SLR15 AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 / AR308 Armorer Course, Eau Claire WI

Greg "Sully" Sullivan

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SLR15 AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 / AR308 Armorer Course

When: February 5-6, 2019

Where: Eau Claire, Wisconsin

We conducted a 2-day (16-hour) AR-15 / M-16 / M-4 / AR308 Armorer Course that was hosted by the Chippewa Valley Technical College, at the Emergency Service Education Center. This was our sixth course here, and we look forward to more in the future. The training room offers great lighting, plenty of table space for people to spread out, and a large screen which allows us to project some powerpoint and animations onto, showing close up detailed pics of gun parts, and especially when looking at finer detail things like machining, stress cracks & wear.

This class was a mix of Law Enforcement Officers from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Rifles represented in this course were Colt, Bushmaster, DPMS, Smith & Wesson, Rock River, Ruger, Stag, DRMO M16A1's, Olympic Arms, Alexpro, DSArms, and a few home built guns.

Day-1 started the day by going through the course manual that all students are given. Students were supplied with their own set of basic tools that are necessary to do 95% of the work on their rifles (short of restocking and rebarreling, of which wrenches and sometimes fixtures are necessary), Slip2000 "EWL" Extreme Weapons Lubricant and #725 Cleaner Degreaser, etc. A short session of nomenclature was covered, at which time covered every feature and exterior piece of the rifle to include all the hidden design features that most people are not aware of, and everyone prepped the rifles for disassembly work. Everyone was taught the procedure series of checks that we recommend.

Everyone was taught our recommended way to field strip a rifle, and whey we do it this way so as not to cause damage, premature wear or stress on anything. We covered maintenance of where and what to clean, and what needs lubrication to keep it running. We showed why not to use the firing pins as tools. We showed everyone our recommendation of how to remove fouling and why, and everyone got to use our methods.

The entire bolt carrier assembly was covered, to include inspections, maintenance, upgrades, 3 types of gas rings, and differences in finishing and machining. carrier key (gas key) installation and staking, ejector systems, etc. Everyone was introduced to the different types of gas rings. We went through what each types does, and their proper installation order.

Note: One Officer had a Olympic Arms 16" barreled carbine that he had purchased from his agency when the phased them out. Upon inspection he found that his bolt was cracked at the cam pin hole. During a break he ordered a BCM replacement.

Note: When going through the ejector system, One Officers DPMS was found to have a roll pin that was sheared off at an angle. He was having a hard time getting it to move. With a little patience and the right tools,it was removed and replaced with a new one.

Note: We went through proper carrier key staking. Upon inspection people found that they had light staking where the staking that was done wasn't touching the screws on a Bushmaster, 2 DPMS carriers, a Rockriver.. There was no staking at all on a Smith & Wesson, and Ruger carriers. We supplied people with MOACKS and Sully Gas Key Staking Tools, and people put them to good work.

One Officer had brought several rifles, to include his Agencies Colt 9mm SMG. The SMG carrier was very dirty. Upon inspection he found that the extractor had probably not ever been removed, so when he did he found all the heavy fouling that was built under it. He disassembled everything and gave it a thorough cleaning.

We got into the lower receiver assemblies, starting with the fire control group (trigger group). We teach this in a building block format, starting with baby steps of getting things out and in, then build into how things work. Everyone learned how to install and remove things so you don't cause damage. We went through detailed inspections of all the sear engagement surfaces, spring types, single stage, and two stage trigger systems. At the end of the day everyone put their rifles back together, making sure that everything was in proper working order.

Note: The Colt 9mm SMG was brought to class with a note on it that it wasn't working correctly. Upon internal inspection, it was found that the trigger reset spring was missing. He was given a new spring, and upon installation he found that everything was now working correctly.

Day-2 started with a review of everything that was covered on day-1, with some greater details and myths covered. We then went back into trigger groups in great details, covering single stage, 2-stage, good and bad triggers, differences and options in spring systems, diagnosing problems when semi-auto turns into burst, and showing the differences in quality of triggers that are on the market. Once done with semi-auto trigger systems, we went into select fire trigger groups covering full-auto and burst trigger groups, to include replacement and diagnosing and repairs when experiencing malfunctions.

After trigger systems, we went through the rest of the lower receivers. Everyone in this class had collapsible stocks. We covered the proper mounting & gauging, and proper castle nut staking. Everyone stripped their lower receivers, which allowed a chance for further inspections, and we went through a session on troubleshooting. Once everyone was comfortable with the entire lower receiver assembly, the were put back together, inspected, and made sure everything is in proper working order.

Note: Several Officers found that their castle nuts on their collapsible stock systems were either loose or not staked, and several found that their stocks were misaligned. We showed how to gauge for proper alignment, and stake things into place, which everyone who needed to made the proper corrections.

We then got into a session on the timing. This is where we cover proper cycling, covering what effects timing, and how & what happens when it is out or proper time, dwell time, suppressor issues, etc, and how to get things into proper timing. When going through the timing, there were several Officers present who had rifles that had suppressors that had been experiencing fail to extract issues. Upon inspection they found that they had just installed the suppressors, but hadn't made any adjustments for the timing cycle, and now are making the changes necessary.

The last half of day-2 was spent on the upper receiver assembly. We covered barrel removal, mounting, fixturing, gauging & inspections. We show numerous ways to fixture a barrel into a vise, and our preference as to which fixtures/methods to use when and how. For demonstration purposes, we did a group hands on session and fully disassembled a barrel and front sight base from the receiver. Several Officers commented that the methods we show in how to disassemble and reassemble barrels and front sight bases was much easier that they had tried on their own. We then had them remount things, and got things back into proper working order. We showed proper torque and gauging to make sure there is nothing that would cause any stress or erosion issues. Several Officers had commented that they had rifles where the barrel nut had come loose, and that showing how to properly torque and index barrels was great to go over as it helped them understand how to do things properly.

Note: We covered how to mount a gas block, and how to use our gas block alignment fixtures to get the gas block in perfect index with the barrels gas port. Our gas block alignment fixture can also be used as a barrel dimpling fixture, where being able to countersink the gas block screws into the barrel so it doesn't slip out of alignment is a good thing. Dimpling barrels and countersinking gas block screws is the minimal thing that should be done, it is my personal preference to drill and pin gas blocks to the barrel, which is something we teach in our advanced armorer courses.

At the end of the day everyone put their rifles back together, everything was inspected and gauged to make sure it was in proper working order. Everyone did chamber inspections, checked & gauged the four gas seals, firing pin protrusion, trigger press, and headspace.

Here is a brief overview of a few things that were covered:
History of the Weapon
Cycles of Function
General Disassembly & Assembly
Identification of Common Problems and Parts
Nomenclature
Identification of Group Components
Semi, Burst, and Full Auto Parts and Conversions
Complete Armoring Disassembly / Assembly
Barrel Replacement
Cleaning and Maintenance
Sight and Distance Considerations
Ballistic Issues
Barrel: Twist, Length, and Profiles
Gas Systems & Piston Systems
Parts Interchangeability, including Brands
Headspace
Firing Pin Protrusion
Trigger Systems
Chamber Inspection and Issues
Troubleshooting, diagnosis & repair
Gauging, Inspections, Stress & Interval Issues
Accessories and Customizing
Tool Options and Selection
SOP/MOD Accessories and Additions


CY6
Greg Sullivan "Sully"
SLR15 Rifles
TheDefensiveEdge.com
(763) 712-0123
 
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