AR57... I think I jizzed in my pants...
- Thread starter J0HN_R1
- Start date
Clobbersauras
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Waaay out west.
Those have been around for a while. They don't really blow my skirt up.
- Location
- Niagara Region, Ontario. For now
Do spent casings eject through the magwell?
Cool design but with the legal 10 rnd option in standard LAR mags I can't see any benefit for us Canadians.
Cool design but with the legal 10 rnd option in standard LAR mags I can't see any benefit for us Canadians.
Yes.
A review from another board...
The AR57 Rifle; 50 Angry Bees in a Loveable AR-15 Package
We all love playing Barbie with our AR-15 based rifles; swapping barrels, using different operating systems, and there's even the occasional caliber conversion. Thats part of why the AR-15 rifle is so popular. Your simple AR-15 lower can be be a basic combat style carbine one day, and with a few pins and a healthy heaping of funds you can turn it into a lean mean varmint slaying machine.
Modularity doesn't stop with just farting around with 5.56, but the platform also allows you to use anything you can shove in the magazine well (with the appropriate adapters). By being such an 'open' and easy product to work on people have converted their AR-15s from simple intermediate-cartridge-firing carbines to .50BMG-hurling canons, and even crossbows.
The folks at AR57 have taken the basic concept of a caliber converting upper and produced both an attractive looking, and well made product. (I'd even hazard to says it's better made than the PS90.) I had the opportunity to run several thousand rounds through one at my local gun club, and I don't think I could have had more fun. The mild recoil of the cartridge coupled with the reasonable accuracy of the rifle made for a very pleasant shooting experience. Even after 2,500 rounds in one sitting the gun kept ticking along until we ran out of things to feed it. Not bad for the first complete AR57 rifle to roll off of the production line. Not bad at all.
I found the gun hitting consistently high at 50 yards but the groups were very reasonable, and I was able to place 50 rounds in a 2” group using an AR57 branded EoTech [insert model here] with a 5.7mm BDC reticle. The factory single stage trigger was crisper than your average AR-15 LPK which lends itself to being considered “good,” though what makes a “good” trigger is fairly subjective. Mechanically it functioned like a champ and went bang every single time.
Pleasant Surprises
What I found really novel was the rifle dumped the brass out of the magazine well. In fact, it shucked those bad boys out at a million miles an hour. It took me a few tries to learn to keep my hands away from the magazine well, but I've since found out that those who prefer a magwell grip can cut the feed lips off of an old AR-15 magazine and remove the floor plate, which converts the magazine into a bullet chute. I've also heard rumors of people putting bags on the bottom of their “bullet chutes” so they can reload at a later date--though the folks at AR57 and FN both recommend against reloading.
I was expecting the blowback operating system to be a fairly dirty proposition but after the shoot I can say that the gun does a decent job of keeping itself clean. After 2.5 thousand rounds it was looking a bit dirty but still very serviceable--nothing a few minutes with some oil and a nylon brush couldn't fix. I assume this is due to the quality of the ammunition, which is supposed to be very good. At least that's what I'd expect from ammo manufactured by FN. I was also expecting the AR57 magazines (which are interchangable with the PS90 magazines) to be chintzy and poorly constructed. Instead they appeared to be just as well made as the PS90 magazines.
Left: SS195 Lead Free, Right: SS197
An FN made PS90 Magazine on the Left, An AR57 made AR-57/PS90 magazine on the right.
Minor Criticisms
My biggest complaint about the platform is the fact that its very easy to install the bolt incorrectly. All you have to do is be a giant idiot like me, ignore the UP arrow on the back of the bolt and shove that baby in there. It'll go in but it wont go bang; and if you pull the trigger it then kind of sucks to get the bolt out. In all practicality, I don't plan on doing any tactical late night bolt installations, so the chances of the bolt being an issue are practically none, even if I were to use the rifle in a defensive capacity.
My other gripe is that the magazine changes, while better than the PS90s, are still kind of clumsy. At least with a 50 round capacity you won't have to do too many of them. I'm sure the problem could be overcome by adequate training, but you're still fighting gravity holding the gun up and performing a somewhat complex action. The rifle could also benefit from a proper last round bolt hold open. While the platform has a standard AR-15 manual bolt latch, I find it almost a vestigial feature. That said, if you're using more than 50 rounds in a self defense situation you probably have other things to worry about.
Conclusion
I can't help but be fascinated with the platform and keep finding myself wanting to make one my own. The blowback operating system is superbly simple and as such it is supremely easy to clean. There are a few shortcomings to this rifle but none of them are show stoppers, and as a whole the gun is just a peach to shoot. When all is said and done the complete AR57 rifle package is actually really really cool and if you're looking for something a little different for your AR-15 collection I'd strongly encourage you to look at one of these guys.
Ar180shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ottawa, ON
So you get an AR in that costs more to shoot, with a round less effective than a .223, without gaining any magazine capacity. Don't really get what's interesting about it... 
Not with our5-rd limited mags...
lmao...oh wait...you're right. *cry*
Don't really get what's interesting about it...
It's different... I like different...
Never saw it before until today, but agree with the "down-sides" of the system in relation to Canadian buyers.
But would be very effective with full-capacity mags and (heaven-forbid) select-fire...
Ar180shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Ottawa, ON
It's different... I like different...
Never saw it before until today, but agree with the "down-sides" of the system in relation to Canadian buyers.
But would be very effective with full-capacity mags and (heaven-forbid) select-fire...
Even with the regular cap mags, I could see it being neat... but at that point, why not just get a PS 90 and have it re-barreled to NR status?
However, if this does it for you, go to town!
F22_RaptoR
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
