Today at the Range

[BrassCase]

Friday is my volunteer RSO shift at my gun club and I'm usually on the pistol side but I also get called out to the rifle side for most AR issues.

Today at the range: CRAZY!!!

Very busy and we filled up fast with a waiting list. We eased some of the Wuhan Virus protocols by putting more benches into use while still maintaining at least a six foot spacing. So many new shooters. Amazingly we only had a few issues and lots and lots of questions.

Worst issue today was a person who wanted to walk out and change targets during live fire. I wish I sold MagLula's. Lots of moans while trying to stuff the 9th and 10th rounds in.

So we got to see who bought 3.7 million guns in March. There were several groups with an experienced shooter showing new shooters.

Last Friday was amazingly slow and even the Friday before which was our first day back open was nothing like today. What a difference a few good riots can bring.

If I could ask just one thing of my fellow AR owners: Please, please get rid of those maglock fixed magazines configurations. They are nothing but trouble and they must all be made by the Jam-O-Matic Company. I even built one up to school the other RSO's on. They keep your rifle from being reliable.

[pacrat]

They keep your rifle from being reliable

So working as intended.

[Oldmandan]

So we got to see who bought 3.7 million guns in March.

[tabascoz28]

No one said you have to put a maglock on your rifle, that was invented by someone trying to get around the evil feature laws and make money on people's vanity. Exception being the AR pistol which if you want to shoot semi, it's the only option. Modding the grip is the only feature that is a slight detriment to holding your AR, the stock is adjusted to you anyway, the flash hider is not a comp and it's a 223 so no kick anyway. I saw my friends all mess with the maglock and told myself I'd rather hold my rifle a little different then have it jam and not be able to recover quickly.

[stormvet]

Don’t see how a maglock can make your rifle unreliable, all it does is prevent you from dropping the mag unless you slightly separate the upper from the lower. Unless those people have some kind of maglock I’ve never seen.

[Fang415]

Never had a problem with my armaglock and juggernaut rear pin. Even keeps the bolt hold.

[Peahi2]

I've had some horrific jams with my juggernaut. Nightmare double feeds. Luckily I was using Pmags so I could drop the floor plate to clear everything. Funny, those jams happened only when that particular AR was new. I think some people also have fixed magazine guns that don't have ability to lock the bolt back.... I know, a ****ty system. These systems can cause big headaches and real safety issues on the range for RSOs and the patrons.

We can only blame Sacramento for the laws that force people to jury rig their guns to be compliant, be it fixed mag or "featureless." lol.

[PaperTarget]

OP, thanks for posting. I want to go to the range but after reading your report, I will wait.

[BrassCase]

They are only a problem when there is some sort of a FTL or FTE. With the FTE typically I see an ejection failure with the bolt cycling back and then pushing a round into still filled chamber. On 223's quite often it pushes the bullet back into the case and we get powder running around as well, the 556's can typically withstand it but get a misshapen bullet point.

Most often these are new rifles sold with a MagLock type device but we still see retrofits. I'm an engineer and I thought it was a brilliant idea, a very clever work around. The problem is when there is a malfunction it typically requires a tool such as a screwdriver to clear and the bolt has to be back. Since the MagLock type of device isn't benign (it has to be turned) it effects reliability. Finned grips, fixed stocks and muzzle brakes which are found on a featureless build are all benign devices and should not cause reliability issues. Even if a MagLocked rifle runs perfectly it cannot put has many rounds downrange as a featureless can in a given amount of time because mag changes are still the fastest in a featureless rifle. Remember, featureless rifles have standard mag releases so even a registered AW cannot keep up due to their bullet buttons. Featureless = Reliability.

As for people at the range, Only a couple of new shooters were on there own that I saw and they asked me for help. The other new shooters were with someone who already owned a gun, experience levels varied greatly. Many asked for help saying they had never shot at an outdoor range, that's one of the reasons I'm there so I welcome all questions. All in all the people were nice. We just get the strange stuff like I mentioned the person who wanted to change targets while we are actively shooting!

This weekend there will be greater staffing both days as we did not expect the crowd we had on Friday based on the 2 previous weeks.

[SCVlongstroke]

I guess it’s dependent on who installs them, those gimmicky internals for the push up inclined can definitely throw a gear into the works as well.

[stormvet]

Ok got it, the maglock does not cause malfunctions just makes clearing a malfunction difficult. Yes I agree with this, but I would not put the blame on the maglock. It does what it’s designed to do, if you have a rifle prone to failures or have minimal experience with the platform that can be a real problem.

You working at a public range with lots of newbies and questionable AR’s must see the gamet of problems. But I see this as a user issue not a part issue, the maglock at least the one that I have causes me no issues and allows me to run whatever upper and other evil parts I want. Of course I run featureless too and see the advantages of that platform.

The maglock is just another tool in the California shooters basket, but like with all tools a good rifle and experience in it’s use is mandatory for trouble free shooting.