Originally Posted By C-4:


+1

OP, how often have you had an AK firing pin fail?


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Originally Posted By dragunov:
What happened to the Chinese Dragunov? I'm very interested in the durability of these rifles and I know that some have gotten damaged by out of battery detonations when using the wrong primers. But I'm curious if any problems come up with general use that is not ammo related.  

Originally Posted By HendersonDefense:


We've lost, at most, 3-4 firing pins in the last few years in our AK's. The one weapon that gobbled up firing pins was the NDM-86 .308 Dragunov. We started making our own firing pins because they aren't available. We switched over to a Russian 7.62x54 Tigr SVD and we haven't had any issues.

V/R
Ron

Originally Posted By HendersonDefense:


The headspace got so excessive that it was shearing the cases. When the armorers were telling me that the headspace was getting excessive I honestly thought they weren't checking it properly. Soon after they told me I was in the armory when a RSO brought it back with a stuck case. We pulled the broken case, gave him the rifle and let him finish up with his customer. After he finished, I retrieved the rifle from the line and checked the headspace myself. Sure enough, they were right and it swallowed the field gauge with ease.

I was more surprised than pissed. I've always liked Chinese AK's and the NDM-86's look so damn sexy but the weapon was on the line for all of two years and the headspace went to crap. It usually got daily but no where near the amount of rounds any of the AK's, AR's or even factory East German AK .22's go through. Right now it's just sitting in the lock but I've purchased two Russian SVD Tigr's as replacements and we haven't had any issues since.

V/R
Ron

Originally Posted By Lumpy196:


Since you already hijacked your own thread with tank talk...

Is that the freaking T-55M from the Snickers Mr. T "Get Some Nuts" commercial?

Originally Posted By HendersonDefense:


HAHAHAHA.... yes it is! That has to be the best commercial ever.

V/R
Ron

Originally Posted By dryflash3:

That was pretty funny.

Can we get back to AK's now?

Originally Posted By HendersonDefense:


Each weapon has it's own maintenance log that records the last cleaning, who cleaned it, headspace and any parts that required replacing. The weapons, depending on model and volume on the range, are cleaned every 2-7 days. The MP5 SD's are the dirtiest of the weapons and the M-134 "miniguns" are probably the cleanest.

Because we are a business, we have several things we have to take into consideration. The cleaners and lubricants have to be safe and non-toxic for the employees to handle on a daily basis. Our ultrasonic tank is filled with Simple Green that a waste disposal company has no problem picking up. We were limited to what types of fluids they will dispose of and Simple Green was the best for employee safety and it can be picked and disposed of without concerns. One problem with ultrasonic cleaners (and I don't know if this is a Simple Green effect) is that copper deposits from barrels will re-deposit it self on any metal parts that sit to long in the solution. I once pulled out a MG42 top cover that looked like somebody plated it with dull copper because it was left in the tank over night.

As stated above, depending on the weapon, they get cleaned every 2-7 days. Weapons are inspected every morning and afternoon and that's also when they are lubed. We use Slip 2000 on all of our weapons. It's safe, non-toxic and keeps the weapons running properly. We keep a MSDS log of all the cleaning items within arms reach because of the OSHA and the Health District. They have both done inspections at our range and we haven't had a problem by following the rules. BTW, we even have to keep MSDS' on every type of round that we have inventory

I know some folks REALLY think that "their" brand of lubes and cleaners are the best but I can tell you that, in OUR experience, they have all worked about the same. When we first opened the range, we weren't up to speed on all the issues with OSHA, EPA and the Health District because we were relatively small. We used what we could afford and we spent more (what I felt was more than we needed) on some of the different lubes and cleaners that everybody raves about. We can't afford to just keep adding lube to guns and seeing how long it can go without cleaning like so many people do online. We have to maintain our weapons and a dirty weapon doesn't help with reliability. In fact, my oldest son (who works at our retail gun store) brags about he hasn't cleaned his M4 in over a year because the lube works so good. There's a reason he doesn't work at the range or maintain any of our weapons. He reads BS online and our range is far from a kid shooting 300-400 rounds once a month or so.

We've had plenty of rep's stop by and provide us with free samples and provide demonstrations (one even licked their product to show us it was "safe") but at the end of the day, it's about what works, how easy is it to dispose of and will OSHA or EPA have any issues with it.

BTW, I do suffer from a bit of dyslexia and sometimes when I'm typing, words and sentences look correct, even after proof-reading so if you see an edit, it's because I probably noticed a typo after the 7th time of reading it

V/R
Ron  

Originally Posted By HendersonDefense:
I will get some pictures for you tomorrow. I can tell you that we've never had an ejector crack or wear down from use.





V/R


Ron

Originally Posted By jefflebowski:
Link?

Originally Posted By Henny:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_118/360169_What_Parts_Break_in_a_Carbine_Course_____Thread_summaries_are_on_pages_48_49.html  

Sorry I'm on my phone and it's not letting me hot link.