SLR15 Rifles AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 ARMORING COURSE
When: April 24-25, 2014
Where: Waukegan, Illinois
We conducted a 2-day (16-hour) AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 Armorer Course at the Waukegan Police Dept in Waukegan IL. This was our second course here, and we look forward to many more courses here. The onsite facilities offer a great training room with plenty of table space, decent lighting, and a large screen that allowed us 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, mostly from NY and a couple from PA.
Rifles represented in this course were a mix of Colt, DPMS, Bushmaster, Smith & Wesson, RockRiver, Model-1, Daniel Defense, and a few custom builds.
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 , proper maintenance was shown 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). About half of the rifles in this class were fouled, which gave everyone the opportunity to see what fouling is, what it does, and how easy it is to remove using the proper method, and why it is our recommendation to remove it in areas like the bolt, bolt carrier, etc, before it causes issues. Once user level maintenance was covered, we moved into armorer level for maintenance, inspections, and repairs.
With firing pins removed, we showed the different types, and did inspections. Most of the rifle present had an AR15 firing pin, with a few of the others with M16 firing pins. We showed competition firing pins, and why we do not recommend that these be used in a service weapon. We showed several examples of firing pin retaining pins, how they are made, and did inspections on them. There were a few students firing pin retaining pins that showed excessive wear and stress, these were replaced. We passed around a collection of firing pin retaining pins, some that were broken or eroded, and some after market styles.
With the bolt removed from the bolt carriers, we went into great detail of the bolt assembly. We had students do a complete disassembly, removing the extractor assembly, ejector assembly, and bolt rings (gas rings). We did inspections for debris, erosion, machining, materials used & finishing processes, upgrades for reliability, life expectancy of parts, breakage, etc. There were no rifles present that had metal injection molded extractor "MIM", of which we showed several hands on examples of these failing. When ejector assemblies were removed, most found heavy fouling and debris in this area, of which we discussed a regular maintenance & inspection on service rifles and why, and why it is recommended that certain lubricants be used here vs others. We had everyone lube with Slip2000 "EWL" Extreme Weapons Lubricant, as this is what we use and recommend as it performs well in all weather conditions and field conditions. Everyone was introduced to the bolt gas rings, which we had all three types present, we discussed the differences, and covered their proper installation order. We had to replace a few sets of worn gas rings. The last thing on teh bolt carrier assemblies we covered was carrier key (gas key) inspections, repair, and replacement. We showed several versions of gas keys, screws, and how these are mounted and replaced. We showed several versions of screw staking (good and not so good). We showed the MOACKS stakers, and people took advantage of having the MOACKS tools present to repair the staking that their rifles had from the factory.
The rest of the day was spent on lower receiver assembly, timing, specialty tools and fixtures. Most of the rifles in this class had some type of collapsible stock on it, and a few had fixed stocks. Several of the collapsible stocks didn't have their spanner & castle nuts staked, with a few that had been locked down with a thread locker, this was removed and the students were then allowed to stake them at the end of working on the lower on day-2. We showed everyone the proper way to remove the collapsible stock assemblies, especially when working with aftermarket slings mounts like the Magpul & Crosstac, which can get in the way of the tools and wrenches. We showed how to do field repair & replacement, and we also supplied several bench vises with different fixtures and wrenches which made stock work easier. A couple of students receiver extensions (buffer tubes), had been mounted with some type of thread locker on the threads or damaged threads, so we supplied a die to help clean up the threads that came in handy. We then went through the entire lower receiver assembly, having people carefully remove and inspect all parts. Everyone disassembled their lower receivers, looked at sear engagements, pins, springs, and how things worked. At the end of the day everyone reassembled their rifles and made sure everything was in working order. We spent time on going through the cycles of fire, and the timing cycles of this weapons system, and what effects that timing cycle.
Day-2: We started with a review of everything we covered in day-1, making sure everyone was up to speed on cleaning & lubrication, bolt carrier assembly parts & upgrades, recovering proper timing cycles, dwell time & timing issues, adding suppressors, and how this is applied to properly running weapons, timing issues, dwell time issues, etc. There were no rifles present that had been set up for use with a suppressor, but we covered it anyways as everyone needs to understand timing issues and suppressors as you never know what the future brings. Barrels represented were mostly 16"-20", with a few shorty barrels. We showed a couple of examples of different length barrels and and gas systems, and discussed how this relates to timing, dwell time, and how this translates into a properly running rifle or a problem rifle. Everyone was shown hands on explanations of how these effect timing/dwell-timing and diagnosis of issues.
We had everyone do a compete detail strip of lower receiver again, at which time we covered in great detail of good vs bad machining and how this effects the rifle. We went into the trigger groups in great detail, looking at the machining on single and 2-stage triggers, quality of metals and finishing used, etc. This class had a few rifles with 2-stage triggers from LMT, Rock River, and Geisselle. After close up inspections by everyone the consensus was that most people seemed to like the Geisselle over the others. Lots of lightbulbs went for understanding troubleshooting issues, and how things relate to the trigger group. We had a few Colt rifles present that had the large pins, which allowed everyone to see them hand son. It is our recommendation to Agencies with 2 different pin sizes, that they should stock both size replacement parts. Next we moved into select fire versions in both full-auto or burst. Everyone was allowed to go hands on with the full auto system, and we also covered conversions for agencies with DRMO weapons. There was one agency in this class that had burst trigger groups. The lower receivers were reassembled, lubed, and inspected for proper function and fit. The stock assemblies were remounted, gauged for proper indexing, and collapsible stock spanner nuts or castle nuts were staked into place.
The afternoon of day-2 was spent on the upper receiver assembly. There were no piston guns present, but we discussed and showed the differences in this concept of system, and covered that their personality traits, to include stress and troubleshooting. We showed problem machined uppers where they didn't work well with internal parts like bolt carriers & charging handles. We showed how rebarrel and proper index of barrels, and where many are screwed up so there is premature wear and stress. Everyone was allowed to rebarrel a rifle with they wished, and many took advantage of this. Looking at uppers for proper barrel indexing, it was found that most of the barrels in this class had improper mounting. This improper mounting was causing premature stress and erosion on parts. Several of the rifles had worn out gas tubes due to improper barrel mounting. Some people removed barrels, and anyone who had barrel indexing issues was allowed to make corrections. Every factory mounted barrel in this class wasn't mounted to the Milspec. Any barrel that had been pulled, was remounted to proper Milspec, torqued, and indexed so there was no premature wear or stress. The end of the day is finished up with everyone inspecting and gauging things like headspace, firing pins, chambers, 4 gas seals, etc. Everyone's rifles gauged and inspected correctly.
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
(763) 712-0123