Observations from recent carbine courses I've taught.....

[batoncolle]

I see AK malfunctions once in a while. Hard to compare them against the AR's because:

1. I don't see as many AK's

2. Most folks that own AK's don't go swapping out a bunch of the op system parts

I ran an Arsenal Inc AK for several years. It was no more or less reliable than my Daniel Defense M4. I believe I see more issues with the cheapo AK's than I do with the "top tier" guns from firms like Arsenal.

If I have a 20 student carbine class, I'll have 12-15 students running AR-variants. The rest will be a mix of AK's, SCAR's, Tavor's, etc. I did have a student in a recent carbine course whose SCAR kicked the bucket right out of the gate. I don't remember the issue. He switched to his SBR AR and ran it for the next 2 days.

The only AK I ever saw have an issue in a carbine class was mine, and it was the mag. The spring crapped out on it.

Great info in the OP, and regarding the ARs, the only change I generally make is to add the LMT enhanced carrier, and that is just for reducing the gas to run suppressed. One of these days, I'd like to try an adjustable gas block, but the e-carrier works well, and it's a minimal change.

Btw about 5 or so years ago, we were both in one of USSA1's AK carbine courses down by the airport. There was a little contest at the end for some swag, and you and I were paired off toward's the end (final 4 I think). You beat me by a split second. Easy access to training classes is one of the few things I miss about living in Atlanta...

 

[cmshoot]

That was a good AK course!

 

[batoncolle]

That was a good AK course!

Yes it was. I took several of Erik's AK specific classes and always learned something.

Do you ever teach at that location?

 

[protective measures]

The more carbine courses I teach, the more malfunctions I see with AR-type platforms. It used to be fairly uncommon, but now it's a regular thing. I'm not talking a once-in-a-while issue with a bad round or old magazine; I'm talking of repeated stoppages or guns that just quit running.

The more "advanced" the course I'm teaching is, the more issues I see. In "beginners" courses I don't tend to see as many issues.

A. From inspecting problematic AR's and talking to their owners, I've noticed a few trends. In general, the guns that I see that have serious issues are either:

1. Owner-assembled. That is, they bought a kit or parts and assembled it themselves.

2. A factory gun that has had numerous parts of the operating system replaced and/or modified.

I am not saying that you can't build an AR yourself and have it run perfectly. I have many students that do that and have no issues at all.......but obviously not everyone is up to the challenge, or some folks bought some inferior parts.

I'll see a student running a good gun, like a recent guy with a Daniel Defense. When it doesn't run, I start to ask him about it and find that he's swapped out parts like the buffer, buffer spring and BCG. When asked why, all he could say was he was talking to some 3-gunners and they recommended it. I asked if the gun was running fine before the "upgrades" and he said it was. Hmmmmm......then why "fix" it.

Caveat: I'm not knocking 3-gunners or any other competitive shooters. I'm a competitive shooters myself and highly recommend it to folks. It has improved numerous skill sets of mine.......but, know what belongs in the training arena and what belongs "on the street".

If you modify a firearm that you intend to use for "serious" work, test it out thoroughly before putting it back into service. If you are looking at performing a modification, have a dang good reason for doing so. Don't fix what ain't broke.

I see less problems in beginners' courses but the students haven't learned to mess with their guns yet! At least, that's my theory.

B. Steel case ammo: I've got no problem with it for training ammo. It's cheap, which means you can afford to practice more. It's not nearly as reliable as "good" brass-case ammo, which I also like in my training ammo as it forces you to practice malfunction clearance drills. That's good stuff as well.

Steel cases don't swell and fill the chamber like brass cases, so fouling tends to blow back around the casing and foul the chamber more. During high round count range sessions, or multi-day training courses, you will need to clean that chamber out or you will eventually have issues. When you break for lunch, run a Boresnake through her a few time. At the end of Day 1, if there will be a Day 2, give the chamber and bolt a quick cleaning.

I would not recommend using steel case ammo as your "serious load" for realsies.

3. Lube well. I don't care what lube you use, I've never seen a malfunction caused by the type of lube used (except 1, see below), but I have seen them caused by little to no lube used.

General rule of thumb: Grease parts that slide/rub and oil parts that rotate. With that said, you can use all grease or all oil and she'll still run.

The only malfunction I've seen caused by lube was a guy that was running graphite. Just don't. The guy using it didn't know better and was told to use it by a Navy Seal/Force Recon/Ranger/Spook who said that grease/oil will attract grit and gun up the action. Well, I'm here to tell you, graphite is very fine grit. Just do not.

Oil and grease can hold grit, but as long as it's held in suspension the gun will run. A wet AR is a happy AR.

I have never in all my 26 years as a gun toter and Instructor seen a firearm malfunction due to "too much" lube. Better too much than too little.

Anyways, thought I'd throw some of this out there. I'he got another AR course coming up that I'm teaching.......we'll see if the trend continues!

Semper Fi!

Agreed 100%... too much focus on "hardware" & not enough on "software"
I see the same problem w/ pistols.... the further they get away from the factory set-up the more problems they have.
Some people are "diddlers" that just have to fiddle with something like a kid playing w/ Legos or Lincoln Logs.

I've always stuck with almost 100% factory configuration because I never presumed I knew more about how all of the components worked together well (reliably) better than the mfr. (Dan. Def. is my personal favorite as well. Love the V7's but looking hard at the V11's).

Nothing more frustrating for a student (& often the rest of the class & Instructor) who's paid their often hard-earned money to have their gun "choking & puking" out on the range when you're trying to run a class & squeeze in all of the content within the allotted amount of time.

Amazing how Coopers words echo down through the generations.... reliability is always the most important criteria in a defensive gun.

Good observation & good thread.

 

[cmshoot]

batoncolle, it isn't available for the sort of use that it used to be. Don't see me using it anymore.......haven't used it for several years now.

 

[dakota port]

i stopped buying steel cased ammo for my ar-15s when i had them, an ar platform will either like steel case or hate steel case very few in betweeners

i figure the ar is more precision built vs battle ready type rifle like the ak or sks. the ak and sks also lack as much modifications to tinker with and mess up

ar's are really nice but you need to know what you are doing when building them as they tend to have tighter tolerances for good performance

 

[cmshoot]

I don't have an issue with steel case ammo for training. I don't use it because of the way I teach:

1. I describe the drill to the students
2. I live-fire the drill for the students so they can see it
3. I have the students shoot the drill repeatedly

I don't like having malfunctions when I'm demo'ing drills for students.

In a typical class I'll usually have half or more of my students using steel case ammo in their AR's.

AR's can be purpose-built for many specific tasks. A well-built model is definitely a battle-ready type rifle. Me and a helluva lot of other Marines have carried them in battle with very little complaints. They can also be "tightened" up for a precision rifle for DMR-type work. In a heavier caliber than 5.56 they are an excellent Sniper rifle.

My primary AR is a Daniel Defense M4. It is the model currently called a V1, but it was made back when DD only made one model, so it doesn't have a designation. Obviously, I've had her for quite a while. I've had no more malfunctions with her than I've had with my Arsenal Inc AK or my ISG 556R. She'll shoot at least 1MOA with a magnified optic and decent ammo. With an Aimpont Micro T1 my 10YOA was ringing steel at 493yds with her. With that kind of combination of accuracy and reliability, I can't see how someone can say she ain't battle ready.

I've been using M16's/AR for a bit over 26 years now. Can't even begin to guess how many rounds I've put through them, in conditions ranging from the deserts to above the Arctic Circle. All over the U.S. and in 16 foreign countries.

 

[cullen1780]

AR didn't like it in '67; don't like it now

 

[cmshoot]

Hard to compare guns and ammo built nearly 50 years ago to the same built nowadays. A 2015 Corvette is more reliable, fuel efficient and faster than a 1967 Corvette.

 

[10thmountain]

What type/brand of ammo do you recommend? I know this will open a can of worms. But I don't care.

Edit: I run them all, but I clean my rifle.