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Gun Test #5: Drown It
I retired to our “wet” range, the club’s Range #4, taking a plastic fifty-gallon drum along. I used a five-gallon bucket and soon had the drum filled with silty, scummy pond water. I then proceeded to wet-test each rifle.
For this test, I’d load each rifle and then dunk it, muzzle straight down, into the drum of water, right to the castle nut. I’d hold it there until the bubbles stopped (after a while, I just held it down to the count of three) then pulled it out.
Now, every training manual and any training Sergeant will tell you that if you dunk your rifle, you pull the charging handle back half the cartridge length to break the water seal and let the water drain out. What I did was pull the charging handle back enough to break open that seal, and let the water drain only for as long as it took me to cover the three steps between the drum and the firing line. Then I’d fire five rounds and repeat.
Back in the water, out, five rounds, repeat until three magazines were expended for each rifle. Man, did that get boring. And messy. I was splattered with oily, muddy, silty, scummy water such that even the dogs looked at me askance when I returned home. “Dad, where have you been?”
AR-15 Torture Test Conclusion: I ended the gun tests grubbier, wiser and with a greater respect for the AR-15. I hadn’t been able to make any of them malfunction, not once.
Read More AR-15 Torture Tests
Author Patrick Sweeney isn't done with his brutal gun tests. Read more in Gun Digest Book of the AR-15, Volume IV. It's packed with the latest information on this popular tactical rifle.
Click here to order Gun Digest Book of the AR-15, Volume IV.