http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/09/08/ar-endurance-findings-at-a-rental-range/
sometimes in excess of 200,000 rounds through commercially available and full auto ARs
good read…
I appreciate the class to come out and say ‘we weren’t following manufacturer directions, so we’re not going to name names. We broke them, they didn’t work for us at our firing and maintenance schedule’.
The bolts being the first failure point, to the point where the lugs deforming over time and getting out of headspace range is happening concurrently with lugs start to shear and break is actually pretty cool to think about - the fact that bolts are happily going 20k rounds is neat.
I am curious what the extractor setups they favor are - my guess with running DD/LMT BCG’s would be that those extractors run fine (and running exclusively factory new brass ammunition seems to help a ton).
I’ve been following that for a couple of months, quite interesting.
Interesting lube comments were made. Should be quoted in the FC thread!
I wish we could know what manufacturer it was that warranted this comment
-– There is company that has an AR system that has some “parts don’t need lubrication” and that failed before the end of the first day. I don’t think some mfg’s understand that people REALLY use their weapons and when you’re rocking full-auto all day they NEED lubrication. My armorers and RSO’s were laughing when it seized up because we knew there was NO way it would last on our range.
Anderson maybe? Home of the world’s NO LUBE AR as they proudly proclaim.
To be fair I’ve used several of their stripped lowers and been happy. But to not lube an AR? Come on now.
That was definitely a good read. Love to read no BS observations based on serious hands on experience. Thanks for sharing.
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There’s a lot more info and specific details on the epic threads on TOS. Including AR, AK, and pistol specific threads. Not sure how applicable full auto all the time is to real world applications though. I understand the need for worst case testing but it’s somewhat analogous to reliability testing cars by redlining them on a racetrack until destruction.
I agree, but its nice to have information on durabilty under hard use. It makes having faith in equipment under “normal” conditions much easier.
Nice to know about USGI mags.
I mostly train and go to work with Pmags but have a “few” USGI mags set aside for a rainy day.
I read that article when it first came out and enjoyed it thoroughly. That article and TOS thread have the AK guys saying it can’t be true because they heard from a vet, relative or friend that the AR is a jamomatic POS.
Good read. I was hoping to read about if they had any AR’s with billet receivers, and if they had any issues.
So are they running all their piston setups on full auto? Maybe I overlooked that part.
Good read though.
They do make a lot of their money on customer just wanting to blast away on full auto, (and since they’re making margin per magazine, it’s in their interest to encourage that) so the majority of the rounds are on full auto. This would be the biggest deviation from normal civilian owned AR usage… but using higher quality ammo and actually following a cleaning and lubrication regiment means their guns run better than most.
I think it’s funny that he refuses to say how or if the
PWS piston system ran. He won’t even comment if
they have used it. He says he doesn’t want to comment
on failures of manufacturers because he doesn’t want
people to take it wrong, when all throughout the thread
he sites specific names and how they perform. But will
not touch PWS with a 10 ft pole. Intrigues me as to why?
did you ask him?
You can’t join the site and forum with a “email server
That’s free” so no. There are many others on there
Asking about PWS but he refuses to say anything.
No dig on Pmags, but I just don’t like them. I have never trusted plastic mags unless they are metal-lined like Glock mags. His real-world data about USGI mags being the most durable confirmed my “gut” feeling about mags.
Once people get over the fact that magazines are disposable life becomes easier. Even USGI magazines fail.
Granted, but you want the mags that last the longest.