Posted: 1/3/2004 1:12:45 PM EDT
[#27]
Read this crochunter: http://groups.msn.com/TheMarylandAR15ShootersSite/ar15reliability.msnw AR-15 Reliability By Troy (forum moderator at AR15.com) Editor's Note: Troy is the author of the expanded Magazine FAQ and a knowledgeable person on the AR-15 rifles. He currently moderates the Magazine Forum at AR15.com. This was orginally posted in the General Discussion Forum in March 14, 2001. My BM (Bushmaster) M4 is up to 7000 rounds with no cleaning, just a shot of CLP before heading out to the range. It is truly filthy, but it runs along fine. My only stoppages happened when trying out a brass catcher, where brass would occasionally bounce back into the action. Using a barrier to catch brass instead resulted in no stoppages. This most recent ammo was Win Q3131, which is a bit dirtier than the SA (South African) and Fed AE ammo that I had been shooting. Still, the 2000-stamped Q3131 worked fine, unlike some of those early 99-production lots.
I'm probably gonna give up and clean the thing. At this point, it has proved plenty reliable enough, but it's getting my case dirty now. Note that this upper has a 5.56 chamber, and is fully chrome-lined, which help assure reliable feeding and extraction. Your results, especially with tight, out-of-round, off-center, or unlined chambers may vary.
Oh, BTW, I tried some handloads with 23.1gr AA2200 powder & Hornady 50gr V-Max bullets and got a sub-MOA (.96") 10-shot group at 100 yards off the bench out of this rifle.
You can keep your AKs.
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I'll keep'em all, thanks! HM Just so it's clear: this wasn't 7000 in one single session, but over almost a year, typically about 400-600 rounds per outing. I was specifically testing reliability in a situation where cleaning wasn't possible. As I said, I *did* squirt a big shot of CLP onto the bolt carrier before each outing, so there was *some* passive cleaning, but no bore snakes, patches, cleaning rods, solvant, etc.
Keld, one of our members from Denmark, reports that during their trials before adopting the Canadian C7A1 (a flat-top M16A3), they had a similar test that reached 15000 rounds before failure.
Again, this may or may not be typical performance. This is mearly one example, and my rifle is otherwise well-maintained, and isn't subjected to mud, rain, or other abuses common in the field.
Still, it kinda gives you a warm fuzzy, huh?
-Troy
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