Pat_Rogers
03-27-07, 04:13
EAG conducted a Industry Special Carbine Operators class for my friends at Crye and Eagle- plus a few others.
The class started off with overcast that turned into a light but steady rain that melted targets and caused the Crye 16 pax ford to turn into a people powered behemoth that required people pushing to get it off of the range.
TD2 started out with a continuation of the rain, and the previous days problems with mud (no gun will run w/ mud in the chamber) was rectified when Harlan Williamson opened up his Fredrick County Firearms store to permit the class to clean out guns and mags in relative comfort.
TD3 was (of course) beautiful.......
The Crye guys had 2 who had never fired before, and 4 who had minimal experience. Scott Carver and Todd Kennedy of Eagle are accomplished shooters, and the others attending were likewise experienced.
One brand new Stoner did not run at all, probably because of a poor gas block. He finished with one of my Colts.
Another shooter had an Armalite which ran like a sewing machine. Caleb's bushamster like wise just keeps running, class after class.
One of my older big hole Colt lowers requires an offset pin. The 5th of the dpms offset pins that i bought 2 years ago once more broke- and she finished using Mike's MRP.
The remainder of the class used Colt's; Colt lowers with Noveske, Larue or BCM uppers; LMT lowers w/ Noveske uppers, or Stag lowers with Colt uppers.
One BCM Command upper has over 5k rounds through it without a single burp.
The 18 shooters fired between 1200-1600+ 5.56 and 200+ pistol (depending on the relay.
I put 14 Pmags in the class, and my experience with them is that they are very good to go. We had one mag that was a problem. However, Jose figured out that he was actually loading 31 into the mag (and probably could have loaded 32). When correctly loaded w/ 30- it ran fine. With 31, it sucked.
In police work, we call this a clue....
One shooter had all brand new CPmags. None worked. We replaced them with HK mags and the gun ran fine.
We believe that the feed lips may have been out of spec causing the BC to drag across them.
Crye bought a bunch of new Brownell's mags, of which a number would not drop free (i don't recall exact numbers).
One student was using 6 of my new Brownells mags which worked fine (as did the other 34 from that same lot i purchased last year.
Don't fall in love with your mags- individual mags may/ may not be problematic.
No ammo related problems as Crye/ Eagle used red box Fed- some of the guests used M855. No steel cased, no 4th world surplus and no XM anything. Whew....
One of my loaner EOTechs went down for the 5th (and probably final) time. Once more, and as always, corrosion in the battery box, weak battery springs, a crushed contact nipple and a crushed battery buffer.
Truthfully, this sight has over 30K rds through it, and is past its useful service life.
Many thanks to Mike Hueser for his hard work, and to Jonny Laplume who came out to play but who jumped into work anyway.
Jonny is finished with USG service, and is now Director of R&D for ADS, a Prime Vendor.
Mega kudos also to Harlan Williamson, Jose, Rusty and one other for their input and assistance.
Thanks to the owners of The Cove for the use of their land while WX related issues with the real range are sorted out.
The Crye guys did well for a number of reasons. One was they are a team, and they had some pre training administered by Caleb in NY prior to the class. The other was a commonality of purpose and the resulting peer pressure which sorted out a bunch of potential issues during breaks and at the end of the day.
They jocked up with armor/ LBE upon arrival, and kept it on until we secured at the end of the day>
While these classes are fun, they also provide direct input for what Crye and Eagle do for the guys in the fight. Being able to function in a training environment enhances their ability to design and make kit that will be used by the good guys as they continue to eradicate the islamihajifacists.
We are looking forward to the next one.
Pics an more on Alumni.
The class started off with overcast that turned into a light but steady rain that melted targets and caused the Crye 16 pax ford to turn into a people powered behemoth that required people pushing to get it off of the range.
TD2 started out with a continuation of the rain, and the previous days problems with mud (no gun will run w/ mud in the chamber) was rectified when Harlan Williamson opened up his Fredrick County Firearms store to permit the class to clean out guns and mags in relative comfort.
TD3 was (of course) beautiful.......
The Crye guys had 2 who had never fired before, and 4 who had minimal experience. Scott Carver and Todd Kennedy of Eagle are accomplished shooters, and the others attending were likewise experienced.
One brand new Stoner did not run at all, probably because of a poor gas block. He finished with one of my Colts.
Another shooter had an Armalite which ran like a sewing machine. Caleb's bushamster like wise just keeps running, class after class.
One of my older big hole Colt lowers requires an offset pin. The 5th of the dpms offset pins that i bought 2 years ago once more broke- and she finished using Mike's MRP.
The remainder of the class used Colt's; Colt lowers with Noveske, Larue or BCM uppers; LMT lowers w/ Noveske uppers, or Stag lowers with Colt uppers.
One BCM Command upper has over 5k rounds through it without a single burp.
The 18 shooters fired between 1200-1600+ 5.56 and 200+ pistol (depending on the relay.
I put 14 Pmags in the class, and my experience with them is that they are very good to go. We had one mag that was a problem. However, Jose figured out that he was actually loading 31 into the mag (and probably could have loaded 32). When correctly loaded w/ 30- it ran fine. With 31, it sucked.
In police work, we call this a clue....
One shooter had all brand new CPmags. None worked. We replaced them with HK mags and the gun ran fine.
We believe that the feed lips may have been out of spec causing the BC to drag across them.
Crye bought a bunch of new Brownell's mags, of which a number would not drop free (i don't recall exact numbers).
One student was using 6 of my new Brownells mags which worked fine (as did the other 34 from that same lot i purchased last year.
Don't fall in love with your mags- individual mags may/ may not be problematic.
No ammo related problems as Crye/ Eagle used red box Fed- some of the guests used M855. No steel cased, no 4th world surplus and no XM anything. Whew....
One of my loaner EOTechs went down for the 5th (and probably final) time. Once more, and as always, corrosion in the battery box, weak battery springs, a crushed contact nipple and a crushed battery buffer.
Truthfully, this sight has over 30K rds through it, and is past its useful service life.
Many thanks to Mike Hueser for his hard work, and to Jonny Laplume who came out to play but who jumped into work anyway.
Jonny is finished with USG service, and is now Director of R&D for ADS, a Prime Vendor.
Mega kudos also to Harlan Williamson, Jose, Rusty and one other for their input and assistance.
Thanks to the owners of The Cove for the use of their land while WX related issues with the real range are sorted out.
The Crye guys did well for a number of reasons. One was they are a team, and they had some pre training administered by Caleb in NY prior to the class. The other was a commonality of purpose and the resulting peer pressure which sorted out a bunch of potential issues during breaks and at the end of the day.
They jocked up with armor/ LBE upon arrival, and kept it on until we secured at the end of the day>
While these classes are fun, they also provide direct input for what Crye and Eagle do for the guys in the fight. Being able to function in a training environment enhances their ability to design and make kit that will be used by the good guys as they continue to eradicate the islamihajifacists.
We are looking forward to the next one.
Pics an more on Alumni.