THIS
There is usually a reason these stoic warriors:bad: are on the other side of the trap door, and it’s not a positive one.
Buy the special tools yourself, use the base metal shop,profit!
The correct name for Army and Marine Corps is Small Arms Repairman. However, often times those of us in the armorer field use the “armorer” moniker.
There are plenty of guys at unit levels that are not MOS 2111 or MOS 45B and they are simply custodians who were thrown into the job.
I worked closely with both branches in Iraq in the 05-06 time frame.
I am curious why you would say this? I don’t know his guy from Adam, but I know plenty of civilian “gunsmiths” who I wouldn’t let touch an airsoft weapon, let alone a real one.
I met some Small Arms guys who knew their shit and others who were dangerous with a monkey wrench.
In my experience, the guy in the arms room was broken, which is why he was in the arms room.
Because statistics is not on the OP’s side. I wouldn’t let either a civilian or military armorer touch my gun unless they were thoroughly vetted. I don’t want it coming back with bent barrel nut teeth or other tool marks.
As someone who works both the military and commercial side the answer is easy - engage him in some rather in-depth conversation relating to the AR. His answers and stance on things should bring you to your conclusion.
My first real training in the field of small arms repair was in 1997. I have been growing ever since and will until the day I die. As has been pointed out in this thread before not all small arms guys are the same. Some are an Armorer in title only.
Certain things I won’t touch, unless I own it or the only one I answer to is myself. Everything from Trapdoor Springfields to Lee Enfields to ARs are the same - if you know the platform and your limitations you really can’t frig it up.
You just need to figure out where this guy falls.
Obviously he doesn’t feel he can do it himself and he may not have the tools. So what do you suggest?
USAF Combat Arms Training and Maintenance. The AF version of armorers, authorized to do up to and including depot level maintenance (welded a few 60 receivers in my day) for the last 20 years. We do nothing but repair small arms and run the firing range. I have met maybe 20 “armorers” in my career that were little more than parts replacement specialists. Just keep throwing new parts on it until it works is the basic mantra. When I first went through training back in 93, we were given guns with a specific broken or weak or missing part and had to diagnose, repair, and test that gun to pass. Now not so much. Do the repairs yourself. Then you will now it is done right.
I guess I could throw my hat in this ring.
I can’t count the times that I had to work on rifles while at the range in Yuma AZ because our unit armorer had no idea what to do. He couldn’t remove or reinstall an M5 RAS, torque an RCO, or even tighten a stock.
That said, we did have one alternate armorer that was very good at swapping fire control groups.
So its all up the the individual skills of the armorer, check before letting them touch your rifle.
Make sure you post pictures of your rifle here when its done, Joe
Seems to me if he works on weapons that Marines train with he could work on yours. I’m sure those weapons in SOI see more abuse by boot Marines than a lot of personal weapons
Highly depends on what “work” he is authorized to do. There are different echelons of maintenance, and different firearms have different authorizations.
Typos brought to you via Tapatalk and autocorrect.
Highly agree with this… generally people on the other side of the cage in the arms room are just filling a slot and went to a basic course that taught them how to swap out basic parts and do rudimentary maintenance on issued weapons types only. From personal experience I have seen the majority of these people know very little as far are firearms knowledge outside of what they have taught. For more advanced weapons repairs and work it is usually sent off to the next higher level of maintenance to be handled by individuals that were specifically MOS trained. But the important thing to remember here is they were only trained for issued weapons platforms and probably wouldn’t know how to do work on aftermarket parts. Unless they are “gun guys” with personal knowledge and experience in the platform I would consider learning yourself and doing your own work.
This.
I would trust a Marine armorer I didn’t know over the joke that is my local ‘gunsmith’.
My experience is a bit skewed as the most incompentent Marine I ever served with was a small arms repairman. You think THEY would know better than anyone that the feed tray on an M-60E3 should be down and locked before firing. How do you get behind a belt fed MG and not notice that before pulling the trigger? I guess if he is a NCO or motivated Lance Corporal why not.