Tip of the day: Don’t fire a waterlogged AR-15!

This video clip is from a marketing video made by H&K comparing the 10″ barreled HK 416 with the M4 when fired full of water, immediately after being submerged.

It is a pointless comparison. Obviously Stoner did not design the AR-15 platform to be fired waterlogged. If he had it would be piston driven. Still, it is interesting to see what happens.

H/T: MP.net

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Steve Nov 18th 2008 rifles Tags: , , , , , , , 10 Comments

10 Responses to “Tip of the day: Don’t fire a waterlogged AR-15!”

  1. jdun1911on 18 Nov 2008 at 9:40 pm link comment

    It looks like someone cut 39 second off the HK marketing video. This has been disused many time as being fake on AR15.com. There was lots of editing involved and the HK416 took longer to drain before firing.

    No rifle can safety be fire with water inside the barrel. It has nothing to do with DI or piston. It’s not my opinion its a fact.

  2. Steveon 18 Nov 2008 at 10:47 pm link comment

    jdun1911, I stripped off the marketing rubbish and “comparison” from the video because I did not think it was a fair test.

    This rifle can be fired underwater:

    http://world.guns.ru/assault/as69-e.htm

  3. jdunon 19 Nov 2008 at 9:16 am link comment

    I assumed the rifle in .ru use low velocity, high mass, small surface face(pointed) ammo, i.e something like a harpoon. In that case it would work.

    Water inside the barrel acts like concrete against high velocity ammo. I wouldn’t be surprise if the first shot out of the HK416 was subsonic in that video. Didn’t the operator manually cycle the second shot in on the HK416? I believe the operator in the video tilted his HK416 to allow better draining compare to the Colt. Tilting the rifle to drain water out of the barrel is standard procedure.

    Any rifle that has water inside the barrel will go KB. Doesn’t matter if its HK or Colt or whatever. It’s just facts.

  4. Kristopheron 19 Nov 2008 at 10:03 am link comment

    Guns can be fired underwater if they are completely submerged … the water outside the barrel is just as difficult to compress as the water inside.

    http://tiretarmes.free.fr/images/glock_19_underwater.mpeg

    If you keep both an M-4 and the HK rifles completely submerged, with just the flash-hider sticking out of the water, they can both be fired safely … they might not cycle reliably, but they can be shot.

  5. 22lron 19 Nov 2008 at 10:48 am link comment

    HMM so when do you need to shoot a gun that was submerged???? If you are a Navy SEAL maybe, anyone else maybe once in a million years. I agree with it being a pointless demonstration.

  6. jdunon 19 Nov 2008 at 12:26 pm link comment

    NAVY Seal doesn’t shoot their rifles submerged. Trying shooting your rifle underwater and let us know what happen.

  7. Gregon 20 Nov 2008 at 4:43 am link comment

    I think it’s a good thing to share a video like this. There are a lot of people out there who get their info on weapons from Hollywood action fantasies. I’ve seen a lot of dubious actions with guns on film, including firing them underwater or just as the gun breaks the surface. To show the actual results of things done like the movies might just open a few eyes & save a few guns & their owners.

  8. Junkballon 03 Jan 2009 at 8:23 pm link comment

    The best Hollywood piece I’ve seen was No Country for Old Men where the protagonist is shown removing the magazine and clearing the barrel/chamber of his previously-submerged 1911 before shooting a charging dog.

  9. Steveon 03 Jan 2009 at 10:23 pm link comment

    Junkball, I don’t remember that. I will watch out for it next time I see the movie.

  10. woodfiendon 20 Apr 2009 at 10:19 am link comment

    You CAN shoot a wet AR15. All you need to do is to rack the bolt back a few times and let the water get out of the barrel. Make sure there is NO water in the barrel and you are good to go. I’ve done this before and so has my dad and brother. On the first shot, it will feel like a .22 LR because there is water in the buffer tube, but it is completely safe.

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