I got into the 5.45 arena a few months before the ATF reclassified 7N6 as armor piercing and never got to fully appreciate the “poison bullet.” At the time, military surplus 5.45 7N6 ammo could be had for just slightly more than .22LR, unless you were willing to do the Neckbeard thing and wait at Walmart every morning at 6am. Paying less than 2 cents per round more than .22LR for regularly available ammo that was an actual centerfire rifle round seemed like an obvious good idea at the time.
The ATF’s reclassification of 7N6 as armor prevented further importation of that ammo into the U.S.
Although in August a judge ruled in the ATF’s favor during a court challenge to the 7N6 reclassification and subsequent importation ban, the inevitable changes that will take place in the upper levels at the Department of Justice and ATF after January 20th make it possible that 7N6’s designation of armor piercing could be changed. If that does happen, I will be shooting 5.45 again.
Enough bullshit. Let’s get the the item at hand.
Like any good consumer, I started out my researching my options. I read several positive reviews about the now discontinued Smith & Wesson 5.45 upper receiver, but after seeing that those were no longer being made I started looking for other options. One name continued to pop up when I was researching 5.45 ARs- Ballistic Advantage. BA made Spikes Tactical’s 5.45 parts which was another very positively reviewed 5.45 offering. I stumbled upon Ballistic Advantage’s website and saw they were selling complete upper receiver groups. I quickly purchased one remembering the few threads I had read where 5.45 uppers had sold pretty quickly.
Shipping and processing was fast and my Ballistic Advantage URG arrived last week. I ended up getting a stripper lower from Aim Surplus and a lower build kit from PSA.
Bedouin2W 