Spares And Wandering Conversations

Occasionally, as befits gun snob cognoscenti, Willard and I talk about what aught to be and how that compares to what is.

He's expressed in comments elsewhere and in person about the G36 drama and how since the guns kept going bang the wandering zero wasn't near the disaster its made out to be, because how much aiming is someone mag-dumping on full-auto actually doing?

His solution for the G36 problem is simple and pragmatic for the short term.  First time you get the chance after a firefight that gets the guns good and toasty, double check the zero, if the sights can't be adjusted far enough to rezero, replace the rifle from stores.

I mentioned that could be a lot of spare rifles to have on hand at the company level.

He countered reminisced that each company in 1 Rhodesian African Rifles had one spare FAL, because sometimes your rifle could be hit by enemy fire.

That led to talking about a common meme on gun fora.  What spares to have on hand.

He seems bemused at the lists people compile.  It seems clear that some fora insist on keeping replacement parts with you in the field because you never know, but this grossly overstates the frequency of those failures.

His anecdotal experience with the FAL has discussed a whole two failures from his time in Rhodesia -> Zimbabwe.  Both were from external damage rather than parts failure.  From a nation that was literally scrounging for small arms towards the end that's pretty redeeming.

Another Willard Kernel Of Truth:

The best rifle on earth is the one you took to war and didn't let you down.

Corollary: The worst rifle on earth is the one you took to war and failed you.