User blog comment:Griever0311/Ask A Marine Part По-русски/@comment-1260687-20100322231303

@Shadownet: I'm not a huge fan of the 5.56mm, but it's small, light, and you can carry a royal metric shit-ton of it; it's excellent for high-volume suppressive fire. I think it would continue to be outstanding in that role, but it needs to be replaced for the average rifleman, who ISN'T carrying a weapon with a 200 round drum, and doesn't fire a 1,000 rounds per minute. None of my weapons have ever "exploded" on me, and I've never had any serious problems out of them, nor anything thing immediate or remedial action couldn't fix, but I cared for my weapon like a newborn baby. You have to, your life depends on it; 90% of the shit you hear about a weapon suffering stoppages or malfunctions is an issue that could have been prevented by proper weapons maintenance - I cleaned my thoroughly several times (3-4) a day, and brushed it clean, lubed and wiped the action, and brushed the magazine and magazine well every time there was a pause, or we took a halt. The 5.56mm round doesn't build heat up quite as badly as the 7.62x39mm round, but every effort should be made to adhere to the weapon's suggested fire rates; if you go cyclic or rapid for too long, you're risking stoppages, cookoffs, and barrel damage. As long as you keep your rate of fire down, and the weapon isn't caked in mud or carbon to begin with, it's not unreasonable to dump an assload of ammunition reliably; it's critical that the weapon be maintained to the highest standards at all times, because you never know when you'll have to push it to its limits.