Originally Posted by
PGW Steve
This is not true. While we did use the Cadex chassis on our .50's at one point, they did offer to replace items that failed.
Completely false. When we did the CF contract 15 years ago, they provided us with a QA rep from CFB Winnipeg who was always present to verify quality. There were many trips made to the range, and every single rifle was fired by a person (Ross) in the heat and horse flies of the summer, and the cold and wind of the winter. Each rifle had to fire a Lapua supplied proof round, be zeroed at 100M, and then fire 3, five shot groups at 300. Back at the shop and each target was measured by the QA rep and the data put into an Excel program that was supplied by the Project Manager of the C14 program. It wasn't a simple measure the MOA and good to go situation, it was calculated hit probability on a Fig. 11 at 1250M. The CF spec was for a 90% hit probability, and throughout the almost 5000 rounds fired, in conditions, ALL of the rifles averaged 96.8%, well in excess of the customers requirement.
The CF in it's infinite wisdom requested ammo with tar or whatever sealant on the case mouth for water proofing. Not sure if you're much of a shooter and understand how neck tension affects things, but varying amounts of black goop don't help. A rifle is only part of the system, ammo comes into the equation too. I believe they had some ammo issues, but don't know the results of what they figured out as we are not the manufacturer of the ammo.
See above.
You are correct, no Cadex was involved in the C14 project. See above comments regarding accuracy, every rifle exceeded the CF specification by a wide margin. IIRC we still have all of the targets, and for sure all of the accuracy data. In the first and second trials, we absolutely beat the pants off of all of the competing rifles in the accuracy department. The first trial that was scraped for an administrative reason, they put the word 'diameter' instead of 'radius' for the accuracy standard at 800M. It called for 90% hits on a 100mm DIAMETER circle instead of a 200mm diameter circle, basically they wanted head shots at 800m. We had 60% of the rounds in a 4" group at 800m, and plotting the data showed 98% hit inside the 8" circle. Nobody came close, nobody. They scraped trial one, and did trial two. We won this trial again.
Blown up guns, what a joke. Colt Canada was in charge of testing the rifles when they were accepted. They tested barrel life over a period of 2500 rounds using gauge rods and precision ground balls. They also did destructive testing with high speed video, I have the test report, AND the high speed video on my computer right now. The first destructive test, was to lodge a 250gr projectile in the barrel, 6 inches from the muzzle, then fire a live round. The barrel did rupture, as any barrel would. The firing pin, spring and cocking piece came back due to the pressure, and upon slamming back into the action, broke the trigger. These tests were conducted with witness paper set up to simulate a Sniper and a Spotter and the spec was NO debris was to penetrate the paper, none did. The next test was to put a 250gr projectile, lodged into the throat and then fire a full power round behind it. POW! NO DAMAGE, except for the firing pin spring was compressed, and the sear broken in the trigger. The words of the Colt Canada executive at the time was they had never seen any rifle survive this test. Not only did it survive, they repeated this same bullet lodged in the throat test six more times and failed to damage the rifle beyond springs and triggers. They replaced the barrel on that rifle and it continued on to be the mule for the 2500 round accuracy test.
No operational rifle has ever been returned to us in an unusable condition, never mind 'blown up', 'but it happened'. Stop. Yes we did buy more equipment, move into a larger facility, and hire/train more people. Caught off guard with such a large order, not really, we knew it was going to be a lot of work but we did it. We were never short money to purchase equipment, or buy materials. They never injected any more money than the original bid, which was much too low honestly. When I see the price paid for the latest Colt semi auto .308, I almost shipped my pants. I wish we got that much.
Double the cost, hahahahahaha that is another joke!! More internet BS rumors!! The whole process also included a financial bid, every rifle delivered cost exactly what was bid. There were no cost over-runs, not 1 cent. I wish I knew then what I knew now about dealing with a government procurement system. Build in a LOT of extra money here and there to cover off the some of the ridiculous things that pop up. They go out of their way to ensure you make as little as possible, they even audit you to make sure you didn't make too much money.
Thank you to the customers posting positive experiences in this thread, and especially to Wanstalls for your support. I wish these rumors would go away, but you know the saying.....If you don't hear the rumor by noon, start it yourself.....
Posting Permissions
