[TACAV]

A guy in another forum I belong too did this after reading all the articles about how the M16 platform sucks in the sand.

So he did a test by dumping his rifle in the rocky sand and dirt at his range and seeing what happened. This was more a test of dirt not of temperature.

Used a Cav lower and CMMG Upper. Standard gas system.

Buried in sand shot, buried again, shot, buried ejection cover open, shot, run during match without cleaning. = 100% reliability.

YouTube - CAV-15 Dirt/Dust Test Camera 1

YouTube - CAV-15 Dirt/Dust Test Camera 1

Rifle dust cover up facing up buried in dirt and sand and shot - no malfunctions done 5 times with 5 mags.- 100% reliability.

Then cover it dust cover open and drive a jeep over it then shoot it with no cleaning from the last tests.
Weapon still fired but required simple malfunction drill of racking the charging handle two times. <-- by this time all the lube was also cooked off but it still worked.

YouTube - AR Dirt/Dust Test Dust Cover Open, Run Over

YouTube - AR Dirt/Dust Test Dust Cover Open, Run Over

[wunhunglo]

Unfortunately I can't see the videos (due to nanny firewall) but I very much doubt if your sand test anywhere near resembles the sand/dust environment of the Middle East. Don't think of the ME sand as your ordinary sand; the damaging ME sand is really just a dust, it blocks air filters in minutes sometimes, just like dust on the TV but it gets everywhere, all the time!

[SightNSqueeze]

That is why lubricants are kept to a minimum there. The personnel downrange would clean regularly, reassemble "dry" and use graphite only on moving parts. That is pretty much with what I did with my M9 service pistol too, just as much for something to do as keeping it in readiness. I also cleaned the mags and wiped down my rounds before reloading them. As far as western Iraq, the problem was the atmospheric dust more than the hard scrabble fine rocky soil mixed with dry silt and sand. Southern Iraq may have been different.