Baneblade
Member
My agency just authorized personally owned rifles for duty use so we have been going through some training and testing. We were provided some rifles and gear to test for the agency and as such I have been writing up evaluations on items. I thought this would be a good place to post the evals, starting with the Bushmaster Superlight.
Part of the eval focuses on a bad spring. Please keep in mind that the spring was replaced and the gun has run without issue since. I will now be carrying this rifle as my duty gun. We also tested a S&W M&P 15, Magpul gear, and Safariland gear. As I get those evals written I will post them.
I am not really looking for feedback to this so if I don't respond to a comment, don't take it personal (though I know there will be plenty of coments and I am not trying to discourage it). In the end we had officers at our training and the rifle instructor school (see the eval) carrying Colt, DPMS, Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, S&W (the one we tested), and H&K 416D (piston driven AR's).
Most of the failures were magazine related (throw crappy mags over the burm). The only guns that had consistent failures were the H&K's (SWAT guns for a Phoenix area agency). My rifle had a couple of failures, but I explain those in the eval.... so here it is.
Our agency recently authorized the use of personally owned rifles on patrol with select brands including Colt, Smith and Wesson, Rock River Arms, DPMS, and Bushmaster. We have been using Bushmaster short barreled rifles on the tactical team but did not have any in general use on patrol. Several officers had already purchased the standard Patrolman’s Carbine, but no one had the lightweight version, hence the T&E request.
The Superlight rifle was used on two occasions for testing. The first was during our Patrol Rifle class, which is 2 days long. The class involves shooting from varying positions and out to 50 yards. It is an outdoor “range” in a cinder pit. During the course of the class I fired approximately 200 rounds through the gun in which I had three stoppages. All three times the bolt failed to fully extract the spent casing, leaving it partially stuck in the barrel extension. It would then try to feed a live round underneath the spent casing causing a class 2 malfunction. The gun was new and had not been cleaned so I was not overly concerned at first. I was able to sight the rifle in and pass our qualification course without further incident.
From 11/16 to 11/20 I attended the AZ POST Rifle Instructor School at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department shooting range. During the course we fired approximately 800 rounds of ammunition, primarily on a square range. On the last day we also fired on a long range rifle range and on three “field” ranges. The Superlight rifle sighted in as it should with the front and rear sight maintaining consistent MOA adjustments. We did not fire from a bench, but 1 inch groups were achieved at 50 yards from a prone supported position. I am confident that the rifle is capable of 2 MOA groups at 100 yards from a fixed firing position.
I had three additional failures with the rifle during the first 300 rounds of firing, which were identical to the previous incidents. I had thoroughly cleaned and inspected (I am a Colt certified AR-15 armorer) the rifle prior to beginning the class and was certain the extractor was free of debris or carbon. After 6 total failures we replaced the factory extractor spring and buffer and with a Brownell’s “green” spring and carbine extractor buffer. Another 500 rounds were fired through the rifle without failure. I can not say for certain, but I believe the rifle was shipped with a “rifle” spring and buffer instead of a “carbine” spring and buffer. Regardless, the failures stopped after replacing the extractor spring and buffer.
During the Patrol Rifle class we had numerous failures involving the Bushmaster factory magazines. As such I only used Colt magazines with Magpul followers and Specialized Armament “red” springs and Magpul P-mags. I have never experienced or witnessed a failure with either of those magazine combinations and they worked perfectly in the Superlight Bushmaster. All of the testing and training was completed using American Eagle 55 grain FMJ rounds.
While on the rifle range we had the opportunity to shoot at a “man gong” (steel target) at 700 yards. Under the direction of one of the instructors (specifically for adjusting the sight) I was able to hit the target on the third shot. Going into the class I would not have believed the rifle would be capable of an accurate shot at that distance. Of course this is not a practical for duty use, but it was nice to see that the rifle is capable of longer distance accuracy.
At this time I do intend to purchase a Superlight Bushmaster rifle for patrol use and will recommend the rifle to our other Officers for purchase. I will also be recommending the Patrolman’s Carbine for individual officer purchase and use.
There it is. I will post the Magpul, Safariland, and S&W evals once they are finished.
Part of the eval focuses on a bad spring. Please keep in mind that the spring was replaced and the gun has run without issue since. I will now be carrying this rifle as my duty gun. We also tested a S&W M&P 15, Magpul gear, and Safariland gear. As I get those evals written I will post them.
I am not really looking for feedback to this so if I don't respond to a comment, don't take it personal (though I know there will be plenty of coments and I am not trying to discourage it). In the end we had officers at our training and the rifle instructor school (see the eval) carrying Colt, DPMS, Bushmaster, Rock River Arms, S&W (the one we tested), and H&K 416D (piston driven AR's).
Most of the failures were magazine related (throw crappy mags over the burm). The only guns that had consistent failures were the H&K's (SWAT guns for a Phoenix area agency). My rifle had a couple of failures, but I explain those in the eval.... so here it is.
Our agency recently authorized the use of personally owned rifles on patrol with select brands including Colt, Smith and Wesson, Rock River Arms, DPMS, and Bushmaster. We have been using Bushmaster short barreled rifles on the tactical team but did not have any in general use on patrol. Several officers had already purchased the standard Patrolman’s Carbine, but no one had the lightweight version, hence the T&E request.
The Superlight rifle was used on two occasions for testing. The first was during our Patrol Rifle class, which is 2 days long. The class involves shooting from varying positions and out to 50 yards. It is an outdoor “range” in a cinder pit. During the course of the class I fired approximately 200 rounds through the gun in which I had three stoppages. All three times the bolt failed to fully extract the spent casing, leaving it partially stuck in the barrel extension. It would then try to feed a live round underneath the spent casing causing a class 2 malfunction. The gun was new and had not been cleaned so I was not overly concerned at first. I was able to sight the rifle in and pass our qualification course without further incident.
From 11/16 to 11/20 I attended the AZ POST Rifle Instructor School at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department shooting range. During the course we fired approximately 800 rounds of ammunition, primarily on a square range. On the last day we also fired on a long range rifle range and on three “field” ranges. The Superlight rifle sighted in as it should with the front and rear sight maintaining consistent MOA adjustments. We did not fire from a bench, but 1 inch groups were achieved at 50 yards from a prone supported position. I am confident that the rifle is capable of 2 MOA groups at 100 yards from a fixed firing position.
I had three additional failures with the rifle during the first 300 rounds of firing, which were identical to the previous incidents. I had thoroughly cleaned and inspected (I am a Colt certified AR-15 armorer) the rifle prior to beginning the class and was certain the extractor was free of debris or carbon. After 6 total failures we replaced the factory extractor spring and buffer and with a Brownell’s “green” spring and carbine extractor buffer. Another 500 rounds were fired through the rifle without failure. I can not say for certain, but I believe the rifle was shipped with a “rifle” spring and buffer instead of a “carbine” spring and buffer. Regardless, the failures stopped after replacing the extractor spring and buffer.
During the Patrol Rifle class we had numerous failures involving the Bushmaster factory magazines. As such I only used Colt magazines with Magpul followers and Specialized Armament “red” springs and Magpul P-mags. I have never experienced or witnessed a failure with either of those magazine combinations and they worked perfectly in the Superlight Bushmaster. All of the testing and training was completed using American Eagle 55 grain FMJ rounds.
While on the rifle range we had the opportunity to shoot at a “man gong” (steel target) at 700 yards. Under the direction of one of the instructors (specifically for adjusting the sight) I was able to hit the target on the third shot. Going into the class I would not have believed the rifle would be capable of an accurate shot at that distance. Of course this is not a practical for duty use, but it was nice to see that the rifle is capable of longer distance accuracy.
At this time I do intend to purchase a Superlight Bushmaster rifle for patrol use and will recommend the rifle to our other Officers for purchase. I will also be recommending the Patrolman’s Carbine for individual officer purchase and use.
There it is. I will post the Magpul, Safariland, and S&W evals once they are finished.
