what price our vendors could bring it to market for us in Canada.
I would be interested in this calibre if we could get cheap ammo...as cheap, or cheaper, than 7.62x39, otherwise not really much to draw me to that calibre.
 
Just heard back from Marstar and they said that they have large stores in Europe but haven't contemplated bringing a container of 5.45x39 in because they'd be bringing in about 950,000 rounds. Which is obviously a big risk, I'm sure they'd sell it eventually, I think someone just has to get the ball rolling, but they'd sit on it a while. They said if there is a dealer out there interested in a container load they'd be pleased to quote. Wish they'd be able to get in a smaller quantity to have some available. Also, just heard back from Cabela's and they can't bring in 5.45x39 from their American stores like I thought, however Bulls Eye London can get in Hornady 60gr V Max Steel for $34.99/box of 50 if you ask them. That's good enough for me, now I just need that barrel/bolt.
 
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