So many ARs so little time..
Even though the short stroke and other piston designs have come on the market, and these guns all operate much cleaner, the AR15s DI guns that are being fielded these days are far more reliable than the M16A1 that was issued in Vietnam. Designs and improvements of metalogy has been tremendous and this can be noticed just by feeling the difference between one bolt carrier and another. Another major point about why the AR 15 guns have caught on is that they are so ergonimically superior to most of the military style guns out there that they are easy teaching tools. I normally start people out with learning the fundamentals with a 22lr bolt action with iron sights, but when I’m dealing with an adult that is not afraid of recoil, a .223 A2 style Carbine is an excellent staring point.
It seems that every time I pick up another issue of Swat magazine, American Handgunner, Special Weapons, Guns & Ammo ect. that there is yet another advertisement for another company making another AR 15 gun. The AR15 is now the most mass produced rifle in America and they are as common as a can of Coca-Cola. I don’t think I can name more than 3 calibers that the AK was made in, but i’ve already lost track of the number of calibers that I have seen the AR15 being made in. You can get them in pistol caliber carbines and from my experience, they run very well. I have to admit that I am glad to see that the AR 15 Upper Receivers have taken a giant step away from the direct impingement design that has been so hotly debated. I am a big believer that with todays technology and the technology that are LEO and Military are dealing with, using a firearm that is such high maintenance, is a waste of valuable time.
Every time I get asked a question about which firearm or accessory someone needs I follow up with the question “For what?” I have seen plenty of well trained concealed carry owners walk around with a 5 shot j-frame and none of them feel under gunned. The reality is that in some nightmare situation, you’ll never be full prepared, and sometimes we just have to be practical when we are CCW every day. For most practical purposes, I’d recommend keeping a spare magazine in your gun safe in your home, or keep one in your car if you don’t think you can comfortable carry a backup. When most of us are out and about, the ammunition you have on you is all you’re going to be able to fight with, but keeping something near your car and easily accessible in your home is a good idea.
One of the most common issues I have seen with new Carbine students is their lack of knowledge about where their point of impact is at close ranges. I spoke with a student who could shoot his M4 out to 600yds with his ACOG, but did not know where his POI was at 50yds. Just about every 5.56 gun is going to be capable of hitting a man size target at 600yds, but the Carbine is really meant for close quarters combat. I’ve noticed a move away from magnification on many M4s because you really undermine your speed if you are relying on pin point accuracy from 100-600yds and don’t realize that you are completely missing a moving target that is 40yds away from you because you can’t track it.
It seems that the M4 AR15 variant is hands down the most popular carbine in existance in the United States. There are plenty of AK and European military style rifles out there, but the accessorized M4 is king. When I first stepped into the high speed tactical carbine school, I was going there from previously owning only Kalashnikov variant rifles. The biggest promotion I heard from all of those owning an AR15 was how accurate they were. It is true that the M4 and AR15 family of rifles ARE the most accurate combat rifles, but that doesn’t make them the most effective. Ever since the Iraq invasion, the notion of just sending in a group of guys with M4 Carbines or M16s without a 7.62 DMR is not common. There was a lot of hype about the military digging up M14s and giving them this role, but now that several years have passed, the military has been working with newer models of 7.62 rifles to eventually fill that role.
It’s always up to the operator to determine which configuration works best for him, but with the reliance on battery operatored optics and high mounted optics, it’s really a good idea for a user to consider the what ifs. What do you do with your Eotech if the batteries die? What happens if the optics come loose ? Scope mounts can come loose and even break, I’ve seen this happen on M1A rifles, AK, FAL and AR15s on several ocassions. Sometimes its a good idea to train yourself to be able to hit a target without even a rear sight. There have been several times where I actually forgot to flip up my rear sights on my co-witness configuration and just used the sight picture from my Eotech optic and the front sight post. I never missed what I was aiming at and it was actually good practice for me.
Today I took my newest LWRC rifle to the range to break it in. This is a combat rifle and I expect that it eventually get pretty beat up, but it’s always a good idea to run through some firing drills before you rely on it. Some of the biggest malfuntion problems I have seen on the firing line were with supposedely brand new out of the box rifles. Sometimes there are bugs or issues that are easy to fix, but you really need to put some lead down range with your rifle or pistol before you rely on it. I’ve mentioned before about a time when I saw a guy show up with a Beretta 92FS inox pistol and it jammed after every round. The shooter was very frustrated because this was it’s first range trip. Well, turns out that the pistol was bone dry and had absolutely zero lubrication on it and with one wipe down, the gun ran flawlessly. The same should go for any firearm. I strongly suggest cleaning guns every once in awhile, even if you haven’t shot them. Lubrication can run off of guns or drain off, and I also highly recommend using a small level of grease on even pistols, especially if they may sit in a gun safe for long periods of time.
I had the opportunity to get out to the range again this week. I tend to bring the same bullet weights with me to firing ranges whenever I’m shooting my ARs because there can be really big differences in bullet trajectory when shooting out to 600yds. There is also a very big difference between bullet drift with just a few extra grains of weight. I’ve pulled the trigger on 150gr FMJ bullets out to 500yds that missed targets just depending on whether or not I fired during a wind gust or not. It’s really a lot of fun to shoot distances because you find out that it’s not all about how well you hold a gun down and how well you pull the trigger. Timing is something that really plays a factor when shooting into the wind. I use to shoot at a range that had a wind that blew from right from 100-300yds and when you got out to the 400-600yds, the wind blew from the left.
Cleaning more than one rifle at a time can be a really pain in the neck. Depending on the number of calibers you are using, you’ll have to change each brush you use, each punch, and each cleaning patch to properly clean your rifle or pistols. I never really felt the need to change from a traditonal rifle rod to any fancy gun cleaning kits for a long time. Some of these gun cleaning kits look very nice, but the reality is there are several cleaning kits out there that have made traditional gun cleaning obsolete. Granted, I will have to say that I do have a few friends that sweat that they still need to use their cleaning rods to clean bolt action sub-moa rifles, because Otis gun cleaning kits and bore snakes aren’t 100%. I’ll have to leave that up to personal choice, but I don’t see it.
There is much to debate when it comes to discussing the effectiveness of the 5.56 round. When it was originally deployed in the M16A1, the military had issues with the reliability of the gun, but I have heard not one complaint from any Vietnam vet about the lethality of the round. That was when the military was using a 20inch barrel with a 55gr bullet travelling well over 3000fps. The bullet is extremely violent at that velocity. The lethality of the round was greatly diminished when the military started using shorter length barrels and the 62gr SCBT also known as SS109 or M855. Although it is only 6grs heavier, the bullet is so well balanced that it basically zips straight through a target and the terminal ballistics are not very good below 2800fps which is practically what an M4 shoots it at near the muzzle.
Russian ammo may save you money compared to shooting domestic 556 ammo, but be careful that you clean your guns after each range session. I saw more malfunctions at traininig ranges and gun clubs in the last 2yrs than I have ever seen before. Since nobody wanted to put 1000rds down range that cost $500 or more + the cost of the training course which could have cost from $150-$300 depending on what you were going for. When you are considering saving money by buying dirtier or less expensive ammo, you should consider that you may have to clean your gun more often and that you will have more malfunctions. I’ve seen plenty of the AR15 crowd show up at competition shoots with guns that had not been cleaned recently or they were not lubricated properly. I remember people getting in debates about DI AR15 reliability 12yrs ago and it amazes me to this day that people that go out and buy an Ar15 think that they do not need more lubrication than other semi-autos.