
Originally Posted by
HolyRoller
jmart, that can depend on the department you're in. I don't know about others, but I'll tell you about mine, which is a rural sheriff's office of about 45 paid deputies and 15 volunteer auxiliary deputies, including me. In NC, auxiliary/reserve officers have the same arrest powers, the same basic and in-service training, and the same state certification requirement as full-timers; the only difference is how much you work and if you get paid. Hopefully I'll be going into a paid position later this year but I'm mighty glad to be in LE any way I can do it. We serve a county of 32,000 population spread out over 865 square miles and 900-odd miles of road, depending on how many private drives you count. Most of the time it's pretty calm but stuff DOES happen, and you never know when or to whom it will happen, so we try to be prepared.
For the full-timers, the department issues each one an M4gery, which stays in the deputy's take-home car. So, each deputy can clean/lube/maintain, or not, their carbine as much or little as they want. Everybody's carbine is guaranteed one thorough cleaning per year at annual qualification. We have a classroom session on the law of lethal force, shoot day and night qual, and then clean weapons before we're allowed to go home. At the last qual, I don't recall any emphasis on proper lube. We have another qual in two months and if nobody says anything official, I might mention to those around me that plenty of lube in the gas ports would be a good idea, and will probably get responses to the effect that it will drip out from the ceiling rack. How well our carbines work in the real world no one knows, since we have not had an OIS with them. How much everybody else cleans/maintains/lubes theirs, I don't know and am afraid to ask.
For the auxiliaries, if we want rifles, we have to buy and keep them ourselves. This is fine with me, because I get to buy what's good and maintain it regularly. I keep my M&P-15 in my POV, in a case with a side pocket big enough to serve as a general "war bag" with more ammo, statute book, gloves, traffic vest, and other handy items. When I go on duty, I just turn on the Short Dot and stow my rifle case and plate carrier (which actually has plates in it, Level IV) in the trunk of the senior deputy I'm riding with. My rifle is a bit scratched-up from the BFG sling's pull tab but it sure is lubed enough to where you can smell the CLP with the case zipped up. Yes, I know I need to get Slip 2000.
Everybody with a carbine is issued 50 rounds of Winchester White Box 55FMJ, part number USA223R1, which I call "M193 with brain damage" because Winchester's spec sheet lists it as 200fps slower than Q3131. At least both loads use the same bullet so I hope the 55FMJ fragmentation effect will work as advertised at any range we're likely to need it. Anyway, the important part is hitting a vital area and that's MY responsibility, so I don't get wrapped around the axle over what exact rocks they give me to throw.
The only required live fire is 100 rounds at qual, which is shooting at ye olde B-27 at ranges from 100 to 25 yards. You want practice ammo? Get a day job and buy some. Business has been up and down at my day job, limiting my live-fire to maybe 50 rounds/month this year, but dryfire and transition drills are free, and business is picking up. I had three stoppages at the only carbine class I've been able to take so far, but one was definitely my fault--I wasn't aware until then that if you slam mags too hard during an open-bolt reload, you can bounce the top rounds out. Now that I know about proper lube, I haven't had any stoppages in backyard practice, but that's not a very good test. I need another class, and soon.
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