More LWRC gun-porn

[ikor]

LWRC makes very nice rifles, no doubt and they seem to hold up well under lots of shooting. Pat Rogers, whose name some here will recognize, does a lot of carbine classes (EAG Tactical) and used several of these as loaner rifles last year. His take on them is that they work very well and IIRC he had no less than 20-30,000rd on each rifle with very few instances of any breakage An excellent article by Pat on care and cleaning of the standard AR systems here...

http://www.ar15.com/content/swat/keepitrunning.pdf

Personally I have yet to be convinced of any great advantage the piston systems have over the high quality DI systems out there. The springs and pistons used are, by necessity, small, and while they may not 'apparently' foul as much as a DI system, in practical use they do not seem to run all that much smoother or better...certainly not enough so to be worth the price of a second, high quality, DI rifle or (in the case of the H&K) several more. Another issue is parts availability, even here in the states. In SA, parts for a non-standard AR system would seem to be a huge issue if one really planned on shooting the weapon a lot. No doubt that use with a suppressor would favor the piston system but how much are you really going to use the can?

The standard DI system rifles are not all that sensitive nor do they require quite the level of care and cleaning some seem to believe IF they are put together correctly with top tier parts by someone who knows what the Hell they are doing, See Pat's article above for more on that as well as proper lubrication, which is critical. (also echoed by Larry Vickers at his website)

The issue of barrel length is another can of worms. I have a friend who has an 11.5in setup and while it runs very well, it cannot change the fact that the small 5.56 round depends upon velocity for good performance. For close range work or escort use inside a vehicle, the short barreled guns will do fine but for an all around carbine I would never use less than a 14.5in barrel, especially if (as those depending on current US issue ammo do) using the 62gr M855 round. Here that is not a huge problem...just get two uppers and switch when you want or need the shorter barrel. In SA I would think that might be a nightmare to try and get two uppers approved, but perhaps I am wrong there.

[Thorkind]

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003908.html
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003909.html?wh=wh

I think there may be something to pistons in extreme environments. Having said that, I'm by no means an expert on the AR. I agree that parts for a system like this will be an issue. my .02c

[DS]

Ikor thanks for the insight and the link to the Pat Rogers article.

I understand that the Short Piston System on the LWRC makes the gun run cooler and cleaner and LWRC states 20,000 rnds or more barrel life which is good for us here .

I do not think the parts issue will be worse for us here in SA than for a gas impinged AR and one would surely have to make provision for the most commonly needed spares.

For the AR the commonly needed spares can be obtained. Serious damage to the gun is definitely going to be a problem here.

[cz777]

Ikor thanks for the insight and the link to the Pat Rogers article.

I understand that the Short Piston System on the LWRC makes the gun run cooler and cleaner and LWRC states 20,000 rnds or more barrel life which is good for us here .

I do not think the parts issue will be worse for us here in SA than for a gas impinged AR and one would surely have to make provision for the most commonly needed spares.

For the AR the commonly needed spares can be obtained. Serious damage to the gun is definitely going to be a problem here.

the repr is a very nice weapon platform but the barrel into the upper is a interference fit set up with a long extension of the barrel without barrel nut ...i have owned one for the last 3 years -its not like an ar 10 platform like dpms but some parts will interchange ....m6 uppers are very nice as well.... very low maintenance on all of them the repr will do less than 1/2 moa with match ammo not like sr-25 which is high end junk !!