Hard Use Gun

[Malamute]

I've seen a few that were used hard.

I bought one in Az years ago. Its a model 94 carbine that was made in '27. It came off a ranch with another gun, I bought the best looking of the two. The butt stock was so beat up I threw it in the woodstove and replaced it with one that was thoroughly thrashed, and split down the middle and repaired with epoxy and wood screws. It was a great improvement. The magazine tube had been damaged, and shortened about 2 or 3 inches. The magazine spring had worn through in two places, they had repaired it by overlaying the ends and wrapping sewing thread around them to hold them together. The front sight blade had been replaced with a piece cut from a dime. It felt like the action was packed with sludge, it functioned, but just felt weird. I detail stripped it and soaked it in carb cleaner, I seriously doubt it was sever truly cleaned. The bore was badly pitted, but it shot OK groups considering. I had the muzzle cleaned up and recrowned and it improved a fair bit.

I use it for a truck gun and bad weather gun. I replaced the mag tube and spring have been shooting and carrying it for about 25 years. A few years ago I replaced the barrel with another one from the same period and shortened it to 16 1/2". I clean it (the bore) every year or so. It's one of my favorite guns, and I'd trust it to work at any time.

[1slow]

I have run FALs, AKs, Glock 21s, 30s, 17s, 19s and HK P30s and HK45s hard. All IMHO qualify for hard use.

[rob_s]

I'd rather simply avoid using over-used terms like "hard use".

I used to say "critical use", which the definition of "critical" left up to the shooter. A critical use gun for a hardcore competitor would be different than a hunter, different than a cool different than a prepper.

[UNK]

Extreme cold tends to bring out the worst in machines. Extreme cold coupled with being exposed to the elements is typically even worse. I don't know anything about law enforcement environment
The majority of police I meet really are not gun guys. I'm not thinking they ever shoot much outside of qualifications. I guess working as a gunsmith you have a much better idea on this.

I fail to see how snow is a more "adverse environment" than getting banged in and out of police cruisers or whatever. Doorjambs have dinged up more guns than snowflakes.




If it's used by the cops or military, odds are it will handle more abuse than Joe Sixpack will ever hand out to something he ponied up his own hard-earned cash for.

Related story: A couple of Fulton County, Georgia deputies back in the day were responding to a report of a prowler at a construction site that had been getting ripped off. They saw a shadowy figure with a gun. "Freeze!" they yelled, "Drop the gun!"

"Can I set it down gently? I just bought it," came the quavering voice of the foreman who had been staking out his own site with a freshly purchased Smith Model 29.

But as far as a hostile environment? Just getting rained on or caught in a blizzard isn't very hostile to things made of steel. Start talking about dropping guns. On concrete. Whanging 'em into steel door frames. Leaning them against a fender or laying them on a trunk and letting them clatter to the asphalt unheeded because you were too busy doing something else. Maybe duck guns that get routinely dropped in swamps see something like that kind of use. I've seen duck guns come in that needed vegetation and dead things cleaned out of the action.

[UNK]

Absolutely beautiful gun.

I've seen a few that were used hard.

I bought one in Az years ago. Its a model 94 carbine that was made in '27. It came off a ranch with another gun, I bought the best looking of the two. The butt stock was so beat up I threw it in the woodstove and replaced it with one that was thoroughly thrashed, and split down the middle and repaired with epoxy and wood screws. It was a great improvement. The magazine tube had been damaged, and shortened about 2 or 3 inches. The magazine spring had worn through in two places, they had repaired it by overlaying the ends and wrapping sewing thread around them to hold them together. The front sight blade had been replaced with a piece cut from a dime. It felt like the action was packed with sludge, it functioned, but just felt weird. I detail stripped it and soaked it in carb cleaner, I seriously doubt it was sever truly cleaned. The bore was badly pitted, but it shot OK groups considering. I had the muzzle cleaned up and recrowned and it improved a fair bit.

I use it for a truck gun and bad weather gun. I replaced the mag tube and spring have been shooting and carrying it for about 25 years. A few years ago I replaced the barrel with another one from the same period and shortened it to 16 1/2". I clean it (the bore) every year or so. It's one of my favorite guns, and I'd trust it to work at any time.

[Hambo]

"Hard use" is wonderful marketing terminology. Picture this: a SEALish looking dude is coming out of the tide onto the beach, somebody's M4 in his hands, and the narrator says, "XXXX M4s see hard use by the world's toughest operators..." or a hunter looking dude is climbing up a mountain in freezing rain and edges his bolt gun over a boulder as the narrator says something about "hard use" hunting rifles in the world's harshest environments.

ETA-That Winchester is awesome.

[UNK]

Maybe duck guns that get routinely dropped in swamps see something like that kind of use. I've seen duck guns come in that needed vegetation and dead things cleaned out of the action.

Outside of a specific test such as the 2000 round test here failure to maintain cleanliness and inspect for wear issues constitutes abuse or neglect not hard use in my opinion.

[UNK]

Well that made me think a bit. I would say that a weapon that has extensive exposure to the environment that it is used in and can maintain flawless function for extended strings of fire would be considered dead nuts reliable.

Rigors of use is where I covered that...

What do you consider dead nuts reliable?

[JHC]

That's great. Im still not sure about a gun that gets shot a lot but never sees adverse environment. Is that hard use?

A few years ago I used to hear the term thrown around and concluded to ignore it. The context I saw it in was usually to discount the equipment or experience with equipment in any other than the rigors of current mil combat or in very "tactical" oriented training classes. Because of course shooting high round counts in all weather and dropping magazines in clay, sand, etc on your range is nowhere near the hard use of training with a top trainer for a weekend.

[ACP230]

I know from sad experience that heavy, wet snow can be hostile to scopes.
Had a Weaver 1.5-45 that took weeks to recover from one nasty afternoon of chasing deer around the hardwoods.

So when that stuff starts I carry the 590 instead of my scoped deer rifle.