He pointed out that it's usually the barrel that gets hot and causes problems first... or degraded ammo that causes extraction/feeding problems.That came out of the mouth of an 18B student at Robin Sage? Will wonders never cease!
He is correct though, heat is a major problem with both the AR and AK, lousy ammo is a close second, and bad magazines come in third.
I can't count the number of time I've singed my fingers on a hot AK forearm, but it is built to loose tolerances and will handle a lot more abuse. It's magazines are well built and will also take a lot of abuse.
As far as the AR15/M16 platforms, I always preferred the M16A1. We fired these at the National Matches at Camp Perry and they were accurate to 500m out of the box. The M16 A2 was accurate, but I hated the 3rd burst. As for the M4- IMO, it's a piece of crap. OK, that was unfair- the M4 with an ACOG was a piece of crap. I took the ACOG off of my issue weapon and used an AimPoint RedDot site with iron sites as a back up. The only advantage I could see in the M4 was a system that wouldn't butt-stroke me in the back of the head while fastroping.
Early on (back in the 70's), we had some troubles with ammunition, mostly quality control. We would find bent rounds, or have rounds that would leave the bullet lodged in the barrel. IIRC, it was Lakewood ammo that was bad.
Magazines were a big problem when it came to jamming in the M-16. If an M16 jammed twice with he same magazine, my squad leader would police up the magazine and make sure that it wouldn't be used again.
All-in-all, the AR15/M16 is a reliable weapons system. Like any piece of equipment, it does require maintenance, but I really see no need to replace it across the board.
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(Forrest Gumpism)- Ah'm sorry to hear about yor' fishing accident. I hope y'all find them guns you lost real soon.(/Forrest Gumpism)
fmr 18C, 18D, 18F
Actually... the guy was a member of the training cadre...an E-6, or E-7...can't remember... helluva nice guy though. They were all good people. We're going to be working with them again in a couple of weeks. :-)
I've been blistered on hot barrels myself before... once on an AR, and once from an SKS (of ALL things!). The AR was slung behind me and I was listening to somebody speaking to us after a shoot. It was an Armalite A-2 standard model, and I was pulling my left trouser leg UP with the front sight by moving my left leg. When I had the trouser leg up, I figured I'd scratch my leg with the barrel. BIG MISTAKE! The SKS that burned me was me being a dumbass (again!). It smelled hot so I figured I'd just grab it (forward the front sight) and find out if it was hot!... yeah...it was hot alright! It burned a blister right across my hand. Pain is a good teacher. :-)
Now that you mention it, the SF soldier did say something about magazines too...and that they would destroy faulty ones. He said that if the followers and springs were good, they'd remove them, but then stomp the mag body on the ground, to make sure it couldn't be used again.
You're the second person I've heard who doesn't like the ACOG. I have a buddy here in the local area who returned from Iraq about 18 mos ago. He was a Marine Recon type... he hated that ACOGs... but I think it's cause he broke one in such a way that involved a HAZMAT team! He liked the AimPoint Comps better!... so he said. :-)
A bent round lodged in the barrel?! Sheesh... that sounds like a recipe for disaster! I came close to firing a round behind a squib one day in a .45 ACP... but common sense prevailed and I stopped and examined WHY the previous round felt strange. I would imagine that a 5.56mm round lodged in a barrel would NOT be good at all!
Yeah... real bummer about our fishing accident. I'll keep looking for them! :-)