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Sunday at Blackwater
Didn't have time to post before this, but it was wild! Todd Jarret took us thru the shoot house, twice! Imagine a steel building (it looked like 3/8" plate, covered in plywood) divided into rooms, all doors shut, you open the door and there might be anything inside. Good guy targets, bad guy ones, both with one covering the other ... or nothing at all. Firing live ammp. You get your adrenalin up so high that some guys were whooping and shouting at the end, when Todd grabs your shoulders from behind and says that's the end. I'm still pumped, a day later.
Then out to another range to try an AR-15 variant that Para will be bringing out soon. I liked it a lot. It has an operating rod rather than using gas impingement, which cures the AR-15's biggest problem. The bolt spring is moved forward of the receiver rather than mounted in the buttstock, so it can have a folding stock. A serious compensator that really does make it recoiless, if rather noisy. And this version had a fine optical sight. Todd J. fired it so fast it sounded like a slow full auto, say 500 rpm.
On the way to the range our lead Suburban pulled into another 'urban area" range and found it had 20 women in burkhas. OK, someone else's drill. and while we shot, the Muslim call to prayer played in the background. Behind us was the auto track, where cars regularly spun out. On one occasion we heard q thunderous boom from it, saw smoke rising, and heard gunfire, so I guess the drivers were being tested on an IED attack and ambush.
6 Comments | Leave a comment
Welcome to the dark side, where us Training Junkies teach you to convert large amounts of disposable income into loud noise.
BTW You'll learn to love the debate about gas-blow back vs. op-rod. Weight vs. Reliability. Apples vs. Oranges. Why are we doing this for 5.56mm? Can't we use 7.62 and call it the M-14? And on and on.
Change is hard and often painful, but in order to get better at anything you have to change...
Um, David, not quite:
"It has an operating rod rather than using
gas impingement, which cures the AR-15's
biggest problem."
Gas impingmement is not a problem at all.
In fact, it's why AR rifles are lightweight and accurate. True USGI Colt rifles do very well, thank you [unless HK's marketing dept is trying to sell a different system, then it's pure trash.]
Replacing a GI system (double entendre is unintentional) with something else may well just move problems elsewhere. There's really no standardized piston AR design on the market (everyone and their brother sells a different one) and all are 'young' designs compared with the 40 year design evolution of the AR15/M16 platform.
One design apparently even uses the gas key on the bolt carrier as an impact target for the gas piston. (O sweet jeezus will that last a long time!)
Change for change's sake is an Obama platform, not grounds for redesing of a rifle that works fine.
There's zero legit proof that over time or circumstance the gas piston system(s) will be any better: they likely will just fail in different ways (hey, more moving parts). In fact in Persian Gulf 1, M14s were found to have more issues than M16 rifles. (This is discussed somewhere on Armalite's website.) Similar results with FALs in Israel show issues with that piston system too.
Why are so many companies selling piston ARs?
They gotta sell something different and it's new & cool.
Statistically 'small' issues w/M4 by certain SOCOM units appears to be due to their use of M4 as a machinegun in break contact exercises, etc. - instead of being used as a battle rifle with lower fire rate.
With reasonable cleaning regimen/proper lube, quality ammo & good magazines, an AR15/M16 can go for a thousands of rounds session without issue/cleaning. [Letting it sit around without cleaning is a different thing.]
Remember that the M16 design (AR15 being a subset) is a 'system': rifle + mag + ammo + user & maitenance. Saying it's unreliable when using Brand X ammo and Joe's Custom Grease doesn't cut it, it's designed/tested/certified for M855/M193 ball ammo and CLP lube.
I suspect many reported issues in the field are 'user error' category or product of "cooks & clerks" syndrome (a la PFC Jessica Lynch's jammed rifle). I suspect some .mil folks just don't use a chamber brush either.
Over the past decade I've helped quite a few folks get their AR type rifles get up & running. Invariably, the issues surround poor quality 'parts guns' without chrome-lined barrels, overexpectation of reliability with tight-chambered match barrels, crappy magazines (USA and "Precision" and other no-name steel magazines) and (#1, ta-da) - poor lubrication, not following USGI manual. Crap reloads also factor in as well (though dirty and not-that-accurate, imported Wolf ammo is reliable and any AR should work with it - if your AR doesn't cycle Wolf, there's something wrong with it).
I think time has proved Eugene Stoner was a pretty bright guy and his design has held up well.
Bill Wiese
San Jose CA
Fishing lures don't have to catch fish, they only have to catch fishermen in the tackle store aisles.
Offset piston conversions for the AR-15 work on the same principle.
The difference between piston and direct impingment rifles is kinda like the difference between striker pistols and hammer pistols. Both are mature technologies that work really well when done right, and both can be a POS when done wrong. Similarly, each has its own little advantages and disadvantages. With the AR, there are a lot of good models out there, and a lot of crap. A quality AR such as a Colt is every bit the equal of a quality piston rifle. A parts gun from the 80s may not work as well.
That being said, one reason why piston rifles are in vogue these days is because they tend to work better with shorter barrels. AR's start to get real finicky when the barrel length gets into the 12" or shorter range.
Man I'm weary of the "operating rod" versus "gas impingement" debate.
That's why God invented the AK.
I'm soooooo jealous.