SLR15 Rifles AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 ARMORER COURSE
When: April 7-8, 2014
Where: Lakewood Ohio
We conducted a 2-day (16-hour) AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 Armorer Course in Lakewood Ohio, hosted by the Lakewood Police Department. This was our fifth course here, and we look forward to more. The training room with plenty of table space, decent lighting, and a screen that we were able to project animated graphics of the weapons system, powerpoint detailed pics of gun parts, and especially when looking at finer detail things like machining, stress cracks & wear. The student base was all Law Enforcement, from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Rifles represented in this course were many, to include Colt, Bushmaster, DPMS, Smith & Wesson, Rockriver, LWRC, Daniel Defense, and a couple of custom builds. We have a very early Colt SP1 in class that was in excellent condition.
Day-1: On day 1 we started with going through the course manual that all students are given. Students were supplied with their own set of basic tools that are necessary to do 95% of the work on their rifles (short of restocking and rebarreling, of which wrenches and sometimes fixtures are necessary), Slip2000 "EWL" Extreme Weapons Lubricant and #725 Cleaner Degreaser, etc. A short session of nomenclature was covered, at which time covered every feature and exterior piece of the rifle to include all the hidden design features that most people are not aware of, and everyone prepped the rifles for disassembly work. Everyone was taught the procedure series of checks that we recommend.
Next we covered the proper way to field strip a rifle from the user level, and how not to cause damage or premature wear on the rifle. Once field stripped, we showed how to do proper maintenance of where and what to clean, how to clean it, and why some areas need specific cleaning. During the maintenance with lots of myths dispelled (to include what firing pins designed for, and what they are not to be used for). Most of the rifles in this class were fairly clean, with a few that had heavier fouling. We showed how to remove the fouling, how easy it is, where it needs to be removed (areas like the bolt carrier assembly) and why it should be removed. Once user level maintenance was covered, we moved into armorer level for maintenance, inspections, and repairs. We went through the complete bolt disassembly, upgrades for reliability, stress on parts, life expectancy of parts, breakage, etc. No rifles present had metal injection molded extractors "MIM", but we showed several examples of these and where they fail. One agency present had MIM extractors previously in their rifles, of which all of them had failed and were replaced. This class had several bolt carrier keys that needed better staking. The MOACKS staking tools that we supply were put to good use, and on a side note we have added the MOACKS tools to our armorer tool kits.
Everyone was introduced to the different types of gas rings, and we had all three of them present on rifles in this class. We went through what each types does, and their proper installation order. The rest of the day was spent on understanding timing, and going through the entire lower receiver assembly, specialty tools and fixtures. We had a mix of fixed and collapsible stock on rifles in this class. All of the collapsible stocks had their spanner & castle nuts staked, none had thread locker. We spent time on going through the cycles of fire, and the timing cycles of this weapons system, and what effects that timing cycle. Everyone disassembled their lower receivers, looked at sere engagements, springs, and how things worked.
The barrels represented were a mix of 20”, 16", 14.5” & 11.5”. With the different lengths of barrels, we also had 4 lengths of gas systems, two different mid-lengths were present. This allowed us to go through timing & pressure issues, and parts availability and longevity issues. We had two rifles that were suppressor equipped, which allowed everyone to see a hands on of how they are mounted, styles, and timing and maintenance issues. We went through in great detail the timing issues, along with dwell time, and how these correlate into diagnosing reliability issues. We showed numerous types of carbine length and rifle length buffers, and the old Colt SP1 rifle that was present had the original R6000 Edgewater buffer, which was a treat for everyone to see as these are not stumbled across that often.
Day-2: We reviewed everything that was covered on day-1. We went through iming issues, and when something isn’t running right of how to diagnose and repair it. Everyone was tasked with a compete detail strip of lower receiver one last time. Once the lowers were stripped, we went through the finer details on machining of not only the lowers, but also the small parts on what is good vs not so go, and how this relates to a well built and reliable rifle . We went through single stage and 2-stage triggers. For 2-stage triggers, we had LMT, Rockriver and Geisselle presesent in rifles, which allowed everyone to see the differences between each style and maker. The bulk of the class seemed to like the quality of the Geisselle over the others. Everyone put their lowers back together again, make sure everyone was in proper working order. Collapsible stocks were remounted, gauged, and then properly staked. We went through full-auto, burst, and illegal street conversions.
The afternoon of this day we go through the entire upper receiver assembly. There were no piston guns present, but we covered the personality and features of this type of system, to include stress and troubleshooting. Everyone is allowed to rebarrel a rifle with they wish. When gauging, we found most of the rifles present had barrels that were not mounted correctly, which results in premature wear and stress, of which everyone was able to correct them. On all of the barrels pulled, none of them had been put together to the Milspec from the manufacturer. Every barrel that was pulled, was remounted to Milspec, torqued, and properly indexed. The end of the day is finished up with everyone inspecting and gauging things like headspace, firing pins, chambers, 4 gas seals, etc.
Here is a brief overview of a few things that were covered:
History of the Weapon
Cycles of Function
General Disassembly & Assembly
Identification of Common Problems and Parts
Nomenclature
Identification of Group Components
Semi, Burst, and Full Auto Parts and Conversions
Complete Armoring Disassembly / Assembly
Barrel Replacement
Cleaning and Maintenance
Sight and Distance Considerations
Ballistic Issues
Barrel: Twist, Length, and Profiles
Gas System
Parts Interchangability, including Brands
Headspace
Firing Pin Protrusion
Trigger Jobs
Chamber Inspection and Issues
Troubleshooting, diagnosis & repair
Gauging, Inspections, Stress & Interval Issues
Accessories and Customizing
Tool Options and Selection
Iron Sights
Optics
SOP/MOD Accessories and Additions
CY6
Greg Sullivan "Sully"
SLR15 Rifles
TheDefensiveEdge.com
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