Worse Conditions for AR's

[LR1955]

Guys:

What environmental conditions have you all experienced that absolutely locked up your AR-15 / M-16 and variants and or your AR-10's?

The single worse one I experienced was a combination of 20 - 40 MPH winds that apparently picked up sand (we were on the Pacific coast) and mixed fine sand with rain and blew both into the carbines, M-9's and M-24's.

The M-24's cycled four or so rounds before the bolts became almost impossible to move. The M-9's went about ten shots before you couldn't move the slides. The Carbines went about twenty shots before they locked up badly.

Next worse I have experienced was plain old heavy rain and temps around freezing. It seemed that the carbines would heat up and the rain would wash out the CLP. For some reason the cold temperatures combined to dry out the carbines more so than plain old heavy rain and hot temps. Not sure why.

How about you guys. Particularly you hunters who will take out your Grendel in adverse conditions.

LR1955

[LRRPF52]

Worst I have seen is a dust storm in the Middle East. The sand got into every crevice of every piece of equipment we had, and even shut down our breacher shotguns, in addition to the M24's (Rem 700 long action). When trying to field-strip our M4's, we literally had take-down and pivot pin detents rip out with the track in the pins...yeah, as in the way they can't come out, but did.

When shooting high-volume courses in extreme arctic conditions, I've been surprised at how well the AR15/M4 runs, as long as it is built with true Mil-Spec parts, fed quality brass ammunition, and lubricated with the right lube. If you do take a rifle with you indoors or in a tent in extreme cold, condensation will form on it while in the tent or warmer enclosed space. Once you exit, the condensation freezes almost instantaneously, and will seize your action, and will seize the cartridge in your chamber if it was present in the warm area.

[sneaky one]

Which is the right lube- is it the Slip 2000?, Or is it the recent find from sojorboy/s Spartan Accuracy Oil-- You tube video?

hmmmm.... only had 1 Grrr lock up on me- my fave=it was a snow day=6" fell in 5 hrs. Temp fell -20 degrees== Time to bug out anyway.

I've seen the condensation form in northern MN - from house to deer stand-we leave the rifles in the trailer now- to stay cold, yet not freezer cold, to minimize the frozen action issues. We have used less lube in the past- now looking at a regimen of poly tech lubes.

Good data L-52., many never think of these potential issues.

Good thoughts LR 1955- as a lead into this. Winter can be so cold- I had a boltie lock up tight-Frozen! Back in 2003= I had to jump the stand, thaw it out-due to a 30 degree temp drop.

[Michael]

The talcum powder like dust in Afghanistan along the Helmand River. Had to keep weapons bone dry to keep them from gumming up.

[LR1955]

Which is the right lube- is it the Slip 2000?, Or is it the recent find from sojorboy/s Spartan Accuracy Oil-- You tube video?

hmmmm.... only had 1 Grrr lock up on me- my fave=it was a snow day=6" fell in 5 hrs. Temp fell -20 degrees== Time to bug out anyway.

I've seen the condensation form in northern MN - from house to deer stand-we leave the rifles in the trailer now- to stay cold, yet not freezer cold, to minimize the frozen action issues. We have used less lube in the past- now looking at a regimen of poly tech lubes.

Good data L-52., many never think of these potential issues.

Good thoughts LR 1955- as a lead into this. Winter can be so cold- I had a boltie lock up tight-Frozen! Back in 2003= I had to jump the stand, thaw it out-due to a 30 degree temp drop.

Sneaky:

Get some of that lube and take your carbine out for a few hours and shoot a couple of mags through it. I hear you are going through the perfect extreme cold weather conditions for testing!

He, he.

LR55

[LRRPF52]

The talcum powder like dust in Afghanistan along the Helmand River. Had to keep weapons bone dry to keep them from gumming up.

If you were using CLP, it's a thin oil that allows fine dust to get in the action still. The SLIP2000 or motor oil will occupy space between articulating parts, and prolong the time between malfs, or prevent them entirely.

For those that are wondering, the AK is not immune to any of these conditions. The reliability myths about that weapon are just that, and it's one of the bottom performers all around for me when compared to literally dozens of other assault rifle designs.

[Joseph5]

When I was in Desert Shield/Storm I had a quart bottle of Hoppes #9 I took with to clean and some kind of weapons grease, I can't remember the brand but in was in a silver tube, that I lubed the bolt with. It might have been Hoppes also. Through all of the sand storms and everything else I never had a weapons malfunction. When I was in Korea in the winter we kept our rifles cold to avoid the condensation problem when we were out in the field. I was never in a situation though were I was not able to perform any needed maintenance or cleaning. There were several occasions though when we were training and I put 400 to 600 rounds through my rifle in 2 to 4 hours time without a malfunction without cleaning or adding additional lube.