$400? They've been on the site for less, although I think it was a mistake.

03/14/2017. Update.  Fired 110 rounds.  No failures.

The AUG was of course a crowdpleaser at the range - it commands a room.  Very neat gun.

Tested the laser out today at the outdoor range.  It did... OK.  Probably no great surprise, but the red beam isn't very visible outside in the daylight..  The laser was difficult to see in the black of a target center circle, even at 15 yards.  It could be seen in the white portions of the target, with some effort.  After a a few adjustments and getting it zero'd at 25 yards, the zero impact at 15 yards was about the same.  The recoil didn't seem to jar the laser off zero.  But really, this red laser is only practically useful indoors or at night. It was very difficult to see at things like dark wood posts in the daylight at 35 yards, and practically invisible at 50 yards.  

Usage was interesting.  In some ways it's best to keep your head up and off the scope, for a clearer view of the laser.  A little practice on the usage is needed, but even in the short time I was playing with it, it got pretty handy.  Here is a 4 shot group from standing done as fairly quick snap shooting with the laser at 25 yards, fired rather quickly with my head up.  


I was aiming in the white to the left (ignore the low shot, that was a zeroing shot prior to some adjustments).  From this experience I like the laser concept.  I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the red though. I love the size of the unit and the easy location of the button, but I think a green one is probably worth investigating now (green being visible during the day).  If I can get a decent low-profile one of similar size for a ~$100 price point, that will be an easy choice.  

Moving on, set up some 100 yard targets and a LabRadar, to do some load testing.  Working up some 69 gr SMK's with 25.4gr Varget, as an AUG Slayer bullet.  Also had some light weight 40 gr light charge 3-gun CQB paper punchers, and shot those cheap rounds too.  Accuracy results are shown below.

the 69 SMK group is on top, and the 40 gr 5 shot group is below (different aiming point, so don't read anything into the relative positions).  As you can see, the 69 gr ammo shot considerably better - giving 2.2 MOA performance (0.8 average to center), which would be expected.  The 40 gr is blaster junk ammo, giving 4.5 MOA performance (or 1.4 average to center).


This is just how my AUG rolls.  It's about a 2 MOA gun.  I'd like it to be a 1 MOA gun, and consider 1.5 MOA my performance spec, but in general, it's pretty rare these days for me to beat 2 MOA with my AUG.  For all practical purposes, that's plenty good, but I was hoping this lot of ammo would bring me at least sub 2 MOA, and  I guess not.  

Still, very cool day at the range - had a lot of fun.  The majority of my shots were done plinking a 3" plate gong at 50 yards practicing my off-hand shooting.  

Popped the barrel off and ran a boresnoke down the barrel twice, then put the gun back together and put it away.
Total round count: 2896

I just went through this same decision process, and picked my first AUG up yesterday :) I decided to go with the integrated 3x optic. Main reason being if I ever wanted it in the future, it was much cheaper to buy the optic as part of the original AUG package now, then the cost appears to be to buy the 3x (or 1.5) optic separately in the future. On that note i'm now prepping to send my optic back to steyr as the crosshairs are just slightly canted... boo... but steyr has been extremely responsive in getting back to me to get it fixed up, so I'm very happy with the customer service response so far.

You've got to be kidding me.  They were dogged by that about 2 years or so ago, where they had an employee who's job was that part, half assing it.  They took care of everyone affected, but I can't believe they let that happen again.  Damn, sloppy.  But don't sweat it, I'm sure Hubert will take care of you (love talking to that guy).

03/14/2017. Update. Fired 105 rounds. No failures.
Gun not yet cleaned.

Cheap 40 gr ball ammo in an action shooting match.  The AUG is a good gun, and performed well.  No cleaning.

Total round count: 3001

Pics of the bolt at the 3000 rd count would be interesting to see how clean or dirty it is.  Thanks for the update.

6/4/2017 update.  Picked up one of those Lyman borescopes, and scoped my AUG BBL.    Here's what it looks like, at current 3000 round count.  You'll have to forgive the poor image resolution.

Walking in from the chamber:

That's a long throat, I'll say that!
To explain, that left photo is the chamber on the left, the shelf where the end of the case neck bottoms out, and the "forcing cone".  The next 2 photos show the forceing cone (or leade, or jump - whatever).  The last photo shows where the rifling starts.


And here's the gas port

Which is pretty normal looking after a few thousand rounds.  the muzzle side of the gas port gets impinged by the 3000 FPS hot gasses, and erodes a little.  This looks about right.


And here's the muzzle, a couple different shots.

I'm not too thrilled about the muzzle - that's not a sharp and clean end there.  I've noticed my AUG seemed to stop being a 1.5 MOA gun, and opened up to a 2+MOA gun.  I suspect I just found out why.  Not sure why it's this beat up - I wouldn't think it would look like this in 3000 rounds.  I have a soft SS National Match barrel AR with a higher round count, that has a way better looking muzzle than this does.  I may do a recrown on the barrel, and see what happens.  The marketing hype of the CHF BBL and my own reality, don't appear to be lining up all that great to me.


Total Round Count: 3001

Doesn't sound right for a CHF barrel. Is this supposed to be a normal thing or?

7/29/2017 Update - Fired 130 rounds of light reloads at a carbine match using 30 and 42 round mags.  No failures of any kind.  Gun shot good.

Total round count:  3131

7/29/2017 Update - Addendum

Go to clean my AUG, and feel something fall out of the gun when I pull the bolt out of the Carrier Group.  That's odd.. there's not anything supposed to be loose.   Look down inside my bolt at the underside of the cam-pin, and see this.



Apparently my cam-pin has shattered.   Amazed the gun didn't lock up on me - it ran great the whole time.   This is odd, I run my gear, but I take care of it and clean and lubricate - this doesn't seem right.  I have the official "spare parts kit", which of course does not have a cam-pin in it.   Sigh, looks like I'm calling Steyr on Monday.

Annoyed, between this, the gun not passing a 5.56 NOGO Headspace gauge (the only test it'll pass is a 5.56 Field), and the crown not looking so good, I kind of was expecting more.  We'll see what they say.

Interesting to see that failure. I assume the bottom ears of the "bolt control" cam broke, and the top side was undamaged, which is why the gun continued to function by manipulating the bolt sleeve.

Yes.  I'm not quite sure how the pieces go together, as I can't find a detailed exploded diagram of the bolt.  Something is preventing it from falling out the top, and I'm not sure what since usually it would be the bottom of the cam not making it past the firing pin.  but the bottom is gone, and the cam-pin still want fall out the top.  

That's good.  Because I shudder to think what would happen if that cam-pin fell out completely.

(right click>view image)

So far so good with my call to Steyr.  Herbert (With the thick Austrian accent, which just makes it all the more bad-ass) said that shouldn't have happened, but no problem, they have those parts.  They can send me the pin, or I can just send it back.  Since I wanted him to check a few other things, I'm just going to send him the whole gun.  No problem, send the serial number (and a photo of the broken part), and he'll send me a shipping label.  

Pretty decent customer service so far, I'd say.

Are they going to take a look at the rifling as well?

I would have sent it back too. That barrel wear and cam pin failure is unacceptable at 3k. Makes one wonder if these US made guns are up to the same standard as the prebans.

Hey, Lazy, what's your SN prefix, if you don't mind?

Mine is 10USA, I think my roomie's is, too.  Just curious in case we all need a data point later.  I only have about 500 rounds down range right now and everything is golden....but that's a mere 500 rounds...which in nothing in the scheme of things.

08USA

My UPS label showed up in the mail, so I guess that's covered.  I'm sending it back with a note requesting attention to the following:

1) Fix the control Pin
2) Inspect the headspace (since I can't get mine to pass 5.56 NoGo gage, much less 223 gages)
3) Inspect the barrel wear (since micrographs suggest the chrome plating isn't aging well - with crown erosion and some leade erosion potentially)  [To be honest, I'm 0 for 2 with the much venerated FN barrels.  This one's chrome isn't holding up as well as I'd like, and my PSA FN barrel I just got that was supposed the be Chrome Lined - isn't]
4) Inspect the charging handle (since the plastic got chewed up pretty good by the engagement shelf - which is sharp as hell (before I whacked it with a punch on the corner to dull it))

Wish me luck - love this little rifle.  If they only fix the Control Pin, then I guess that's that.  So far, I'm not too judgmental; shit happens - the test will be seeing how they follow-up, which so far seems OK.  They appear to be on top of it, fixing the broken part.  As to the barrel, it seems like Steyr runs a loose-assed headspace by design, as that generally is more reliable (particularly for full auto).  It's just reloaders and precision shooting reloaders that don't like it.  As to the chrome - maybe that's normal, I really don't know.  None of my other guns look like that though.  As to the charging handle, that's partly my fault, since I was super-cool Die-Hard slapping it at first (because I mean come-on, how can you not!??), before I realized that sharp assed point on the shelf is going to cut the crap out of the soft plastic doing that.

In the meantime, my RatWox spare AR15 parts based bolt showed up (with it's own Control Pin).

Thank you for the data point.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that they get everything back on track.  I have enjoyed this thread and it's given me a lot of ideas on what to look out for on my lil' "Auggie Bin Doggie".

Yeah, thanks for the update.

I really interested in how they handle the barrel. That's not good at all (I think) for the amount of rounds

Yea, we'll see.  I cleaned the barrel (with care - as always).  Here's what the clean barrel looks like, showing the muzzle (crown).  The end of this land doesn't look so good to me.


And here's the leade (where the end of the case mouth is, and the bullet jumps from the casing to start going down the barrel.)  I'm not sure what those crack looking things are.  They look like... cracks.

I'm no expert but rifling erosion after 3k rounds is disappointing to hear.

I know this is apples and oranges but I've seen plenty of ss match grade AR barrels cheaper than AUG barrels.

I personally think the barrel running at 450 with this sort of performance is just... not cool. I guess my expectation is a little too high of them.

A new 20 inch barrel is coming to my door, hopefully soon. I'm slapping on a 17x optic to see reveal the accuracy of US made Steyr AUG barrels.

For disappointment's sake, I will keep my expectation fairly low

I'm thinking about picking up my first AUG but this thread gives me pause...

Well, let's see what they do.  It's a great gun - I love it; so we'll see.  This happens; every unit isn't going to be perfect and I don't see a lot of other people complaining.  The test is how well do they stand behind it.

Any updates?

Still in transit.  UPS tracking shows it just now making it to the Eastern US.

Just curious, have you got the barrel hot and/or been using really hot ammo? One of the pics looks like high temp damage and the things that look like cracks are gas erosion. Not sure about the crown if it hasn't been hit with something. Steyr will probably replace it but I'm curious as to what they have to say. Hopefully it isn't a bad batch of 18" barrels.

No.

I got a voicemail.  they replaced the control pin for me, and checked the headspace.  Didn't say if it actually passed, but I guess so, since the message said they are next going to take it to the range this or next week to check the accuracy.

interested to see what they say. these barrels are supposed to be good for 15-20K.

Friend of mine shot his original AUG barrel out (I think he bought it in the 80s) after what he estimates as 20k rounds. Group size just opened up on him.

His other failures over that time were a couple firing pins and a bolt control sleeve.

AJ

Put an aero scope mount turned backwards on today with my 1x4 pst and it shoots around 1 inch still.

sooooo what did Steyr say?

lazy?

Still at Steyr.  

The pin has been replaced.   They don't do micrographical analysis or assessment, but did take it to the range to accuracy test.  It grouped 2 MOA.  But he didn't like how the scope looked, and is going to replace that, which is causing some of the delay.

Update on barrel?

Pics?

It has arrived.  Too busy to mess with it.  A new scope (that cant be cheap), and a new control pin - no charge.  It came with 3 targets, and some minor SWAG.  2 3-shot groups in the ~1-1/5 MOA range, and one 5-shot group in the 2-2.5MOA range.  

Eh, we'll see.  BBLs are really cheap for the next 2 days.  If they had a 1/7 20" - I'd be sorely tempted.  Thing about the 18" is it really is the ultimate length, and there's little impetus to get a 1/9 16" or 20" - and the 24" ain't me.

Ill sleep on it.

You can get a 1/7 twist 16" barrel.

Just curious...were the targets you received the Steyr AUG zeroing targets?

They are glossy 1x1' bullseye concentric rings targets, Steyr logo'd.  But not the offset military ones sometimes seen.

12/03/2017 Update - Fired 24 rounds of light reloads.  No failures of any kind.

First usage of the AUG after its return from repairs.  No data on accuracy, we were doing speed drills at 10 yards.

Also installed a green laser on it.  The laser was usable during daylight hours, but I can't comment yet if it's really bright enough for general purpose daylight usage and at what distance - more tests are planned on that as well.  Today's focus was on teaching an old friend gun usage using a broad spectrum, which only lightly included the AUG.  Their only complaint about the AUG was the weight, otherwise it ran well.

Total round count: 3155

12/16/2017 Update - Fired 75 rounds of various ammunition.  No failures of any kind.

First accuracy testing day with the AUG after getting it back, firing at 200 yard targets using various ammo.  
Wolf Gold 55gr: two 5 shot groups ~1.5 MOA @ ~3100 FPS (averaged)
NORMA TAC 55gr: one 5 shot gropu: 1.2 MOA 3018 fps
and a bunch of cheap reloads at 200 yard gongs (it did pretty good)

Not bad actually, the gun typically is 1.5 MOA with Wolf gold, and the higher quality NORMA TAC did even better.

Tried zero'ing green laser, but the battery died, so did a series of shoots with the scope, to note where they are so can just manually zero the laser at home.

10 yards: point of impact is 1.6" low
15 yds: 1.2" low
20 yds: 1.0" low

So later zeroed the laser to be ~1.6" low.  Note, the laser is a cheap green-pistol laser mounted on the rail above the trigger area, as that is closer to the bore axis, than the scope is.

Total round count: 3230

12/17/2017 Update - Fired 50 rounds of cheap light reloads.  No failures of any kind.

This ammunition was tried yesterday while testing a spectrum of rifles.  Of note, the headspace of this particular lot apparently wasn't resized quite right, and was jamming up some of the other guns, due to being oversized.  Due to the AUG's generous headspace (a feature I generally find irksome, but helpful in cases like this one), it fed all of that ammo just fine.



Still forgot to replace the battery in the green laser, but it had rebound enough to stay on long enough for one round at least, at 15 yards.  Elevation and point of impact were pretty good.  I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of this laser (model HG45G), and may upgrade.  I like the size and the green color.  Problem is, the mounting just isn't the worlds most secure, and zero seems to move around a little.  It also apparently eats batteries.  The buttons are pretty stiff and require a good hit to turn on.  It also has a strobe option, which isn't my style and has to be cycled through before turning off.

That said, at 15 yards, the laser was visible.  It wasn't really the beacon of green light I was hoping for during daylight hours.  But then, it's only a $50 laser, and the battery was on it's last legs.  Perhaps a higher quality unit though would be a different story.  The main reason for hesitancy to upgrade isn't cheapness, so much as mass - I intend to keep the laser mounted the rifle at all times and an in all usages, and so a smaller pistol style laser has greater appeal for that goal.  More evaluation is needed.

Total round count: 3280

So am I interpreting your last two posts wrong or did Steyr swapping the scope and the other fix improve the accuracy again?

If so good to hear. Keep up the log it’s a good read .

Correct, Steyr fixed my broken control pin.  I didn't say anything to them about the scope, but while they were accuracy testing - they concluded the scope wasn't as clear as it should be.  So they replaced it, rezerod it, and accuracy tested it again.

I'm more than a little impressed at its performance with the NORMA ammo.   1.2 MOA from a gun with 3200 rounds through it, a chrome lined bore, the loosest 5.56 chamber I've ever seen, along with a piston driven gas system, and an 8# trigger pull, ain't too bad!

Could you elaborate on how the scope looked?

I swear the reticle is ever so slightly rotated on ours.

Awesome to hear Steyr stood behind it!

That's actually damn good...

Steyr customer service has been outstanding. I've had to use them once and I was super impressed.

12/27/2017 Update - Fired 111 rounds of cheap light reloads.  No failures of any kind.

The only other bullpup there, a TAVOR, managed to jam (just say'n)

Total round count: 3391

There is AUG.

...and then there is everything else.

01/05/2018 Update - Fired 100 rounds of cheap light reloads.  No gun failures of any kind.

Support team:
Put the Dawg in the truck this time, and he came out for the day as well:

(wish there was a UBB code to rotate pictures, but no)

Laser:
Todays focus was on short range shooting, and more zero'ing and evaluation of the green laser.  


The green laser attempt has been a failure.  The main problem is probably my laser choice.  I went with a low-cost green pistol laser, off of Amazon.  The mounting system is pretty poor, and the adjustment settings perhaps are loose.  The laser will not hold zero, even under what I consider mild recoil on an 8# rifle (compared to what it is like on a Pistol, for which the laser is marketed).  The mounting lugs aren't that good on the laser.  And the battery life boarders on useless, we're talking minutes.  Combined with fairly mild laser power.  It's not visible at 50 yards, even on an overcast day - particularly on a black target.  It's more visible at 25 yards, but not the glowing beacon of "LOOK HERE!" that I was hoping for.  It gets better at 15 yards.  But I've found with an AUG, you can pretty much point shoot it fairly well once you get inside 10 yards.

I haven't decided if I should abandoned the project, or try to upgrade to a higher power green laser.  I was hoping to avoid a heavy green laser, as my goal was for something small and light enough that I could leave on the gun indefinately.  Aug's are heavy - putting a heavier laser on it, was something I was trying to avoid.

Alternatively, it sounds like there may be some improved low-profile shell deflector options I need to investigate.  In prior research, I found a small red-dot holo-sight mounted on the rail on the side of the scope mount, was extremely comfortable and well positioned for a mild rotation of the AUG.  I loved it, because you keep the same head position as the main optic, but do a mild and comfortable rotation of the rifle, and now you're looking through a reflex sight, it worked really well while handling.  But doing so rotated the ejection port to right in front of your face, and forced me to reject that option.  If there's a trustworth low-profile shell defector option now, that may be back on the table.

AUG manipulation
One thing about the AUG reload during speed drills I need to work on, is reshouldering it.  I find that once in the shoulder - the AUG transitions from target to target very well, and you can run and move with it shouldered, better than an M4.  However, during reloads I naturally take the AUG out of my shoulder some while I rotate it to get the mag out.  Insert the new mag, and reach back to hit the bolt release.  Due to the heavy and relatively large ass of the AUG, I find I push the rifle forward, move it up, and then settling it back into my shoulder, in reshouldering, which is a little slow.  Something I need to play around with more.

Accuracy was good, with the 2020 sear and everything broken in with this many rounds, I have no challenge quickly hitting a 3" circle at 50 yards from off-hand.

Ammunition
In other news - for more complete documentation of what is typically shot through the gun: to date, of the ~3500 rounds fired, about half of those were actually light reloads, pushing this little guy:  

Why that bullet?  Because I was able to pick up about 6000 of those for 4 cents a pill, combined with surplus powder and 2 cent primers, letting me reload for a little more than a dime a shot - cheaper than .22 shooting for much of the last 5 years.  I send these guys at around 2900-3000 fps, which for a 40 gr bullet, is actually quite slow - pushing .22 Hornet level power.  I wanted slow, because it's a .22 Hornet bullet, and I didn't want to disintegrate them in a fast-twist AR.  As it turns out, the AUG 1/9 twist works quite well with them.  Mild also has the advantage of faster follow-up shots.  It also has reduced stress and wear (in theory), and so should make the gun last longer.  The rounds themselves aren't that accurate, but for action-shooting style usage, 50 yard shooting and for 200 yard silhouette popping, they work just fine.   Despite the potential detriments of these rounds being very mild, blunt profile, and really short OAL (there has to be like a 1/4" gap between the noses, and the mag wall) - the AUG has never had a hickup with these at all.

Maintenance
Probably will clean the gun soon (it's been at least 200 round now, and light-charged ammo tends to be a little sootier).  Though, on that - of all the guns I've shot, the AUG is probably the most-optional when it comes to cleaning.  They are crazy-reliable, and run cleaner even than an AK.  I suspect if you were to do a 20,000 round 30 day (to let things cool and congeal) neglect test, of just shooting a gun and never cleaning it or reoiling it, the AUG may well outlast even an AK.  Cleaning is pretty much optional with an AUG, and that's saying something.

For what it's worth, when I clean my AUG, I pop the barrel off (it never loses zero) and pull out the short-stroke piston.  The hardest part of the process is really that - pulling out the little piston.  It takes pretty good handstrength to pull back the tab and rotate it out.  Then push it out with the tip of the BCG long-stroke piston tip.  Getting the carbon accumulation off takes some effort.  Be very careful when it comes to scraping, as I'm pretty sure that's hard-chrome plated, and scraping could rub some of that off, as well as leave scratches which are just carbon deposit nucleation sites.  I'll usually use chemicals and elbow grease, and maybe a copper brush at worst.  I've started to get in the habbit of just getting the easy parts off, and not even worry about the base-coat layer of carbon deposit - it doesn't affect anything.  I rotate the spring through a patch in my hand, to clean coke deposits off of it in that manner.  I clean the barrel with some solvent (usually not very much, it's chome lined), and a few dry patches. Sometimes I won't even do that  - and instead just run a dry bore-snake with a drop of oil on the tail, and call it good.  The gas cylinder attached to the barrel, will occasionally get a patch pushed through it.

For lube, I don't do a lot.  I will oil and/or grease (Lubriplate, or Mobile 1 (red) grease).  A couple drops on the gas rings (the only real wear part, and even those last forever), the spring, a few drops on the two rods of the BCG, and then some grease or oil where the control pin rides inside the bolt and BCG, and that's about all it needs. I'll usually put some oil or grease on the bolt lugs, so there's no drag/galling on them during rotation.  Personally, I think it's a good idea to put a lubricating grease on lugs.  My AUG reliability is pretty insane.  Particularly when you consider the really broad spectrum of ammo power that mine sees.

Total round count: 3491