US to Send Kalashnikovs to Iraq

mensnewsdaily.com ^ | 09 Aug 2003 | VOA

[Shooter 2.5]

http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Programs/AR15.htm

[FlyVet]

We always had plenty of cans of Gun Scrubber that would somehow appear during cleaning time....Army NCO's kick ass!

Sometimes we frustrated AF NCOs would also buy our own stuff when the stuff we needed was non-existent. WD works good when you wipe off the excess, good solvent but doesn't provide long-term lube. Gun Scrubber, I bought a can of that once. I think it's "Trike". Trichlorofluoroethylene, a nasty industrial cleaning solvent. Cleans the gunk off anything, and evaporates quickly. Haven't seen it marketed much these days, since they found out it also likes to contaminate drinking water and causes cancer. It was a good gun cleaner, though no lube qualities.

I suppose as Riley said, CLP is okay as long as you have some good cotton rags to wipe all the excess off. We usually got stuck with useless artificial fiber "plastic" rags.

One of the dry lubes I've bought that seems pretty good is Elmer's Slide-All. Aerosol, Teflon-based. I saw a PTFE-based spray dry lube at KMart a while ago (PTFE is glorified Teflon). It was cheap, in an economy-sized can, but can't remember the brand name of it. I think both would be good for someone who has to carry a tight rifle like the M-16 for days on end in a dirty environment.

[Riley]

I always used to find a large supply of 6 inch long single-ended wood-handled cotton swabs absolutely indispensible. They can be had for a nominal sum at pretty much any medical supply store.

[FlyVet]

Give me a .308 necked down to a 6.5mm (e.g. .260 Rem) and then you have a real argument for superior long-range performance.

That .260 might be the ultimate deer rifle, especially a ladies' deer rifle. Low recoil, plenty of range and punch. I used to love reading Finn Aagaard's (RIP) articles in American Rifleman, and he was a hard-core 6.5 x 55 fan. .260 Rem is about the same thing, maybe a little more pop. Problem is, with the .308 base, logistics. I doubt they're ever going back to a relatively heavy cartridge for the common grunt. Snipers, special forces, yeah maybe. But I think the infantry is going to stick with small cartridges, because you can carry a lot more of them.

I'll throw a wrench in the gears: what about the 6mm PPC? Deadly accurate, brass 0.2" shorter than .223, throws an 85 grain slug out there at 3000 fps, probably weighs little more than .223. And, ironically, based on the 7.62 x 39.

[Shooter 2.5]

I took this picture of Finn playing bartender at the Whittington Center. 1999. Finn Aagaard - Rest in Peace

[Rebelbase]

" a can of 'Dust Off' "

That stuff is great. I took a can with me surf fishing last week and used it to blow sand out of my reels.

[AdamSelene235]

One thing that you can say about the AR15 platform is that it is finicky about manufacturing tolerances. If the tolerances are off even just a little bit or the dimensions are slightly off, you end up with a jam-o-matic no matter how good it looks.

I actually don't want to dump a jammer on someone else. Its rude. So could I simply buy a well made upper for my olympic lower?

[FlyVet]

Good pic. Say, aren't you the guy who was working on accurizing the Mini-14? Ever get anywhere with that? Enquiring Ranch Rifle owners want to know.

[Shooter 2.5]

That's me. I spent more than two years off and on working to solve the two problems. One problem was the horrible eight inch groups at fifty yards. That problem took about a half hour. Tightening the four screws too much choked the barrel and then the bullet would wobble out of the barrel. The factory setting is 14 inch pounds. That's so light that LokTite is needed to keep the gas block in place.

The second problem is the traveling Point of Aim as the barrel heats up. I isolated the gas system, stabilized the barrel and it still is acting badly. I think it's the barrels that Ruger makes. That means there isn't a way short of using an after market barrel.

It's frustrating. Bill Ruger called them plinkers and I guess they're expensive plinkers. They shouldn't leave the factory like that. I have never witnessed less than a five inch group out of any Mini from cold to hot.

[FlyVet]

They shouldn't leave the factory like that. I have never witnessed less than a five inch group out of any Mini from cold to hot.

Cold to hot, I admit I've never tried that with mine. I've found one handload that does about 1.5 MOA, but that's letting the barrel cool a few minutes between shots.

Kinda figured you might be doing something in the area of the barrel clamp, I was guessing that was your roadblock. Made sense to me that having an anchor point out there would cause problems with a hot barrel. And, it doesn't look like you could float the barrel without extensive modification.

I bought my Mini just before the AWB. Where I lived, a serious assault rifle was running $1200 or more, so I went with the "poor man's assault rifle" for about $450. Also bought a pair of SKSs for $150 each, thinking that they too might become expensive in the future. That hasn't panned out, natch. Maybe I should sell all three and buy a Les Baer custom varmint. :)

[Shooter 2.5]

I had an argument with someone who said the Mini was exactly like a M-1 Carbine. I told him he was wrong but the more I studied it, he was correct. The gas system is a Carbine's. I also saw a guy with a Carbine make a great score at High Power at a 200 reduced range. There should be no reason the Mini's can't do that.

I corrected the barrel clamping and then I focused on the support of the barrel. The gas system slams into the barrel causing most of the problem. I attached the barrel to the stock and then made sure the barrel is supported at the receiver. No luck. The only thing I can think of is the clamping that caused the barrel to choke ruined the barrel. It will never be the same.

Perhaps if I started with a new rifle, made the modifications before a first shot was made, that could solve the problem.

[FlyVet]

Well, you got my curiousity going. Haven't shot my Mini in years, but one of these days I'll have to get off my butt and play around with it. I bought a 77/22 soon after they came out, and changed that from an almost-unuseable rifle into a tack driver. It gets 10-shot groups around 1/2" at 50 yds, and I'm not even a good shot. Not bad for a gunsmith wannabe.

[Knitebane]

I'm about ready to chuck my M4, I don't trust the thing anymore. I've put several thousand rounds through my FAL with no malfs.

I hear you, man. I refuse to trust my life to any repeating weapon that wasn't designed by John Moses Browning. My grandpa taught me that and handed down to me my Browning semi-auto shotgun. My great-grandpa carried a 1911 and a BAR in the Great War.

I have a FAL, actually a L1A1, and I've put a considerable number of rounds thought it, but I can't bring myself to rely on it. At this point it's just a toy.

[Shooter 2.5]

Ruger does make good guns but not that one. I think it has to do with the rough machining on the outside of the barrel.

The whole idea of my experimentation was to make a decent rifle without spending a lot of cash. Anyone can order a new oversized barrel out of Brownell's. This was supposed to correct a simple problem.

[FlyVet]

Ruger does make good guns but not that one. I think it has to do with the rough machining on the outside of the barrel....Anyone can order a new oversized barrel out of Brownell's.

You talking the 77/22 now, or the Mini?

[Shooter 2.5]

Sorry. I was still explaining the Mini.

I don't have any experience with the 77/22.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... It's frustrating. Bill Ruger called [Mini-14s] plinkers and I guess they're expensive plinkers. They shouldn't leave the factory like that. I have never witnessed less than a five inch group out of any Mini from cold to hot."

Mini-14s are a lot of shooter's first purchasing mistake. It's not just the modern Minis -- there never was a time when Minis were 'made right'.

Years back, I spent an entire afternoon trying to sight in a scoped stainless Ranch model for a pal. I got it to shoot using the scope about as good as it shot through the iron sights (with a front post like three butter knife blades welded together) before I told him that's as good as it gets. That alone caused him to sell it.

Sight it in cold with correct Federal ammo, watch the strikes shift as it warms up, let it go cold again, and notice that the groups are in a different place than when it was sighted in cold. The same guy who invented the 'Dribble Glass' and those birthday candles that won't blow out must have been the project leader at Ruger for the Mini-14.

[FlyVet]

Oh, ok. I wasn't sure. I bought my 77 soon after they came out, in the early 80's. Ordered it sight unseen after reading some good reviews about it. Well, I was real disappointed. Nice workmanship, but the trigger pull was about 15 lbs. I couldn't believe something that bad coming from the factory, especially from Ruger.

Anyways, I bought a Bullseye trigger kit for about $10, nothing more than a set of three lighter trigger springs, and instructions on doing some polishing. Brought the trigger pull down to about 8 oz. Glass bedded the action, and floated the barrel. Now the thing shoots great, with the factory barrel. Checked one gun website awhile back, and noticed that some who had bought the 77/22 had the same complaints I had 20 yrs. ago, and the same solutions.

I know that after-market barrels are very popular with 10/22s, but I didn't even know you could get an aftermarket barrel for the Mini.

[2111USMC]

toroise:

Thank you for your post! (I sometimes get irritated at the many "anti-M16" posts that I see on Free Republic.)

Some of the new versions of the M16 I don't even recognize. However, all I can say is this: I shot "Expert" with the M16A1E1 three years in a row in the mid 1970's. In addition, I also went through two sessions of desert warfare training. In my case, the weapon always performed flawlessly.

My personal opinion is that the M16 rifle family is one of, or possibly the best, military infantry weapon ever invented.

JMHO

[Shooter 2.5]

I saw one guy with his brand new stainless Ranch Rifle. I gave him an hour or so to get all set up with it and then asked how he liked it. When I had walked up, I noticed he was shooting an old tree stump from 20 yards away. He had this huge grin on his face after blasting away at the stump and he said he was hitting everything he aimed at.

I smiled and walked away.

The weird thing about Mini's is, if the groups go higher as the barrel heats up since the op rod slams into the gas block, it may be the only self-correcting-running-coyote-rifle on the market.