Willard and I were talking about what constitutes firearm reliability.
We keep circling around the popular metric of shooting a gun 2,000 rounds without cleaning or lubing and trying to figure out what it's really proving.
Especially since nobody I know is carrying 2,000 rounds on them. Honestly, if your gun can fire all the ammo you're carrying without a hiccup, you're golden. Even if you have to completely tear it down and refinish every single part before it can fire again! Even if you have to throw the gun away because firing all three magazines you carry destroys it on the last round.
Well, what we've decided is 2,000 rounds is the neglect litmus.
That we're actually testing this says a lot about modern guns and that they can survive an idiot who doesn't take care of their tools. It sometimes makes me wonder why gunwriters seek to emulate idiots.
But 2,000 rounds over weeks or months is not abuse.
If neglect is idiocy, abuse is stupidity.
Abuse is tying it to the bumper and going for a drive. A long drive.
Abuse is doing pushups with hands on barrel and stock with the magazine monopoded.
Abuse is jumping out of an airplane with it.
Which brings us to fragility.
How well can your gun take abuse?
The AK is the exemplar of being able to take abuse. The M16A1, not so much.
I notice we don't much test against abuse, abuse risks real breakage and that costs money.
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I've been told by a gunsmith that most .22s should be just wiped down afterwards, no reason to do excessive cleaning and complete teardown, unless one is shooting especially dirty ammo, or one does something like drop the gun in mud or be around salt water or such. Standard day at the range or plinking squirrels or iguanas? Just an exterior rag job, and check the bore for fouling.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes anyone with a pre MkIV Ruger much happier. Nice guns, but just a tad complex on the stripdown.
[twitch] Breaking [twitch] down [twitch] and [twitch] reassembling [twitch] my [twitch] Ruger [twitch] is [twitch] a [twitch][twitch][twitch][twitch][twitch] breeze.
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