Sunday 29 July 2012

GSG-5

GSG-5s are considered a MP5 variant in Canada. As a result they are prohibited. I have been reluctant to do reviews of some of the other “Tactical 22s” that are available in Canada because I don’t want to be accused of bias. Well the GSG-5 can not be obtained in Canada and it will never compete with the S2 (as I do not export) so I have taken the time to research this rifle and once again it seems that the hype over a under-priced, airsoft grade 22 was just that… hype.
This is not truly my evaluation; I have only handled the GSG-5 once and only for a few minutes. I created this paper using several online reviews of the GSG-5 done by our American cousins and by evaluating technical data.

The GSG-5 is a dedicated rimfire .22LR rifle. The rifle is built to reflect nearly every detail of the MP5 Navy model. After a Trade Dress Infringement lawsuit against GSG, all new production GSG-5s have AR style “rabbit ear” sights which detracts from one of the major selling features of this gun.
The Commifornia legal version has a long barrel covered by a fake suppressor. The fake suppressor is removable and reveals a long slender barrel.
To save on design time and money, the rifle was engineered to use airsoft accessories; accessories that are much cheaper then their real counterparts. A user in the US reports getting a new GSG-5 and upon opening the box and attempting to place the stock on the rifle, the stock sheared in half immediately. Perhaps GSG felt rimfire ammo is cheap so the rifle should be too? The same user reports that the stock issue can easily be remedied by using an epoxy meant for plastics. In my opinion, having to repair a brand new gun before it is ever used is a disgusting show of poor quality and disdain for the end user and his hard earned money.

Multiple GSG-5 users report that the gun is accurate. One user reports that he was able to get 1.5 inch groups at 25 yards using optics. The same user assesses that the rifle is a 4.3 MOA rifle at 25-50 yards with any brand of ammo. The user is unclear as to what shooting position he used but I am assuming it was from the standing position. The users that wrote reviews were also not clear on how large their accuracy test fire samples were. I am curious what prolonged firing and heat does to the accuracy as the barrel is reported to be light and “slender”.

The "HK" slap can be used to operate the gun but it will leave a slight dent in the slot where the cocking handle hooks into. The rifle has a magazine disconnect meaning you have to place an empty magazine in the gun just to decock it. As a side note, owners of the GSG-5 should take care not to loose the red chamber tab the rifle ships with. Dry fring the weapon may harm the firing pin. The 10/22 bolt is superior as it can be dry fired.

Multiple users had issues with durability. Factory screws were reported as terrible; it used screws that can only be adjusted with the provided tool and made out of a soft aluminum that strips easily. One user corrected this problem by purchasing an after-market screw set with Allen bolts and also put in some HK pushpins for easier field stripping. Other users report that after 700 rounds many of the screws would start to work their way lose. The solution was to apply Loctite.

The last round fired will activate a bolt catch device. These don't have a bolt catch button like ARs or MP5/.40s do. You have to manually re-cock to close the bolt. I don’t consider this to be a big issue but some GSG-5 users complained bitterly about it.

Another issue with the GSGs and their reliability, seems to be the ejector. The ejector is housed in the big breech block assembly, it's a piece of stamped steel that was originally peened poorly to the wall of the bolt carrier. On older GSGs, these would loosen and quickly make the gun incapable of ejecting spent shells.
Fortunately, the newest GSGs are coming with the ejector riveted straight from the factory in Germany.

After viewing multiple videos of the GSG-5 firing, I can only conclude that during firing the bolt moves backwards a fair distance before engaging the extra spring tension of the hammer. What that means is the chamber opens prematurely and a lot of gas is lost diminishing the potential velocity and performance of the round. In the 10/22, the action needs to overcome the inertia of the bolt return spring and the hammer spring right away, slowing the opening time and trapping more gas in the barrel to push the round faster. Both methods work but one is better then the other.

I also managed to get a hold of the GSG catalog from the 2011 Shot Show in Las Vegas. I looked at the components and options that they sell. In my time doing foreign sourcing I have learned what factories in China build what items. What upsets me is they tout this as a German made gun. Perhaps it is assembled in Germany but the components are from China. I can prove this.
Why not buy American or Canadian? Keep gun manufacturing and jobs here? Why export your money to China?

Luckily this rifle will never appear in Canada. I read the laments of those who hate the RCMP for the prohibited classification (on CGN) but they have done us all a favor. If you want a toy, go buy an airsoft gun. If you want a real gun for real practice that will not break the bank, look elsewhere; the GSG-5 is not for you.

Saturday 28 July 2012

223/556 and the AR15 Barrel

In the world of the AR15, shorter is cooler.  This runs contrary to everything else in life.  Guys want giant trucks, giant houses, giant dogs, big big big!  Even in firearm calibers there are those that would rather have giant calibers such as 458 SOCOM or 50 Beowulf.  Yet when it comes to the AR15 it seems that the opposite holds true or should I say, the opposite holds false  - The AR15 is something where size actually does matter either in a bigger caliber or a longer barrel.

The original M16/AR15 had a 20 inch barrel.  With the 55grain rounds of the time they would achieve a muzzle velocity of 3259 feet per second.  It was determined at the rifle’s conception that a velocity no less than 3000 feet per second would be needed to achieve fragmentation and thus maximum lethality in the 55grain M193 round.

During the Vietnam conflict Special Operation Groups or SOG Teams would conduct clandestine operations in Vietnam ranging from black propaganda to direct action.  A shorter, handier rifle was developed to lighten the load and compensate for SOG’s long term reconnaissance patrols and for rear echelon troops not needing a full rifle.  The new M4 Carbine had a barrel length of roughly 14.5” giving a muzzle velocity just a touch over the needed 3000 ft/s.  This meant that the M4 could rarely have the needed velocity past 100 meter mark to achieve the lethality that the round was developed for.  With this limitation a new round was developed.  The slower moving but longer 62 grain round designated the SS109 was a fair way to fix some of the fragmentation problems.  It may seem counter intuitive, but the longer SS109 (although slower) would fragment easier as it was a longer bullet.  Think of it as trying to break a short stick and trying to break a longer stick – the longer acts as a better lever and snaps easier.

So the M4 was…. Well….. better now that it had a new round but after the battle of Mogadishu, Delta reported that their M4 carbines had little effect on the Somalis.  They often switched to their heavy hitting 1911s to bring the insurgents down.  It was forgotten that simply having a longer barrel on the M4 would of given them back the lethality that their rifles needed.

USSOCOM found that the higher unlock pressures generated by the shorter M4 gas system, caused premature wear on the rifle causing parts needing to be replaced or repaired at a rate 4 times faster then that of the M16.  For a government agency it is not a big issue… for an individual on a budget, this seems like a big deal.

But for reasons I simply can’t understand the mentality of “smaller is cooler” concept took the AR15 platform in a ridiculous direction; 10” and 7.5” AR15 barrel lengths.   Essentially if you were to stick the barrel of such an AR against someone’s flesh, you MIGHT get lethal bullet velocity but I would argue the blast is more effective at that point in dealing damage.  10” AR15s simply turn bullets into noise.  There is no advantage at that point other than LCF – Look Cool Factor.  If you really need something that short, switch to a SMG or a pistol caliber carbine.

The main people I deal with are not military and don’t have milspec M193 or SS109 and are using the similar (but not identical) .223 Remmington round.  I can only conclude that the minimum length for the lower pressure and lower velocity 55gr .223 Remington, a barrel length should be no less than 18 inches to get the needed effect out of the round.  Should a user opt for a heavier 62gr bullet, you could go as short as 16”.  But always remember – bigger is better.

Friday 27 July 2012

You Get What You Pay For....

I was doing my daily read through on CGN, one of the gun forums that I read. I came across this little gem:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=553138

When will people grab a clue and realize that you CAN NOT build a quality tactical firearm for $600?

Yet you have people who absolutely refuse to shell out even $200 more for something that will work and last.The people who refuse to pay for quality are the same people that drive the creation of cheap, poorly constructed firearms. Just because a rifle is chambered in .22LR and is intended for training is no reason to build airsoft-grade crap.

I had a pistol blow up in my hands just before my QL6 course in spring 2011. It was a Sig Mosquito. I often wondered how this .22 pistol could be half the price of a regular pistol. Now I know; cheap materials. The slide, which was made out of pot metal, snapped cleanly in 2.
I like to save money on ammo but I don’t like to replace broken parts or entire firearms.

Now that the S2 has come to market people call it overpriced but the reality is, my gun will last. It is not cheap pot metal and no one will be able to go on CGN and complain about my gun failing…

Kind of like how the M&P15-22, the Colt-Umarex 22, the GSG-5 and now the Sig
Mosquito have failed



//////////////////FROM CGN - POSTED BY USERID ARMAMENT/////////
The impulse to buy and desire to get something different than the other dozen 10/22's I've had in the last half decade prompted me to buy an overpriced vtr.

Went to a gun store in Saint john and my eyes fell upon it. I bought the model with the adjustable stock. Seemed a little heavy but whatever. Looked like a neat little toy (had no idea ruger had made its own ar15 mockery). So I bought it and first thing's first from the factory they somehow managed to crossthread the buffer tube into thje receiver. The stock was loose and when I went to tighten the tube but I unthreaded the tube and notice they had the threads all marred up. Whatever, tubes are cheap and aluminum is soft.

My first trip out shooting with it proved to be less than impressive. I hadn't shot in quite a while but even with a facog 4x from no more than 20 yards away it was shooting all over the place. I guessed it didn't like dynapoints and decided I'd try different ammo later.

Second trip out I have a couple of friends and I happend to have brought a cooey 60 so more than one of us could plink away at a given time. Two shots in and the extractor blew itself somewhere along with the spring. It's now a single shot until I effectively order another extractor.

I took it apart this evening and studied the less than flattering worksmanship gone into this rifle. Unlike the ruger and most semi auto 22's I noticed if you hold the trigger down the hammer will follow the bolt. Maybe it had to do with the trigger group being separate from the bolt but I irked an eyebrow when I was playing with the trigger group. I'm not worried about an out of battery fire or slam fire but what kind of piss poor design allows the hammer not to catch once the trigger is depressed and the hammer hits the back of the firing pin?

I also noticed my remington oem 30 round mag wont engage the mag catch which isn't a big deal but kind of defeats the purpose.

Not a huge fan of the plastic internal workings. Cheap and dirty. Overall I'm not impressed and should have stuck to my roots. The 10/22 is simple, effective proven and true. The 597 feels like mass produced, inaccurate garbage. Maybe I just bought a lemon.

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Is inertia the only thing keeping the AR15 alive?

The single most popular rifle in North America is hands down the AR15 platform. Originally built as an Air Force PDF, its light weight and small rounds made the average infanteer able to carry more ammo.

In its day, the AR15 was considered a Space Age gun. It was the first rifle to use a lot plastic parts and it made a departure from steel to aluminum for its receiver. Like most things America did, it was developed from their own experiences in WW2. Early designs lacked a forward assist (something that the designer fought to keep out of the rifle) and lacked a brass deflector. That meant that weak people who “rode the action” while cocking the weapon would get a first round stoppage – the later addition of the forward assist fixed this. The brass deflector was a later addition to help left handed shooters.
Certainly the AR was a platform that was evolving.

The AR carbine (colloquially known as the M4) was designed for rear echelon troops but it found favour with SOG teams. The problem was, when the rifle was shortened, the chamber unlocked while the pressure was too high. This is a problem today as evidenced by the breakage rate, hard extractions and premature part wear reported by USSCOM.

But the AR Carbine found ways to overcome this as well. Pig tail gas tubes helped to slow down the unlock time by increasing the distance gas needed to travel to the bolt. Gas piston systems helped wear by keeping the weapon cooler and cleaner.

The great thing about the AR15 is its modularity which allows it to overcome any mechanical problem. It just needs some thought and innovation.

The AR15 also boasts as being a major driving force for the economy. Any gun manufacturer that wants into the US market has to admit that producing an AR clone is the way to go. Even Sig (who make superior battle rifles to the AR design) have finally come out with their own AR15. Small businesses have grown to world names because of the AR15. Troy Industries, Magpul.... the list goes on.
But warfighting is evolving and I wonder if the AR15 in its current form is the right rifle to lead the western armies into the future.

New doctrine says that the dominant hand does not leave the rifle to conduct manipulations. That means to conduct a stoppage drill or to manipulate the cocking handle, the support hand (the hand farthest away) has to move back to do these manipulations. I can’t speak for everyone but I have smacked my own lips while rapidly conducting a “tap, rack and go” because of the rear placement of the cocking handle.
Most modern operations are mechanized and it makes sense for a folding stock to be used. Most AR15s do not have this ability as their buffer is located in the rear. In fact I would go so far to say that the handful of “ARs” that have placed the recoil spring above the bolt are not really ARs at all.

I think that someone needs to make an evolutionary leap.... or a look back in time to firearm designs that had the cocking handle up by the support hand on the forestock. Weapons like the FAL, G3, MP5, ACR and SCAR make more sense to me.

I have no interest in entering the AR15 market. It is too competitive for a little guy like me to get involved but I think for the AR to overcome its inertia and become a top weapon platform again, it needs to find someone to re-engineer this flaw. Move the cocking handle to the side or forend. I am certain that in time, this lucrative market will bring about this next evolution and the AR15 will last well into the 22nd century like the Garand/M14 lived into the 21st.

Sunday 22 July 2012

Introduction

I am often sent Emails asking for advice about firearms, calibers, gear, training tips, optics and even politics and I try really hard to offer well thought out answers.  As my business is small I try hard to put the "Service" into customer service while trying to use my own life expirience to develop and bring new tactical products to market. 

What I seek to do here is offer some of my own ideas.  Agree or disagree, I hope to provoke ideas on the very things that people ask me about as well as my commentary on the pressing interests and concerns of the Canadian firearms community.

Until next time,
Chris