02-01-2012, 10:36 PM
Yes. In a field environment, whether I have been carrying a FAL, M14, or M60, the gas piston is another critical part aside from the bolt carrier and bolt that has to be maintained to keep the gun running, and these areas are subject to lots of heating and cooling, which seems to attract rust rather quickly.
This is one of the reasons why I like the DI system. The critical parts are all in one place since the bolt is the piston, and is encased in the receivers, with plenty of lube if used properly. Maintenance from a soldier's perspective is doubly time-consuming when doing a simple field strip on a short-stroke or long-stroke op-rod system, and your Team leader will be watching to ensure that you clean the crap out of your piston head, if he's doing his job. The Squad leader and Platoon Sergeant might do a spot check, and they'll often pick the dirtiest dirtbag of your soldiers when they do the spot check.
Cleaning the AR family as a soldier is one of the simplest maintenance tasks in the field. The military makes it a pain by requiring a white glove inspection, but that gets even more fun with the SAW, and one of the first places they check is the piston head. I'm no advocate of white glove inspections, but it's also easy to cover up rust with lots of oil, so it cuts both ways if you don't lube weapons.
This is one of the reasons why I like the DI system. The critical parts are all in one place since the bolt is the piston, and is encased in the receivers, with plenty of lube if used properly. Maintenance from a soldier's perspective is doubly time-consuming when doing a simple field strip on a short-stroke or long-stroke op-rod system, and your Team leader will be watching to ensure that you clean the crap out of your piston head, if he's doing his job. The Squad leader and Platoon Sergeant might do a spot check, and they'll often pick the dirtiest dirtbag of your soldiers when they do the spot check.
Cleaning the AR family as a soldier is one of the simplest maintenance tasks in the field. The military makes it a pain by requiring a white glove inspection, but that gets even more fun with the SAW, and one of the first places they check is the piston head. I'm no advocate of white glove inspections, but it's also easy to cover up rust with lots of oil, so it cuts both ways if you don't lube weapons.