matshock
06-15-2005, 08:15 PM
06/15/2005
Short version: Good product for hot/dry/dusty/possibly mild environments.
The Detail:
First a little background-
I live and shoot in/near Las Vegas.
I purchased an ASA A2. I know the reputation but for $550.00 including three mags and 300 rounds I couldn't pass it up. On my first range trip I had two problems:
1. After heating to operating temps would not fully strip round 29 when starting with 30 in the mag.
2. After heating to operating temps failed to extract both brass and steel cased ammo about 1 out of 10 shots.
I made two observations/hypotheses:
1. The new mag springs I had all around were maybe too stiff for reliable feed from a full mag
2. The CLP had completely dried from the action by around two hundred rounds
That being the case, I did some research and:
1. Left all mags fully loaded for a month
2. Bought some Militec-1
The day before my trip to the Boulder City Rifle and Pistol Range outside of Las Vegas I thoroughly cleaned and degreased my ASA A2 with Prestone non-chlorinated brake cleaner (except for the gas tube, which I left alone). This stuff works surprisingly well- it even appeared to de-copper the barrel to a good degree.
I left the action disassembled for the trip to the range.
The review:
Once at the range, I laid out six full mags of Wolf and my disassembled AR15 action on the bench along with a large bottle of Militec-1 (M1 hereafter for brevity) and a bag of cloth patches.
I followed the instructions set forth by M1 and took some queues from the DEA service manual posted on M1's website.
I gave the disassembled bolt a good coating of M1 and re-assembled. I also coated the firing pin, the cam pin, the bolt carrier inside and out, the charging handle and the inside of the upper receiver. Finally, I ran a patch lightly wetted with M1 down the barrel after rubbing the chamber with it a little.
Important note: also coat the cam pin slide cut in the bolt carrier- this is a major source of friction for bolt movement.
I still used a little CLP for the buffer assembly because I think it likely won't get hot enough during operation for the M1 to activate.
I then re-assembled and set to firing. After 60 rounds over about 10 minutes the M1 had dried into the metal everywhere except the receiver itself- this may be due the anodized finish.
I stripped the action again, and wiped the parts with dry patches, noticing that the soot was coming off quite easily. I re-applied a slightly thinner coating of M1 again (bringing a little more soot off during the process and not worrying about it) and set to firing another sixty rounds.
I repeated the process one more time for a total of three times.
Important note: I did not at any time allow the rifle to cool during the process; except for the barrel all the parts were quite comfortable to handle.
During the whole affair, I had only one malfunction- round 60 got stripped from my oldest, beat up mag without getting chambered. It was just sitting on top of the empty mag with bolt held open. I simply tilted the rifle and it rolled out. I will keep an eye on that mag.
After all that I went through another 180 rounds without incident with the same magazines- a mixture of Wolf and RG surplus.
Finally, I disassembled- cleaned the action with dry patches and the chamber/barrel with brake cleaner, put a light film of M1 on everything again and put away.
While 180 rounds after the coating does not constitute an exhaustive test I will say the following:
1. The metal takes on a dry, matte shine after the second coating and heating, and while it doesn't feel slick on skin- metal on metal it appears to be quite well lubricated even though it is dry.
2. I did notice that even though I was shooting at a more aggressive rate than my first outing that the receiver wasn't getting nearly as hot as it was with the CLP- even when CLP was still visible on the action. On top of that, the ambient air temp was quite a bit more that it was 1.75 months ago on my first outing.
3. Fouling comes off quite easily from all parts coated with M1 simply by rubbing a dry patch or rag on them. Rubbing a M1 wetted patch takes off a little more fouling leaving a film and a pretty clean surface.
4. This way of cleaning was FAST- takes less than 20 minutes barrel included and leaves a functionally clean, lubricated rifle.
The only negative I found in my research is that M1 will not necessarily protect a rifle very well from rust, so if I were in a humid/wet environment I would want to take a closer look at using it.
Next time out I am going to run a full 500 rounds through it without any intermediate cleaning and if results are flawless I am going to call my ASA A2 combat ready and give her a name. I will post my results.
In the meantime, I am very satisfied with my purchase and would recommend giving it a try.
Short version: Good product for hot/dry/dusty/possibly mild environments.
The Detail:
First a little background-
I live and shoot in/near Las Vegas.
I purchased an ASA A2. I know the reputation but for $550.00 including three mags and 300 rounds I couldn't pass it up. On my first range trip I had two problems:
1. After heating to operating temps would not fully strip round 29 when starting with 30 in the mag.
2. After heating to operating temps failed to extract both brass and steel cased ammo about 1 out of 10 shots.
I made two observations/hypotheses:
1. The new mag springs I had all around were maybe too stiff for reliable feed from a full mag
2. The CLP had completely dried from the action by around two hundred rounds
That being the case, I did some research and:
1. Left all mags fully loaded for a month
2. Bought some Militec-1
The day before my trip to the Boulder City Rifle and Pistol Range outside of Las Vegas I thoroughly cleaned and degreased my ASA A2 with Prestone non-chlorinated brake cleaner (except for the gas tube, which I left alone). This stuff works surprisingly well- it even appeared to de-copper the barrel to a good degree.
I left the action disassembled for the trip to the range.
The review:
Once at the range, I laid out six full mags of Wolf and my disassembled AR15 action on the bench along with a large bottle of Militec-1 (M1 hereafter for brevity) and a bag of cloth patches.
I followed the instructions set forth by M1 and took some queues from the DEA service manual posted on M1's website.
I gave the disassembled bolt a good coating of M1 and re-assembled. I also coated the firing pin, the cam pin, the bolt carrier inside and out, the charging handle and the inside of the upper receiver. Finally, I ran a patch lightly wetted with M1 down the barrel after rubbing the chamber with it a little.
Important note: also coat the cam pin slide cut in the bolt carrier- this is a major source of friction for bolt movement.
I still used a little CLP for the buffer assembly because I think it likely won't get hot enough during operation for the M1 to activate.
I then re-assembled and set to firing. After 60 rounds over about 10 minutes the M1 had dried into the metal everywhere except the receiver itself- this may be due the anodized finish.
I stripped the action again, and wiped the parts with dry patches, noticing that the soot was coming off quite easily. I re-applied a slightly thinner coating of M1 again (bringing a little more soot off during the process and not worrying about it) and set to firing another sixty rounds.
I repeated the process one more time for a total of three times.
Important note: I did not at any time allow the rifle to cool during the process; except for the barrel all the parts were quite comfortable to handle.
During the whole affair, I had only one malfunction- round 60 got stripped from my oldest, beat up mag without getting chambered. It was just sitting on top of the empty mag with bolt held open. I simply tilted the rifle and it rolled out. I will keep an eye on that mag.
After all that I went through another 180 rounds without incident with the same magazines- a mixture of Wolf and RG surplus.
Finally, I disassembled- cleaned the action with dry patches and the chamber/barrel with brake cleaner, put a light film of M1 on everything again and put away.
While 180 rounds after the coating does not constitute an exhaustive test I will say the following:
1. The metal takes on a dry, matte shine after the second coating and heating, and while it doesn't feel slick on skin- metal on metal it appears to be quite well lubricated even though it is dry.
2. I did notice that even though I was shooting at a more aggressive rate than my first outing that the receiver wasn't getting nearly as hot as it was with the CLP- even when CLP was still visible on the action. On top of that, the ambient air temp was quite a bit more that it was 1.75 months ago on my first outing.
3. Fouling comes off quite easily from all parts coated with M1 simply by rubbing a dry patch or rag on them. Rubbing a M1 wetted patch takes off a little more fouling leaving a film and a pretty clean surface.
4. This way of cleaning was FAST- takes less than 20 minutes barrel included and leaves a functionally clean, lubricated rifle.
The only negative I found in my research is that M1 will not necessarily protect a rifle very well from rust, so if I were in a humid/wet environment I would want to take a closer look at using it.
Next time out I am going to run a full 500 rounds through it without any intermediate cleaning and if results are flawless I am going to call my ASA A2 combat ready and give her a name. I will post my results.
In the meantime, I am very satisfied with my purchase and would recommend giving it a try.