Actually, most of our training in the army is done with blanks - live fire section attacks are really dangerous, espescially with reservists. I've only done it once, and believe me, the sound of live rounds going over your head focuses you right the hell up. I certainly know what you mean about dirt - one of the worst things I've ever seen as a firearms exthusiast was the interior of a C9 barrel buddy hadn't cleaned after 5 days of firing blanks. Thing was gummed so bad I needed a hammer to move the gas regulator switch.
Reason I dislike it so much is that in my experience, it's just not a well-made gun (particularly compared to the C6 / MAG) . Lots of parts breakage - I knocked the front sight off of one, we had two guns where the tab that holds the feed cover in the open position broke off, a bent bipod, cracked handguard, rusted up barrel (though I blame the operator for that one).
I haven't noticed an unreasonable amount of jams (except using it with a mag, but we never do), but seeing so many of them break leaves me with no confidence in the weapon. Granted, these guns were subjected to rough handling, but it's a military weapon, you'd expect it to be. Only problem we had with even a C7 was someone cross-threading a BFA, and none with the C6.
|