M4 FA test

Thanks for the link! Very interesting that they kept feeding & firing so reliably till-- kaboom. Great case for heavy bbls. for sure.
 
FYI an AK will self destruct from a burning front handguard long before - as well as its barrel will droop sooner as well.

Piston or No piston is not going to magically save the barrel from heat...
 
FYI an AK will self destruct from a burning front handguard long before - as well as its barrel will droop sooner as well.

Bah, AK's self-destruct in the middle of a 30-round magazine usually. Thats why 10 round mags are preferred - to keep the weapon from exploding. Mag changes also take forever - barrel is typically ice cold by the time an averege soldier figures out how to change the mag. Not to mention that they are not even accurate enough to hit a truck beyond 10 meters.
I'd take an AR anyday for its supreme reliability, ease of maintenance, knockdown power and ability to hit targets at twice the distance that a typical soldier will ever attempt.

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I don't see a need to change to the heavy barrel. It defies logic.

This is a laboratory introduced problem. Not a field introduced one. ;)

It was a field introduced problem. A prolonged mass attack was carried out against an American outpost in Afghanistan circa 2008 and many men were left without a weapon after prolonged and sustained fire.
 
It was a field introduced problem. A prolonged mass attack was carried out against an American outpost in Afghanistan circa 2008 and many men were left without a weapon after prolonged and sustained fire.

Those men failed their weapons, period. You do not go cyclic for an extended periods without the weapons breaking down, even belt fed machine guns will quit if pushed too hard,I have seen .50 HMG barrels droop to the ground and guns explode into their component part from such abuse. It's simple you overheat a machine it will stop working.
I have fired over 400 rounds in one string through the C7 without a problem, single well aimed shots will beat spray and pray every time.
 
When the British Army was testing the L1 (FN) my father was working in tech stores at Aldershot (1950's). He watched an L1 go through a few mags on full auto and then get leaned against a bench, net result; 1 bent barrel. A dedicated individual, or one with no clue, can cause a terminal failure in any weapon system. Your best bet for sustained fire is a Vickers gun, that way you just worry about running out of water (solveable), and wearing out barrels.
 
Note: I have never shot my rifle in anger.

Somehow I get the feeling that the American soldiers in that Afghanistan outpost would have shot their M16FOW to failure no matter the barrel it came equipped with.

Since I don't typically have to carry my kit too far, the extra 5 ounces would not bother me and I think it is not a bad idea. This said, if I had to carry it up hill (both ways) while carrying my body weight in mission kit, I might be a bit more concerned about every extra ounce I can shed, instead of being able to do a 300 rounds dump through my carbine.
 
Is it me. Or does that rate seem too fast for an AR?(actual time?) Why demo a carbine? The results are the same no matter the barrel confiquration...and an AK couldn't keep up that rate of fire with its clumsy tilting lock mag system.
It's a rifle not a support weapon. Which one would change out the barrel every two hundred rounds. Firing sustained ammo like that, just compromises your postion and rids you of ammo.
Personally, i would use solenoids to fire the weapon and close the bolt during the test.
 
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FYI an AK will self destruct from a burning front handguard long before - as well as its barrel will droop sooner as well.

Piston or No piston is not going to magically save the barrel from heat...

I'm just a civi, so maybe I am wrong, but this is wat I thought:
No, it wont help with the heat, but in the second video the failure of the automatic fire was due to gas tube rupture. Would the piston have extended the use of automatic fire? Or possibly would the piston fail due to the heat from bending or warping?
 
I'm just a civi, so maybe I am wrong, but this is wat I thought:
No, it wont help with the heat, but in the second video the failure of the automatic fire was due to gas tube rupture. Would the piston have extended the use of automatic fire? Or possibly would the piston fail due to the heat from bending or warping?

I would imagine that if the barrel drooped alot the piston rod might go out of alignment or get "stretched". Also ive seen the AK when the handguards go, how can you hold onto and shoot what has basically become a small fire, plus all the smoke?
 
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