AR Upper Receiver in 7.62 x 39

[Chance]

A friend asked me about these, and I am near-totally ignorant. I know these are available, but I know zilch about them. There's only one place (https://www.citizenarms.com/) I would buy one from, but I'd like to ask the folks here if there are others that are trustworthy.

Specifically, my friend asked me about Radical Firearms (https://www.radicalfirearms.com/). Good, bad, indifferent? Alternatives?

[MSparks909]

Never heard of Citizen Arms or Radical Firearms. PWS makes a long stroke piston 7.62x39 AR upper. Not sure of your friend's budget, but if I was in the market for a 7.62x39 AR upper I'd buy the PWS offering.

[Lon]

A buddy has a Radical upper. Hasn’t had any issues. Been considering their 10.5” 7.62x39 upper as a play around upper for my SBR.

[HCM]

In general AR's in 7.62x39 are problematic due to the tapered case and the straight feed mag well of AR's necessitating at least the upper portion of the mag being a straight feed. The tapered case requires a constant curve magazine for optimal feeding. Similar to the issues with feeding 6.5 Grendel in AR's. It can work, but not optimally.

If you want 7.62x39 ballistics to function reliably out of an AR get a 300 Black Out with Super Sonic ammo.

No experience with Citizens but Radical firearms is on my NFE list.

Radicals quality is hit or miss, similar to the lower grade PSA "PTAC" and "Freedom" lines. There was also an incident a year or two ago, after the Dallas shooting, involving Radical. Radical is based in the Houston area. One of the P&S moderators, who is also a local LEO in the Houston area, was doing a video review of Radical's " Blue line" rifles which was supposed to be a duty grade. The review had no connection to his primary employer. The rifle fared poorly. Radicals response was to to contact the reviewers LE employer and complain about the bad review. Total scumbag move.

Not to mention the fact they were pushing sub-par rifles as duty grade life - safety equipment for LE.

There was subsequent back pedaling and face saving by all parties but Radical is no one I care to do business with.

[Lon]

No experience with Citizens but Radical firearms is on my NFE list.

Radicals quality is hit or miss, similar to the lower grade PSA "PTAC" and "Freedom" lines. There was also an incident a year or two ago, after the Dallas shooting, involving Radical. Radical is based in the Houston area. One of the P&S moderators, who is also a local LEO in the Houston area, was doing a video review of Radical's " Blue line" rifles which was supposed to be a duty grade. The review had no connection to his primary employer. The rifle fared poorly. Radicals response was to to contact the reviewers LE employer and complain about the bad review. Total scumbag move.

Not to mention the fact they were pushing sub-par rifles as duty grade life - safety equipment for LE.

There was subsequent back pedaling and face saving by all parties but Radical is no one I care to do business with.

Good to know. Thx. Guess I’ll spend elsewhere.

[Default.mp3]

As HCM stated, Radical had that run-in with the P&S mod (who is an IRL buddy of mine; I've opfor'd multiple times for him, and have attended many classes he's hosted); beyond that, my old LGS had plenty of people that would bring in Radical stuff that was all fucked up for them to troubleshoot, so, yeah, I've heard plenty of horror stories about their shitty quality in general. They also came up with the bright idea of running KeyMod backwards, for purported reliability reasons:
http://soldiersystems.net/blog1/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2.jpg
Source: http://soldiersystems.net/2016/03/08/radical-firearms-releases-6-8-caliber-uppers/

I've no experience with their 7.62×39mm stuff, but PWS has taken a crack at it multiple times, and are currently in the middle of another release of uppers in 7", 11", and 16". PWS seems to recommend the ASC mags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o0AmIhmDko

[Oukaapie]

I had a cheap Hardened Arms in x39 that worked sometimes. I've had RF in 556 and 300 that were flawless. I've got a PWS x39 that works great. I did add a specific x39 firing pin that made it go boom with crappy commie stuff more regularly. Have had no problems with these mags. That said, it's a toy that I enjoy and not in my safe for serious use.
http://www.shop.northriverllc.com/30-Round-CPD-762x39mm-GEN-III-Stainless-Steel-Magazine-C30762SBB.htm

[OlongJohnson]

When I researched 7.62x39 ARs, the CPD mags were the ones that seemed to be consensus reliable on 68forums.net. I have a friend who tells me another friend of his had a jam-o-matic with them, though.

[schüler]

If they go with either 5.45 or 7.62x39 I'd recommend having a complete spare bolt as well.

[Chance]

Never heard of Citizen Arms....

The guy behind Citizen Arms is a former Unit armorer. All accounts point to him knowing his stuff and then some.

[HCM]

If they go with either 5.45 or 7.62x39 I'd recommend having a complete spare bolt as well.

5.45 has less taper and does better in AR's than 7.62x39.