Ok - I'll start - split off from the Boston Bombing Thread.
I have always been taught to close the dust cover on AR-15 / M16 series weapons when feasible. This has been consistent through .Mil, FLETC and outside training including Pat Rogers / EAG. I find it a mark of good weapons handling habits.
Based on the amount of dust bunnies, Cheeto crumbs and candy wrappers I have seen in cop guns, I think it’s a great habit for rifles carried in the real world.
I don't do it (unless I'm storing the rifle long-term) and I don't teach it to any of my students. I can understand why it's been drilled into people who spent long stretches patrolling in areas with very fine sand, but that is not part of my reality.
I think the odds of a closed dustcover inducing a malfunction is higher than "dust" inducing a malfunction. But this is my reality as an armed citizen. I can understand why the troops do it and I can understand maybe why a patrol rifle should be stored this way.
I usually close mine after loading just to keep things neat and prevent it from snagging on anything.
In taking a few carbine classes, I have never heard an instructor mention the dust cover.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
Vickers, Magpul - don't bother closing until done for good, no big deal.Originally Posted by SecondsCount
EAG/Rogers - close after each evolution, Farnam - anally close (he tells the story of a sandstorm freezing a bunch of ARs).
LMS, "Frogman" - no mentioning.
That's been my experience with instructors.
It's just a habit for me, I don't think about it. Load the weapon, dust cover automagically gets closed. Another habit (good or bad) that was beaten into me by the Corps.
Jay, what malfunctions are you worried about it inducing? I'm genuinely interested. I learned the dust cover thing from an organization that also preached using the firing pin to scrap carbon off the muzzle crown - sigh. And align gas rings, yada yada yada....
Last edited by SeriousStudent; 04-19-2013 at 06:50 PM. Reason: bad spellur
The dustcover can partially pop open if you are bracing off cover on the right side of the gun or if the right side of the gun is on the deck due to shooting under some type of cover. This can cause a stoppage. How likely? Well, I've seen it at least once. I don't think it's super-likely, but I think the likelihood of "dust" on a small area of the BCG causing the gun to stop is even less.
Of course this is dependent on operating environment and lube.
Only if you want coffee.
A.B.C.
A. Always
B. Be
C. Closing
Always be closing.
Sorry, I had to
I'd argue that the stoppage is more likely to occur in either of those scenarios due to brass bouncing back into the action or having no where to go because of gun position vs. the dust cover actually inducing it. I've seen that happen a lot more often than I have seen the dust cover cause a malfunction. With one exception.....the Mk11 was famous for malfunctioning if you closed the dust cover. It's actually the only dust cover related malfunction I have ever seen.
Close it. Don't close it. Whatever you feel like doing. It's a risk, decision, and compromise that folks need to make for themselves and their circumstances. All things are a trade off to a degree.
I close mine after charging the gun. I close it before I leave a building, or move to outside terrain. I close it when the gun is going to get wet. But I certainly don't close it after every volley fired.
And if your gun is properly maintained and lubricated, it should function just fine without the dust cover closed for 90% of the shooting world.
I was taught to close it in my basic training. When I went to Thunder Ranch I was taught to close it. DTI with Farnam, close it. It just makes sense to me that if you have something that can keep gunk and grunge away from a working part to use that something. On the other hand, I can't remember anyone ever being concerned about closing the darned thing while moving and scooting and rolling in the mud of a fight when there was actually a higher chance of grunge and gunk. So I try to remember to close it when I can, but I don't know if I would worry much about someone who didn't.
"PLAN FOR YOUR TRAINING TO BE A REFLECTION OF REAL LIFE INSTEAD OF HOPING THAT REAL LIFE WILL BE A REFLECTION OF YOUR TRAINING!"
Meh, I'll do whatever is right at that time. I think most of us as shooters are smart enough to think for ourselves. If I'm in a sand storm maybe I'll close it, if I'm bracing on cover maybe it's open. I'll figure it out then.
I apply this to everything. People are smarter than most instructors give credit for. If my understanding of the subject is strong enough I'll make my own decisions.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
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