Well this will be a short review of my new Shrike 5.56 upper I received last month. After initial break in and set up with the proper buffer and links, THIS THING ROCKS. Now I say that first because there were some initial teething problems.
First let me say that the feed tray was my largest concern with the firearm and you are basically forced into a $450 upgrade for a part that even in its current state needs improvement (I will cover the easy fix for that) I would not even want to guess the short life span of a stock factory tray, but not very long 2-3k rounds before it is trashed. Now the billet tray is a beautiful piece of work but even the steel tray I received started to show extreme wear after only 500rds. Being a CII and welder I fixed the problem. Most would be hesitant to TIG weld on a brand new $600 part, and be me it took a few beers and many hours to man up to the job, but I am very glad I did.
I should have taken better pics before the modification but if any one has seen the billet tray they know that on the right side it is very thin and almost as sharp as a razor. This metal started to bend and wear down very quickly from the metal M27 links dragging across the feed tray lip. I TIG welded a strip of 416SS (because it flows a little better for my setup) on the underside of the tray .25 wide and machined the angle back into the feed tray with an added thickness of .04 metal. Now this may not sound like much but I now have 3000 plus rounds through the modified tray with little to NO signs of wear or gouging.
Why you ask did I modify it myself instead of send it back to ARES? Because I can and I have waited 10 yrs for this thing and I’m not sending it back to receive the same part back. Now as a disclaimer I did leave them a message about the tray, but did not receive a call back after waiting a week. I would hope that ARES may read this review and modify there CNC program to leave the extra metal on the feed lips.
Ok enough on the one bad item with the SHRIKE now on to the good. I following the breaking instructions with several mags and couldn’t stand it any longer and tried a 20rd belt. Now unfortunealty I had several hundred rounds of the EVIL imported M27 links with holes that are too tight to run 100% in the SHRIKE. First 20rds American M27 links BUUUUURRRRP no problem. Then the first 100rd belt came out with the EVIL links. I got about 3 rounds in a started to have feeding problem with the EVIL import links. Oh well I thought I will just have to go back and find the good links and reload with them. Do you know how long it takes to unlink 3000 rds by hand? That sucked.
Ok rounds were loaded back up and after finding out what ammo it likes and what settings to use on the barrel I was 500rds down and looking for more ammo to link up.
I got both an adjustable and non-adjustable gas barrel. Both barrels with run wolf polycoted ammo very well. Federal SS193 makes it run like a turpentined cat and a little high RPM for my taste (1000+ RPM). The low or suppressor setting with the SS193 is AWSOME RPM about 600-650 ejection is to the rear but it is so controllable. Wolf ammo will run in the 800-850 RPM with med setting.
I added several accessories and built some other items myself. The best thing I think I added was my nutsack side mount. I really did not like the adaptor in the magwell because it could be accidently hit and would fall all the way out causing a malfunction or other problem, unlike a mag that you normally can just tap, tug resume. This also allows you to switch to a box mag quicker because you don’t have to deal with the adaptor and nutsack. Just leave it on, throw a mag in and rock-n-roll. I make the adaptor out of an old redimag holder and made a mount to hold an extra 20rd mag on the other side but it just didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, so I took it off.
I modified a flip up rear peep sight and used some extra MI rails I had around the shop on the forearm. Top rail fit with no modification but I did melt the bottom mount into the plastic heat guard since I had to drill and tap holes for it. I really thought the rail system they offered was cool and looked functional but way over priced for what you got.
Same with the front sight and carry mount. Factory way overpriced so I will be making my own flip down fronts for each barrel and I made the barrel handle from a FN FAL. Enjoy the pics more to come as I plan on redoing the barrel handles with a M249 grip and make some type of detent to keep the top cover open like an RPD so my finger don’t get smashed while loading. And yes the MagPul stock did need a small amount to mill work done to the plastic to allow clearance for the charging handle
First let me say that the feed tray was my largest concern with the firearm and you are basically forced into a $450 upgrade for a part that even in its current state needs improvement (I will cover the easy fix for that) I would not even want to guess the short life span of a stock factory tray, but not very long 2-3k rounds before it is trashed. Now the billet tray is a beautiful piece of work but even the steel tray I received started to show extreme wear after only 500rds. Being a CII and welder I fixed the problem. Most would be hesitant to TIG weld on a brand new $600 part, and be me it took a few beers and many hours to man up to the job, but I am very glad I did.
I should have taken better pics before the modification but if any one has seen the billet tray they know that on the right side it is very thin and almost as sharp as a razor. This metal started to bend and wear down very quickly from the metal M27 links dragging across the feed tray lip. I TIG welded a strip of 416SS (because it flows a little better for my setup) on the underside of the tray .25 wide and machined the angle back into the feed tray with an added thickness of .04 metal. Now this may not sound like much but I now have 3000 plus rounds through the modified tray with little to NO signs of wear or gouging.
Why you ask did I modify it myself instead of send it back to ARES? Because I can and I have waited 10 yrs for this thing and I’m not sending it back to receive the same part back. Now as a disclaimer I did leave them a message about the tray, but did not receive a call back after waiting a week. I would hope that ARES may read this review and modify there CNC program to leave the extra metal on the feed lips.
Ok enough on the one bad item with the SHRIKE now on to the good. I following the breaking instructions with several mags and couldn’t stand it any longer and tried a 20rd belt. Now unfortunealty I had several hundred rounds of the EVIL imported M27 links with holes that are too tight to run 100% in the SHRIKE. First 20rds American M27 links BUUUUURRRRP no problem. Then the first 100rd belt came out with the EVIL links. I got about 3 rounds in a started to have feeding problem with the EVIL import links. Oh well I thought I will just have to go back and find the good links and reload with them. Do you know how long it takes to unlink 3000 rds by hand? That sucked.
Ok rounds were loaded back up and after finding out what ammo it likes and what settings to use on the barrel I was 500rds down and looking for more ammo to link up.
I got both an adjustable and non-adjustable gas barrel. Both barrels with run wolf polycoted ammo very well. Federal SS193 makes it run like a turpentined cat and a little high RPM for my taste (1000+ RPM). The low or suppressor setting with the SS193 is AWSOME RPM about 600-650 ejection is to the rear but it is so controllable. Wolf ammo will run in the 800-850 RPM with med setting.
I added several accessories and built some other items myself. The best thing I think I added was my nutsack side mount. I really did not like the adaptor in the magwell because it could be accidently hit and would fall all the way out causing a malfunction or other problem, unlike a mag that you normally can just tap, tug resume. This also allows you to switch to a box mag quicker because you don’t have to deal with the adaptor and nutsack. Just leave it on, throw a mag in and rock-n-roll. I make the adaptor out of an old redimag holder and made a mount to hold an extra 20rd mag on the other side but it just didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped, so I took it off.
I modified a flip up rear peep sight and used some extra MI rails I had around the shop on the forearm. Top rail fit with no modification but I did melt the bottom mount into the plastic heat guard since I had to drill and tap holes for it. I really thought the rail system they offered was cool and looked functional but way over priced for what you got.
Same with the front sight and carry mount. Factory way overpriced so I will be making my own flip down fronts for each barrel and I made the barrel handle from a FN FAL. Enjoy the pics more to come as I plan on redoing the barrel handles with a M249 grip and make some type of detent to keep the top cover open like an RPD so my finger don’t get smashed while loading. And yes the MagPul stock did need a small amount to mill work done to the plastic to allow clearance for the charging handle
