Will Larson, a.k.a. M4Carbine.net moderator Iraqgunz, of Semper Paratus Arms held a 2 day AR15 Armorer Course at the Marana PD on 10/29 and 10/30.
This was my first armorer's course and I found it extremely informative. The information was well laid out and easy to understand. There was a lot of emphasis on using the right tool for the job and explanations were given on what the proper tools were and why. We learned how to completely take apart our rifles and re-assemble them, but more class time was devoted to lowers versus uppers.
There was also a discussion about which companies tend to produce better quality AR15 rifles. All companies make mistakes, but the good ones tend to make fewer mistakes due to more stringent quality controls.
Will has a bag labeled "Shit Parts" that has junk parts that he has collected over the various classes that he's held. I believe he said we were his fourth class.
I contributed an aluminum gas block to this bag of parts. Over three years ago, I had a local company install a free float rail and Y/M aluminum gas block for my M&P15 ORC. For all intents and purposes, the gun has run very well and been through several carbine courses with minimal malfunctions. The total round count on the gun is estimated at 7-8K. However, the aluminum gas block that was installed was starting to leak gas (after 6-7K rounds), and it was especially bad when the gun got hot. So much, so that my support hand actually gets burned during long strings of fire. We ended up replacing this aluminum one for a steel one. Will also took care of me by contributing a couple of serrated set screws to help keep the gas block in place.
Will stressed that we should bring in our duty guns or defensive guns to the class. This was the best way that issues could be detected. A number of people found that their gas keys were not staked, or weakly staked. They got taken care of with a MOACKS. Upon disassembling my lower, I found a blown primer sitting under my fire control group. Good thing that this was caught before I had a problem when the gun was needed.
Despite not being as "sexy" as taking a shooting class, the Semper Paratus Armorers course is important for all AR enthusiasts. It is part of being "Always Prepared" (Semper Paratus), as training with the gun is just as important as knowledge on how to maintain the gun. It was money well spent!
Thanks to Sionics for helping to promote the class. Also thanks to Jeff Morris of LEO Armory (leoarmory.com) for contributing some schwag for the class participants.
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