Recently got a new Springfield Saint with the free float handguard courtesy of their rewards program because I want to see if it's any good. I've played with a couple that some of my coworkers got and I think it shows promise. The driver for this project was to see if I could recommend the Saint as a sub 1K rifle for people that can't reach that FN/BCM range. Review to follow eventually, it has its own gun book so I don't get malfunction amnesia.
With that in mind, what are some methods that can be used to test this or any rifle? The first thing I'm doing, besides the obvious grouping tests, is just running it as long as I can on just the little packet of Lucas oil that came with the gun. I'll wipe it out once it slows down, and from there on I'm just going to continue to use Lucas oil on the gun. Based on experience I expect the buyer to just assume that's the best or the recommended so they'll keep buying that. I don't have Aaron Cowan's ammo budget so I'm not going to run out and do a 500 round burn down, maybe 100 sometime. Should I just run steel cased ammo to be harder on the gun? Should I only run quality ammo so that it can succeed or fail on its own? Should I drag it around on the family farm for a few days while I'm working out there to get it dusty/dirty/grimy? I'm merely a wanna be operator, it will be a while before I could take it to a rifle course and run it through there. I don't want to go bury it in the mud or drag it behind a truck because I'm not trying to break it. I don't feel those types of tests have application in this case. If you disagree let me know, I have no monetary investment in this rifle so I'm willing to try to hurt it if I am shown a good case for it. Tell me what you think, what things you have seen choke guns in the past, or if there are metrics you use for your own rifles, etc.
With that in mind, what are some methods that can be used to test this or any rifle? The first thing I'm doing, besides the obvious grouping tests, is just running it as long as I can on just the little packet of Lucas oil that came with the gun. I'll wipe it out once it slows down, and from there on I'm just going to continue to use Lucas oil on the gun. Based on experience I expect the buyer to just assume that's the best or the recommended so they'll keep buying that. I don't have Aaron Cowan's ammo budget so I'm not going to run out and do a 500 round burn down, maybe 100 sometime. Should I just run steel cased ammo to be harder on the gun? Should I only run quality ammo so that it can succeed or fail on its own? Should I drag it around on the family farm for a few days while I'm working out there to get it dusty/dirty/grimy? I'm merely a wanna be operator, it will be a while before I could take it to a rifle course and run it through there. I don't want to go bury it in the mud or drag it behind a truck because I'm not trying to break it. I don't feel those types of tests have application in this case. If you disagree let me know, I have no monetary investment in this rifle so I'm willing to try to hurt it if I am shown a good case for it. Tell me what you think, what things you have seen choke guns in the past, or if there are metrics you use for your own rifles, etc.