The Gun Counter

I got a question for some of you that shoot the black rifle.
I carried one when they were new and it was a piece of junk.
We carried a cleaning rod taped to the forearm to punch out the hangfires..
A lot of guys died cause their gun jambed!!
Has anything changed? do you still get them hangfires?
dont want one but thought it might be a good conversation

Hangfires have more to do with the ammo than the gun. Am I wrong?

I have put several thousand rounds through my Bushy, including 500 or so Wolf garbage rounds with no malfunctions.

I have a very early Colt Sporter, and my experience has been that as long as you keep it reasonably clean (ie; don't let the crud build up) it is reliable. Any problems I have had have been with reloads, and I suspect case expansion as the cause. I have had no problems with factory ammo.

They solved most all those problems by the time the A2 came out (which is what I was issued in boot camp - I used an M2 in the air wing).

Chris wrote a pretty good post about the subject.

the M16 I have leaning against my right leg as i type this is very reliable, even here with the sand and dust. i just shotgun it wipe down the insides and clean the bolt and it functions every time i have had to shoot it. (only at the range) but that said it does ride in the top of the HMMWV turret with me and it will still function.

I carried old assed GAU-5's and they always worked. I just cleaned it from time to time. Worked in Panama and Iraq for me!

I can't remember the last 'hangfire' I had with commercial ammunition.
I had one with a bad batch of primers (poor storage) but that was to test the primers so I wasn't depending on it.

Haven't had an issue with the AR platform that couldn't be attributed to a bad magazine, improper cleaning or improperly assembled/attached ninja gear.

My dad's M-16 worked well when it was issued to him. Often he'd wind up with an M-1 Carbine instead because "short little field linguists from the Air Force" weren't elite enough to have the brand new service rifles like the Marines and Army. My M-16 worked fine as well, as long as Clinton-era HQ USAF remembered that even maintainers needed ammunition to qualify. Thanks for remembering us twice, Gen. McPeak!

Now that I have my own AR, it runs like a champ. I just run it well-lubricated.