Well folks here we go!
Alittle about myself, I was a sniper in the army for 5 years, as additional skills identifiers I was an infantry armorer, SFAT advisor and a team leader with 1 tour in Afghanistan. I bring up my credentials as we shall see in further reading of this post.
My plan! to educate on my "perception" of the Stoner designed direct impegment gas AR15 line of firearms. This post has been sparked by resent events taking place within our world mainly involving Russia. I don't need to get into that as many I'm sure are aware and if not google how 40 million Russian citizens are being evacuated for a military drill and just do some digging. Anyways...
The AR-15 line of firearms have been purchased in large degree in our American market. Most will buy at least one, when asked why are you getting it? Well for some "well they will be banned soon" for others "I always wanted one" and yet others "because the world is going to ...." fill in the blank there.
Well let's say you have that rifle and you have it for as what many term a SHTF situation. Well let me put my perspective to this. Many will disagree and that's fine; what I aim to do is show my perceptions as to what I see as fact. Is it right? Well many factors come into play with any assumption of perception for one individual; but I would hope to derive from this a healthy discussion which I know has been discussed before but let's just do it again.
First off do not get one of these rifles known as AR15's or clones and 308 models as well unless you know them well and follow guidelines that I will set here. I also admit I own one a Daniel Defence V11 model but besides that let's get into this. First off the inherent flaw of the gas tube and why it's so important.
While in my military career we had the M4 model 14.5" barrel Colt and rare FN versions as well. In my time in the service I noticed something before deploying and that was at least every range day one M4 would break, not only this but in the sake of humor while in basic infantry training I witnessed one of our soldiers doing push-ups or as we like to call it being "smoked" why? Well he was shooting is M4 on full auto instead of semi auto, well to my disbelief he explained to me he was not indeed shooting full auto but semi auto and for some reason his rifle was acting up. Turns out his rifle was shooting 2 round burst on semi auto, quick look shows wear on the trigger assembly causing this oddity, which later happend to my new rifle in Afghanistan "by new I refer to an old upper but new trigger parts with only 3000 rounds through and I experienced this 2 round burst as well. It would seem the design of soft materials used in trigger groupings had caused this. But that isn't even the issue my issue is the other things thisnrifle did under combat and in training; and that has to do with the gas system. On more fingers than I have to count I have seen the M4 become a single shot rifle also happening to me. Well this sparks from the gas system and more technical the tight tolerance of this rifle and extremely small gas tube. On many of our rifles the gas tube become inop this was due to smalls holes or pits of corrosion within the tube something I know many of you if not all do not clean, I don't! Well now I do but how? Easiest way is shooting salvent down it and then airing it out with a compressor but you have to seriously make sure all liquid gets out before shooting or your barrel may blow up.
Many many AR15's undergo this gas tube erosion and many do not see it because how could you? Your rifle will shoot one day and the next day that pit hole pressurizes enough and suddenly you have a single shot rifle. If you have had that in combat happen trust me you won't trust that weapon anymore. So let's say your in SHTF an escalation that last three years and you haven't the resources to properly clean this gas tube your asking for trouble; it will randomly happen and when it does you will be in the worst situation as you will only know the issue once it happens while in live fire.
So some will say well that's why I got the piston version. Well good for you, but the other issue arises of the bolt carrier design and it loving to take in all matter of dust. It gets int here grinds and is hard to clean out that and the star chamber also being a pain.
5.56 is also very useless at times taking more than 4 shots just to drop a man, a man with no body armor so someone with it is even more of an issue. That and its range is not that great having to do with MOA and the fact really after 300 meters the AR15 is not fun to have especially in open desert situations.
Not only this but as an SFAT member with Afghan army relations. We came accross all M16's they owned as being defective and not up to the challenge of a war, you see the Afghan army is kinda what we would be as resistance groups not having proper maintanecce procedure and thus, ally here M16's had messes or issues. Mainly gas tube and and front hangurard breaks. On the other side of things I came accross various Klashnikov based weapons designs Romania, Poland, Russian, Hungarian and Yugoslavian and the great Chinese AK, all had there love in Afghanistan via ther AKM's and guess what when seeing these rifles or being shot at by them they worked, not only that but to the man who knows these rifles history; knows they acquired them at different points. Such as Chinese ones these were given to mujahideen by the CIA in the Cold War. I have held and shot Cold War Chinese AK's they have lasted all this time being slung on someone's back like you have your phone in your poker every day and they still will working, granted the barre rifleing was shot out making them inaccurate in various degrees but it shot. Only issue with the AKM's that I saw was broke wood stocks and the occasional bedazled AK with various ornaments and stickers of culture on a weapon : /
For those of you that want an actuall trust worthy rifle get an M1A I recommend the scout synthetic model, wood stocks are not trust worthy and can break from just one engagement when you go diving to the ground and use your rifle as a fall stop. I personally have a socom 16 and 20 round mags don't get 30 rounders not reliable compared to 20's. Other rifles to consider are the new version of the mini 14 in stainless steel, both the M1A and mini 14 have great gas systems and because the action is large and on top gases do blow out small dust eventually cleaning the rifle every time it's shot. As for AK's some arnt good such as center arms, I recommend Chinese type 56's or arensal products the AKM is a good design.
Ultimately it's up to the user to keep your rifle working keep it clean and above all buy spare parts for any rifle you own and the tools to fix it. And if you decide on the AR 15 make sure to buy an extra gas tube and know how to replace it.
Alittle about myself, I was a sniper in the army for 5 years, as additional skills identifiers I was an infantry armorer, SFAT advisor and a team leader with 1 tour in Afghanistan. I bring up my credentials as we shall see in further reading of this post.
My plan! to educate on my "perception" of the Stoner designed direct impegment gas AR15 line of firearms. This post has been sparked by resent events taking place within our world mainly involving Russia. I don't need to get into that as many I'm sure are aware and if not google how 40 million Russian citizens are being evacuated for a military drill and just do some digging. Anyways...
The AR-15 line of firearms have been purchased in large degree in our American market. Most will buy at least one, when asked why are you getting it? Well for some "well they will be banned soon" for others "I always wanted one" and yet others "because the world is going to ...." fill in the blank there.
Well let's say you have that rifle and you have it for as what many term a SHTF situation. Well let me put my perspective to this. Many will disagree and that's fine; what I aim to do is show my perceptions as to what I see as fact. Is it right? Well many factors come into play with any assumption of perception for one individual; but I would hope to derive from this a healthy discussion which I know has been discussed before but let's just do it again.
First off do not get one of these rifles known as AR15's or clones and 308 models as well unless you know them well and follow guidelines that I will set here. I also admit I own one a Daniel Defence V11 model but besides that let's get into this. First off the inherent flaw of the gas tube and why it's so important.
While in my military career we had the M4 model 14.5" barrel Colt and rare FN versions as well. In my time in the service I noticed something before deploying and that was at least every range day one M4 would break, not only this but in the sake of humor while in basic infantry training I witnessed one of our soldiers doing push-ups or as we like to call it being "smoked" why? Well he was shooting is M4 on full auto instead of semi auto, well to my disbelief he explained to me he was not indeed shooting full auto but semi auto and for some reason his rifle was acting up. Turns out his rifle was shooting 2 round burst on semi auto, quick look shows wear on the trigger assembly causing this oddity, which later happend to my new rifle in Afghanistan "by new I refer to an old upper but new trigger parts with only 3000 rounds through and I experienced this 2 round burst as well. It would seem the design of soft materials used in trigger groupings had caused this. But that isn't even the issue my issue is the other things thisnrifle did under combat and in training; and that has to do with the gas system. On more fingers than I have to count I have seen the M4 become a single shot rifle also happening to me. Well this sparks from the gas system and more technical the tight tolerance of this rifle and extremely small gas tube. On many of our rifles the gas tube become inop this was due to smalls holes or pits of corrosion within the tube something I know many of you if not all do not clean, I don't! Well now I do but how? Easiest way is shooting salvent down it and then airing it out with a compressor but you have to seriously make sure all liquid gets out before shooting or your barrel may blow up.
Many many AR15's undergo this gas tube erosion and many do not see it because how could you? Your rifle will shoot one day and the next day that pit hole pressurizes enough and suddenly you have a single shot rifle. If you have had that in combat happen trust me you won't trust that weapon anymore. So let's say your in SHTF an escalation that last three years and you haven't the resources to properly clean this gas tube your asking for trouble; it will randomly happen and when it does you will be in the worst situation as you will only know the issue once it happens while in live fire.
So some will say well that's why I got the piston version. Well good for you, but the other issue arises of the bolt carrier design and it loving to take in all matter of dust. It gets int here grinds and is hard to clean out that and the star chamber also being a pain.
5.56 is also very useless at times taking more than 4 shots just to drop a man, a man with no body armor so someone with it is even more of an issue. That and its range is not that great having to do with MOA and the fact really after 300 meters the AR15 is not fun to have especially in open desert situations.
Not only this but as an SFAT member with Afghan army relations. We came accross all M16's they owned as being defective and not up to the challenge of a war, you see the Afghan army is kinda what we would be as resistance groups not having proper maintanecce procedure and thus, ally here M16's had messes or issues. Mainly gas tube and and front hangurard breaks. On the other side of things I came accross various Klashnikov based weapons designs Romania, Poland, Russian, Hungarian and Yugoslavian and the great Chinese AK, all had there love in Afghanistan via ther AKM's and guess what when seeing these rifles or being shot at by them they worked, not only that but to the man who knows these rifles history; knows they acquired them at different points. Such as Chinese ones these were given to mujahideen by the CIA in the Cold War. I have held and shot Cold War Chinese AK's they have lasted all this time being slung on someone's back like you have your phone in your poker every day and they still will working, granted the barre rifleing was shot out making them inaccurate in various degrees but it shot. Only issue with the AKM's that I saw was broke wood stocks and the occasional bedazled AK with various ornaments and stickers of culture on a weapon : /
For those of you that want an actuall trust worthy rifle get an M1A I recommend the scout synthetic model, wood stocks are not trust worthy and can break from just one engagement when you go diving to the ground and use your rifle as a fall stop. I personally have a socom 16 and 20 round mags don't get 30 rounders not reliable compared to 20's. Other rifles to consider are the new version of the mini 14 in stainless steel, both the M1A and mini 14 have great gas systems and because the action is large and on top gases do blow out small dust eventually cleaning the rifle every time it's shot. As for AK's some arnt good such as center arms, I recommend Chinese type 56's or arensal products the AKM is a good design.
Ultimately it's up to the user to keep your rifle working keep it clean and above all buy spare parts for any rifle you own and the tools to fix it. And if you decide on the AR 15 make sure to buy an extra gas tube and know how to replace it.
