InRange Sand Testing - AR, M1A, MAS 49/56 (Preview)

By Bob Owens | 6:07 PM | February 04, 2015

As a followup to our mud testing video, we took the AR, M1A, and MAS 49/56 and ran them through a blowing sand and dirt test using a pile of Arizona desert sand and an air compressor. Which one(s) will work and which won’t? Is the M1A really the pinnacle of reliability the internet says it is?

I had my suspicions of how this test might bear out, and I was right in regards to how the AR-15 and M1A would perform. Then again, those are the two rifles in the test I have the most experience with so far, and I’ve seen what it takes to cause them to seize up. I have friends with the MAS 49/56, though, and based on what little I’ve seen of that rifle, I thought that it would perform a bit better than it did.

You can check out the full video at the new gun video site Full 30, where a good cross-section of YouTube’s top gun channels have decided to form their own venture.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.