JP-5 reviews/input

[SDchillin]

On 1/20/2024 at 4:14 PM, sharko said:

 

The only other PCC I'd shot before was a couple of MPX's that I have so I was skeptical about the 22 like recoil. I agree it isn't really like a 22 and it's not a lot different than my MPX's but then a couple matches ago I shot a friend's CMMG Banshee and many did it have a lot more recoil.

On the right dot movement, its your grip/mount. Try more centered on you body and less on your shoulder, or wrap around it more. I kind of hold it on my collar bone area.

 

Coming off MPX's with about 30k USPSA rounds though them, I tried two JP5's recently and have decided I will be ordering one and likely switching over to the platform (but not selling my MPX's quite yet).

 

The JP5 is impressive and extremely smooth overall. "Softness" on the guns I've tested (they seemed pretty dialed) was comparable to my MPX but the true AR-style ergonomics feel better to me. The operating system seems friendly and easy to tune as well. Combined with an extremely low bar for maintenance... I'm sold.

 

That being said, the JP5's I have shot do not "recoil like a .22." Sure, they shoot quite a bit softer than your average carbine or midlength 223/556 AR15 with a standard flash hider, but that's comparing apple to oranges.

 

It might be a coincidence, but most of the people I've met that insist the JP-5 shoots "shoots like a .22" seem to be the ones that require the most scrolling to find while checking Practiscore after matches...

[42ATK]

It’s definitely smooth. I shot a buddy’s ultralight and it was incredible compared to my very nice blowback pcc

 

and instead of buying the ultralight, I purchased a mean arms upper because I want to be different

[Boomstick303]

19 hours ago, SDchillin said:

It might be a coincidence, but most of the people I've met that insist the JP-5 shoots "shoots like a .22" seem to be the ones that require the most scrolling to find while checking Practiscore after matches...

 

 

While the impulse is better on the JP5 I have never felt it was like shooting a 22.  I think people making those claims have not shot a 22 for a decade or more.

[PaleoMan]

I have shot a M&P 15-22 for about three years in Steel Challenge and then bought a JP-5 and have been shooting it as well this year. The JP-5 definitely does not shoot like a .22, but I've been tuning my ammo and started adjusting lock pieces, and for match performance, I'm shooting closely to what the .22 does and that's what really matters.

 

My latest load is with 125gr coated bullets, and has about 138 PF. With a 70 degree lock piece, it shoots much softer than Federal Syntech rounds I've tried (115, 124, 150gr) with better ejection distances. Today, I tried a lighter load giving 124 PF and tried a 90 lock piece and it was even softer with really great ejection still. I'll likely try the 80 lock piece.

 

I've been pleased with the tuning ease (only lock pieces, but I did get springs), reliability so far (about 3000 rounds), ease of maintenance, and the balance (compared to shooting other brands of PCCs from several friends, including an MPX).

 

 

 

Edited July 27 by PaleoMan

[AKJD]

What size torx is required to remove the JP trigger pin screws? I thought I read T10 but that is definitely too big on mine. I tried several to make sure it wasn’t the bit. 

[Keyst0ne]

24 minutes ago, AKJD said:

What size torx is required to remove the JP trigger pin screws? I thought I read T10 but that is definitely too big on mine. I tried several to make sure it wasn’t the bit. 

T8 -- at least that's my recollection. It's been a few months, but I've done three of them so I've pretty sure.

Edited July 29 by Keyst0ne

[DwightSchrute]

23 minutes ago, AKJD said:

What size torx is required to remove the JP trigger pin screws? I thought I read T10 but that is definitely too big on mine. I tried several to make sure it wasn’t the bit. 

T8.  You’ll need two — one for each side simultaneously.  You’re talking about the anti-walk pins, right?

Edited July 29 by DwightSchrute

[AKJD]

Yes the anti walk pins.  I’ll have to go see if I can find some bits tomorrow. Thanks 

Edited July 29 by AKJD

[DwightSchrute]

10 minutes ago, AKJD said:

Yes the anti walk pins.  I’ll have to go see if I can find some bits tomorrow. Thanks 

You might need a small torch, too.  JP uses red Loctite, and you might need to heat it up to make them budge.  The first time I tried to remove the pins I stripped the screws and had to break the screw heads off with a drill bit to get the pins out.  Then I had to order new pins from JP to replace them.  I used blue Loctite on them, instead of the red they used on the original screws, and everything is good now.

Edited July 29 by DwightSchrute

[Keyst0ne]

Just now, DwightSchrute said:

You might need a flame, too.  JP uses red Loctite, and you might need to heat it up to make them budge.  The first time I tried to remove the pins I stripped the screws and had to break the screw heads off with a drill bit to get the pins out.  Then I had to order new pins from JP to replace them.  I used blue Loctite on them, instead of the red they used on the original screws, and everything is good now.

 

Alternatively, use a hot soldering iron directly on the screw (only need one of them to break free). That worked well for me and I didn't need to be concerned about flame damaging anything else.

[AKJD]

2 minutes ago, DwightSchrute said:

You might need a small torch, too.  JP uses red Loctite, and you might need to heat it up to make them budge.  The first time I tried to remove the pins I stripped the screws and had to break the screw heads off with a drill bit to get the pins out.  Then I had to order new pins from JP to replace them.  I used blue Loctite on them, instead of the red they used on the original screws, and everything is good now.

I’ve dealt with JP pins before, been a while though, they used to be hex. Soldering iron to the screw heads  worked before, hopefully it will again.

[Darqusoull13]

On 7/26/2024 at 6:26 PM, SDchillin said:

 

Coming off MPX's with about 30k USPSA rounds though them, I tried two JP5's recently and have decided I will be ordering one and likely switching over to the platform (but not selling my MPX's quite yet).

 

The JP5 is impressive and extremely smooth overall. "Softness" on the guns I've tested (they seemed pretty dialed) was comparable to my MPX but the true AR-style ergonomics feel better to me. The operating system seems friendly and easy to tune as well. Combined with an extremely low bar for maintenance... I'm sold.

 

That being said, the JP5's I have shot do not "recoil like a .22." Sure, they shoot quite a bit softer than your average carbine or midlength 223/556 AR15 with a standard flash hider, but that's comparing apple to oranges.

 

It might be a coincidence, but most of the people I've met that insist the JP-5 shoots "shoots like a .22" seem to be the ones that require the most scrolling to find while checking Practiscore after matches...

They'll never truly approach a 40 grain bullet doing 1100 fps. However, my SCSA hand loads were approximately 2x a 22 in energy and recoil was very close. Heavier bullet, just going a touch slower in a roller 

Let me know if you need any help or have questions about spec'ing out a -5. 

[AKJD]

I was able to replace the handguard and trigger without using any heat. Everything came off relatively easy.

 

Smoke Composites handguard.

SD3g trigger

Milspec safety

Holosun AEMS

C-More RTS-2

Magpul Stock

Techwell mag well

[ano]

I find there to be some pretty different ejection patterns across a lot of identical spec jp5s, some eject perfect 45 always, and yeet the brass, others do not, not figure out why/how yet and howto sort it, some guns just stop more often than others, usually the ones with uneven ejection, basicly like 1911/2011 open guns.

 

I've also found the 60 will yield at least 6PF higher on avg on a mild load, than 80 block. 
 

Edited August 19 by ano

[Darqusoull13]

17 hours ago, ano said:

I find there to be some pretty different ejection patterns across a lot of identical spec jp5s, some eject perfect 45 always, and yeet the brass, others do not, not figure out why/how yet and howto sort it, some guns just stop more often than others, usually the ones with uneven ejection, basicly like 1911/2011 open guns.
 

Depending on how guys have their lock pieces and ammo set up, they may be running their guns on the edge of reliability. That's not a platform issue. 

If you run 55 grain rounds out of a 223 with a powder charge under book max and tune your gas port to barely cycle, but not lock back on an empty mag, you can expect similar issues. Run the same ammo tuned to lock back on an empty mag plus a click or two and you're probably good to go for the whole season. 

Similarly, expecting subminor 95 grain rounds to cycle 100% with a 60 degree lock piece is simply not realistic. There's an optimal range and operating range for each lock piece. JP-5's ship with the 80 degree lock piece for the majority of use cases. You can tune the lock piece as you like for your shooting stile. Run the 80 degree if you want to shoot nearly any 9mm. Run the 60 if you're running duty ammo. 

[Z-Chaos-Factor]

On 2/26/2024 at 6:36 AM, lroy said:

I've been thinking about some tuning methods for the rdb. I really doubt any of it matters in the end, but it's been fun to theorize.

 

The way the system operates, the locking peice dictates how much initial force is required to drive the bolt assembly backward. The buffer spring/weight can add to this, but has the drawback of also causing additional force be created when it pushes forward back into battery.

 

For example, a 70 degree lock with a heavy buffer spring would produce more felt recoil than a 60 degree with a very light buffer spring?

 

Is that correct? I know max tested all of these and preferred the former, I was just curious on why that would be the case.

 

 

Buffer springs really just affect how fast the bolt goes into battery. They don't do anything to slow it down on the way back. 

 

So yes a higher locking piece is going to have more energy going backwards and more spring energy returning it to battery. 

[lroy]

On 8/20/2024 at 11:46 PM, Z-Chaos-Factor said:

Buffer springs really just affect how fast the bolt goes into battery. They don't do anything to slow it down on the way back. 

 

So yes a higher locking piece is going to have more energy going backwards and more spring energy returning it to battery. 

 Why would it have more spring energy?

[Z-Chaos-Factor]

33 minutes ago, lroy said:

 Why would it have more spring energy?

You said a heavier spring. Heavier springs when compressed have more energy. Thus they return the bolt faster. 

[ano]

On 8/20/2024 at 5:33 PM, Darqusoull13 said:

Depending on how guys have their lock pieces and ammo set up, they may be running their guns on the edge of reliability. That's not a platform issue. 

If you run 55 grain rounds out of a 223 with a powder charge under book max and tune your gas port to barely cycle, but not lock back on an empty mag, you can expect similar issues. Run the same ammo tuned to lock back on an empty mag plus a click or two and you're probably good to go for the whole season. 

Similarly, expecting subminor 95 grain rounds to cycle 100% with a 60 degree lock piece is simply not realistic. There's an optimal range and operating range for each lock piece. JP-5's ship with the 80 degree lock piece for the majority of use cases. You can tune the lock piece as you like for your shooting stile. Run the 80 degree if you want to shoot nearly any 9mm. Run the 60 if you're running duty ammo. 

identdical ammo tested across identical jp5s with same buffer/spring/locking piece

local dealer here got in a bunch of identical spec guns, hence I had access to 5 of them for testing, and they had different ejection patterns

[lroy]

On 8/22/2024 at 2:07 AM, Z-Chaos-Factor said:

You said a heavier spring. Heavier springs when compressed have more energy. Thus they return the bolt faster. 

 Oh, I see. In my experience, putting an ar10 spring in definitely does effect the bolts rear ward travel and changes the ejection pattern.

 

Also, kind of unrelated, but I stripped and cleaned my carbine after a match and noticed my firing pin spring was broken into segments. Only been a few thousand rounds, but I've never seen anything like this. What would cause it?

 

 

 

 

[SAM7]

For USPSA, which bags are you using? Is a scabbard useful? Have you found anything that makes the process of getting ready with an PCC easier in general? 

[GrumpyNO]

8 minutes ago, SAM7 said:

For USPSA, which bags are you using? Is a scabbard useful? Have you found anything that makes the process of getting ready with an PCC easier in general?

Anything will work. I'm using a bag from Savior Equipment that looks like a tennis bag. Just because it looks inconspicuous. And it's fun when I get to the range and everyone asks about my tennis racquet.

[SerDan]

Hey guys,
I have some questions, regarding the JP5. I was planning on buying it, but I am not sure what ammo to use. 
I believe the JP5 Competition Ready variant is coming with a 90 degree lock piece?
Would 147grain subsonic rounds work good with it? And do Ares Polymer coated bullets work with the blowback system? 
Because I know a friend of mine tried shooting them with the Alien, and the blowback channels got blocked due to the polymer scraping off.

[AKJD]

8 minutes ago, SerDan said:

I believe the JP5 Competition Ready variant is coming with a 90 degree lock piece?
 

Mine came with the 80.

[SerDan]

1 hour ago, AKJD said:

Mine came with the 80.

Ah yes sorry you are right. I have just looked it up, they usually ship it with the 80.