8 Aug 03

HBAR and Tritium sights from an LEO friend in the Midwest:

"We got HBAR versions of Armalite AR-15s. The rifles are heavy and forward balanced. If he had to do it all over again, we would get standard barrels. Guns promises from Armalite in ninety days actually took nine months to deliver.

Better luck with Bushmaster. We purchased Bushmaster M4s for our beat cars. Other than a cracked gas tube and a couple of gas keys working loose, we've had good luck with them. We got front sights with tritium inserts in them for use in low light, but there is a problem. If the lighting conditions are such that the sun is over your shoulder, the light reflects off the glass cell in the tritium sight, distorting your sight picture and usually causing you to shoot high. It wasn't really an issue until I got past 100m. Annoying, however."

Comment: We've also had good luck with Bushmaster and DPMS. Less than good luck with other brands. Tritium sights are fine, but, as with everything else, there are drawbacks.

/John

8 Aug 03

TiAIN Coating

"I just had a 1911 treated with TiAIN (titanium aluminum nitride) by Molecular Metallurgy here in CA. My Colt is now a uniform, dark matte charcoal gray, almost black. Job was great, but I ordered a matte finish on all parts.

I should have specified a polished finish on the barrel throat and feed ramp. When I first took the old Colt to the range to test fire it, it wouldn't feed anything, not even hardball! Rounds kept hanging up on the matte finished feed ramp.

When I got it home, I tried to clean up the feed ramp with a Dremel buffing wheel and some polishing grit, but couldn't make any progress. It seems about the only thing that will scratch TiAlN is more of the same. So now my final cleaning procedure for the Colt is to manually cycle half a dozen or so hardball rounds through it to 'lube' the feed ramp. As long as I do that, it remains reliable."

Comment: When you have something done to a serious gun, but sure that the people doing the work know what the gun is for and that you life may depend on it . All serious guns need to be thoroughly tested before being placed into service. The world is full of surprises!

/John