After buying a spikes lower from a dealer in 2008 at a gun show in California, I could not believe how cool it was. I was just getting into the AR world and went with the the option of learning how to assemble a lower and ordering an upper from a now out of business supplier of "military contract" AR upper halves. My original upper was a HBAR 16'' carbine length gas system in what was supposed to be 5.56. Well being a college guy I had to get the most bang for my buck and I thought I had bought something good. Well, after a few range trips and I had issues with using 5.56 ammo and it would pop the primers out of the casings. I played with a few other kinds of ammo to try and see if the problem got fixed. Needless to say the problem kept arising. It got so bad that my rifle would not cycle. I later found out that I had had a primer come out of the case and it ended up getting stuck in the Gas key. After carefully drilling out the primer I thought to myself that this was enough.
Fast forward to about a month ago, I went on to AIM surplus and noticed that they were selling some very nice specd. Spike's Uppers under the product line of Spike's Tactical Elite. I read the specification of all of them and came to the conclusion that these uppers were not only a great value but they were literally elite in parts and build.
I was previously dead set on the BCM 14.5 mid-lenght upper with the BattleComp. It was a very expensive route but I had heard through forums how great BCM was. I still believe they make great stuff from what I have read and seen on Youtube. I compared both and easily went Spike's Elite.
I was right about how great this upper really is I ordered it and I can't believe how much of an upgrade it was to go from my old upper to the new Spike's upper. The build quality was so nice. That Dynacomp is machined to perfection and it sure does look cool. The upper is so light. I went with the hybrid weight barrel. All of the touches are really cool. Things like the melonite covered gas tube and the FN produced cold hammer forged barrel really took the product to the next level in my book. I went ahead and picked up the NiBoron bolt carrier that Spike's sells and it's a great compliment to the upper receiver. It is so well made and a breeze to clean!
I finally got a chance to mount it up to my Spike's lower and take it to the range. I put through PMC bronze, S&B steel cased, some old green polymer cased 5.56, Wolf, and some American Eagle stuff all in the same magazine
. It was my test for the new upper. It ate it all up flawlessly! I was impressed and shot about another 80 rounds through it. No problems. Everything about this upper makes me a happy customer. I knew I had to leave some love for the Spike's crew and let others know about my amazing experience with what this company has to offer!
-William-
