AUG durability???

[luca.valer]

Sorry for the question.
I think that AUG is a fine gun.
But I have a question.
AUG is it durability ??? vs other assault rifle (M4, H&K ...)
Many thank's.
Luca

[Frostback]

I have about 7k rounds out of my AUG/SA. The only problem I have had is with a small part in the bolt/carrier assembly called the locking piece. I have had two of them crack on me. The one now installed has been modified from the originals, and I have only fired about 400 rounds with it.

I have a post here asking if any one else has encountered this problem. No one else I know with an AUG has had this occur.

Frosty

Howdy,
The Australian Defence Force uses the Steyr AUG variant called the Austeyr here as its service weapon. The few units that don't use it are the army special forces and the navy divers. I can't speak for the army SF guys but as an ex-navy diver we couldn't use them as when they got appreciably wet inside as they suffered hydrostatic lock and would not cycle. A chanbered round would fire but the bolt would not move to the rear as water ingress into the guide rod sleeves containing the return springs would lock the action. Essentially when wet it becomes a very expensive and impractical club. It needs to be stripped and left out to dry for a while before operating again. We use the M4 spec ops weapon as it does not have this problem and can be used with more accessories.

On another point, a couple of incidents have occurred in our forces where after a number of years and weapons have aged a bit, the extracor claw can crack and a piece of it can become lodged on the bolt face. In at least two incidents that I know of this has resulted in a round prematurely firing before entering the chanber properly ..... resulting in facial and eye injuries from case fragments and fragments from the polymer stock.

[AMX]

Originally posted by thefrogman
...we couldn't use them as when they got appreciably wet inside as they suffered hydrostatic lock and would not cycle. A chanbered round would fire but the bolt would not move to the rear as water ingress into the guide rod sleeves containing the return springs would lock the action... It needs to be stripped and left out to dry for a while before operating again... Interesting "bug report" - sounds like it could be fixed by drilling some drainage holes?a couple of incidents have occurred in our forces where after a number of years and weapons have aged a bit, the extracor claw can crack and a piece of it can become lodged on the bolt face.Also interesting - I've never heard of anything like that happen in Austria (though I've seen a PICTURE (http://www.steyraug.net/images/misc/extractor%20arrow.jpg) of an extractor failure).

The only failure I've seen personally was a cracked stock (split along the upper seam; but it was older than the guy using it...)

[Frostback]

Actually, Steyr has a fix for this problem. They have re-shaped the "stem" of the gas piston to a triangular profile to give any water trapped in the gas section a place to be evacuated, or so the theory goes. My AUG/SA is just a range gun, so I have never encountered this situation myself.

Frosty

Its not the gas piston that locks..... it the bolt carrier assembly itself. The water gets into the hollow guide rods containing the return springs and won't drain. It then won't move back along the guide rods in the stock as the water can't be squeezed out quick enough.

The entire army (minus the SF guys) have been using them for a while so in general ops I guess they're just fine. We swimmers on the other hand like to have something to put rounds downrange after a swim on the unlikely event we get compromised, hence the switch to the M4. I'm sure your weapon won't have that porblem though...just check the extractor frequently after the first thousand rnds or so.

[NetNinja]

For me at least it was a more compact weapon and was a lot more comfortable in my hands.

When I was in Australia up at Darwin we ran into the branch that secures airfileds? AGEES? Forgive me if I am getting it wrong.

We had a Army lieutenant give us a quick lesson on breaking down a Styer.

Phonetically they're called AGEES but the spelling is ADG ..... Airfield Defence Guard. These are the ground troops of our air force. Don't get me wrong...the steyr is a good rifle, short, durable, light, good optic .... just can't swim with it.

[Revvie1]

We had one on our last combat shooting. It was the AUG-P, .223

2.000 rounds of full auto and short bursts. 60 different shooters. no cleaning. It was in the mud, in wet grass and in the sun. We used standard Hirtenberger FMJ ammo.

No stoppage.

Compare that to a M4.

So far for reliability.;z