SOT_II,
They don't use brass rods on our rifles, they use steel rods. And wallowing the rod around the crown trying to get it into the bore doesn't help one bit. It's just an all around stupid practice and the safety check could be accomplished other ways.
__________________
Rob
Proud TFL Ulumnus
NRA Life Member
Who is they?
Most are No brass no ammo...if they do stick a rod down it's brass and the barrels are chrome lined...the barrels will wear out from shooting and normal cleaning WELL before a round down the barrel once a range session makes any noticeble difference.
I went through Infantry OSUT in 1981 and was a Corporal in the same unit for six months before going to OCS. And one of the Senior NCO's was a former member of the Army Marksmanship Unit, also at Fort Benning as is the Sniper School. He put a clip of .45 through the face of a silhoutte target at 50 meters, by way of demonstration, and he was years past his competition days. As the AMU builds their own weapons, they also know a thing or two about maintenance.
If and when a bore was rodded, it was done so with an unsectioned brass rod that had a circle on the end for a handle so it could be pulled back out. It was done by the Safety NCO, who was personally responsible for insuring that every weapon was clear. I never saw it done in any regular unit - only BRM training.
By contrast, my brother was a Marine Corps Infantry Company Commander. I'm thus somewhat more familiar with the fundamentals of marksmanship taught by these services than most. BTW, guess who trained his son to shoot? Most of us that have compared the training in detail believe that elements of both should be incorporated, but both services are too hide-bound to change. There are plenty of active duty Marines who wish they had M4 Carbines now that they are mostly vehicle borne, as one example.
There is simply no sense arguing with a closed mind. The Marines seem to teach disdain for the Army - it helps define them, or used to. And Marines Corps recruiting appeals to a particular mindset that reiforces this. As one book says, "Marine Corps training may not make better infantrymen, but they make better Marines." By contrast, I don't remember the Marine Corps even being mentioned in my Army training.
Nowadays, the active duty forces are so short-handed that everybody goes everywhere. Everything is "Joint" and a Navy Commander told me he's had more Army than Marine Corps officers on his bridge in the last year, as one example of how much things have changed.
If somebody is fighting for us, as long as it says U.S. I don't really care what the rest of the tag says, and good luck to them all. None of them care what old civilian veterans say in internet forums, nor should.