They also recently discovered that running the rifle wet makes it much more reliable. The military used to preach just the opposite. Duhhhh!
yeah Military times and the Army "now" recommend to run them "wet". but i say you are screwed either way if you serve in the sandbox.
when i was in, we were taught to run them wet, but this was in Germany where weather was cold and we did not have a lot of sandstorms.
then when we went to the sandbox, they told us to run it dry(er), light coat of clp, becuase the oil just attracts all kinds of stuff, and eventually your weapon would be caked.
just like the guys in nam figured out, we found out you had to be on top of your game and go out of your way to keep the thing clean in order for it to function properly. in Germany we cleaned for the heck of it and because we had nothing better to do. In the sandbox, keeping your gun clean was not only mandatory, but now a necessity.
In WWI, WWII, and Korea, I did not hear any complaints from Soldiers or weapons reliability due to lack of cleaning.
Now overall the AR is a great weapon, but you just have to make sure you keep it clean. The AR is great for a professional army who has the logistic capabilities to go back to the rear for R&R and weapons cleaning.... you just better hope you don't get separated from your unit and end up in the woods/desert/jungle all by your lonesome without a cleaning kit while in a sandstorm and after you already been through one firefight. :mrgreen: