ny32182
Member
My experience last weekend has got me wondering...
First, here is what I did. The screw that retains the front handguard on my VEPR K had started to back out a couple times, so I put some blue threadlock on it. Normally I don't get my rifles any hotter than warm to the touch at the range, at most. I wanted to see if the threadlock would hold up to more heat than that. I've seen 150rds referred to as a good number for a "speed test" to see what a rifle/carbine can do in a number of areas more than once. Since the VEPR is built as an automatic rifle anyhow, I figured I would just do it.... after shooting for a group and letting the rifle fully cool back down, I fired 150rds into the berm as fast as I could pull the trigger and change mags.
I discovered a few things that I wasn't testing for at first. 1) blue threadlock doesn't stand a chance against that kind of heat. 2) The VEPR front handguard doesn't either... the area around said screw melted and shifted... I don't think this particular handguard is ever going back on this rifle. It took a rubber mallet to get it off, and the screw hole isn't even close to straight anymore. 3) I had an honest, no-BS-or-excuses mid mag failure to feed in the middle of the 4th of 5 mags. A quick rack of the charging handle ejected the partially fed round, and no more malfs happened for the rest of the day. I don't know WHY reliability drops off when a gun gets hot, but this seems to be the idea.
I figured that since this rifle was designed for high volumes of fire from the start, 150rds wouldn't hurt it. Once I got the front handguard off, everything underneath looks good, and the bore looks the same as ever. I don't think any actual damage occured other than the US made and easily replaceable handguard (though I feel this is the weakpoint of the VEPR as sold by RA). I wasn't happy about the feeding malf, but it was cleared within 2 seconds, and it was back to the races.
I'd like to conduct a similar test on my LMT AR carbine, but: 1) it is much more expensive than a VEPR 2) the barrel isn't nearly as heavy, and would heat up even faster. I want to see if it is reliable under a high rate of fire, but I don't want to do permanent damage to the barrel.
What do you think? How many rounds is too many through an M4 barrel in a brief period of time? Will M4 handguards melt in a similar test?
First, here is what I did. The screw that retains the front handguard on my VEPR K had started to back out a couple times, so I put some blue threadlock on it. Normally I don't get my rifles any hotter than warm to the touch at the range, at most. I wanted to see if the threadlock would hold up to more heat than that. I've seen 150rds referred to as a good number for a "speed test" to see what a rifle/carbine can do in a number of areas more than once. Since the VEPR is built as an automatic rifle anyhow, I figured I would just do it.... after shooting for a group and letting the rifle fully cool back down, I fired 150rds into the berm as fast as I could pull the trigger and change mags.
I discovered a few things that I wasn't testing for at first. 1) blue threadlock doesn't stand a chance against that kind of heat. 2) The VEPR front handguard doesn't either... the area around said screw melted and shifted... I don't think this particular handguard is ever going back on this rifle. It took a rubber mallet to get it off, and the screw hole isn't even close to straight anymore. 3) I had an honest, no-BS-or-excuses mid mag failure to feed in the middle of the 4th of 5 mags. A quick rack of the charging handle ejected the partially fed round, and no more malfs happened for the rest of the day. I don't know WHY reliability drops off when a gun gets hot, but this seems to be the idea.
I figured that since this rifle was designed for high volumes of fire from the start, 150rds wouldn't hurt it. Once I got the front handguard off, everything underneath looks good, and the bore looks the same as ever. I don't think any actual damage occured other than the US made and easily replaceable handguard (though I feel this is the weakpoint of the VEPR as sold by RA). I wasn't happy about the feeding malf, but it was cleared within 2 seconds, and it was back to the races.
I'd like to conduct a similar test on my LMT AR carbine, but: 1) it is much more expensive than a VEPR 2) the barrel isn't nearly as heavy, and would heat up even faster. I want to see if it is reliable under a high rate of fire, but I don't want to do permanent damage to the barrel.
What do you think? How many rounds is too many through an M4 barrel in a brief period of time? Will M4 handguards melt in a similar test?