Rifle Notes

21 Sept 09

Urban Rifle Notes, from a Course in PA last weekend:

(1) A student shooting an M1 Carbine suddenly experienced a stubborn failure-to-feed.

Examination revealed the problem:

Magazines were charged from a box of S&B hardball. Mixed in with 30M1 ammunition was a single 38Spl round! It looks similar enough that it took us several minuted to figure out what was happening. This is the second time I 've seen this with S&B ammunition. The first time, 222 Remington rounds were mixed in with 223 Remington!

Not my favorite brand!

(2) To my surprise and puzzlement, my 7.62X39 XCR suddenly started to hiccup. All my XCRs are wonderfully reliable, and I was unsure what was happening. I thought I may have broken an internal part.

Nothing nearly so exciting, as it turns out! The problem was that the single bolt that holds the barrel in place had loosened. When we tightened it back up, the rifle resumed normal functioning.

When I subsequently talked with Alex Robinson, he confirmed that the barrel-bolt should be checked regularly. It needs to be "hand tight, then seventy degrees more (1/4 turn)."

(3) In addition, Alex recommended, "... gas valve should be set so brass is thrown fifteen feet. When you're throwing brass forty feet, you'll regularly consume recoil buffers."

Sure enough, examination revealed that the rubber recoil buffer on my XCR was badly chewed-up. Easily replaced, and the rifle will run fine without it, but my rifle's gas valve had been closed all the way, and the weapon it sees a lot of use.

I learned a few things about it last weekend! The XCR is a superior system, and I recommend it, but, as with any military rifle, users need to be familiar with all important issues.

/John