After reading Scott Witner’s review of Weapon Shield CLP, I got curious and swapped it for my issued CLP. It is no secret that the weapons in the Canadian Forces are worn out. Our C7A2, although introduced around 2004-2005, are actually refurbished C7A1s for the most part. They have been in the Canadian Forces arsenal since the mid ’90s. Same goes for our C9 and C6. They have been through a lot and it sometimes shows. Jams are a more-than-frequent occurrence even when our guns are properly maintained.
During one of our winter exercises, I was assigned as C6 machine gunner. On our final assault, I had around 800 rounds to cover the main body of the assault force. Because it was -20 degrees Centigrade that day, I did not lube my C6 until the very last minute to avoid parts freezing together. Long story short, I had all sorts of jams that resulted in less-than-effective covering fire.
Enter the Weapon Shield CLP. During an urban warfare training exercise, we were given around 400 rounds of FX Simunition per soldier on each day of training. But, by the very nature of urban combat for us regular joes, we used way more than that. We began at a ‘tac-shoot’ type range to make us comfortable with the FX rounds and help us get used to the types of jams we could encounter with these.
We then moved to dry runs (tons of them), and finally force-on-force training, where we encountered different scenarios that gave us plenty of trigger time. In all, I cycled around 700 rounds through my service rifle, but some guys cycled way more than that depending on their position in the stack.
What became clear early on was that the FX rounds didn’t like the cold at all. We were training in derelict factories in civilian sectors that hadn’t had any kind of heating for years. It was -5 degrees Centigrade outside, but it actually felt colder on the inside. Jams of all kinds were happening left and right, from casings jammed around the chamber to ‘paint’ tips clogging the barrel.
Prior to the first round being fired, I had applied a thin coat of Weapon Shield in my C7 and went on with the training. This was the only thing setting me apart from the other soldiers around me. All of us had a C7A2 loaded with FX rounds, standard-issue metal magazines, and FX blue-bolt. The result? I encountered only a single jam the entire time. One of my section buddies had as many as 25 jams during the tac-shooting. He had to clear his weapon every five rounds or so. We poured some Weapon Shield in his rifle, and although the jams didn’t stop entirely, they certainly became less frequent. On the following day, he only had two jams during the clearing scenarios.
Now, I know that a sample of around 1,400 rounds is not enough to draw solid conclusions, but I feel confident it helped my weapon and my buddy’s rifle to perform better with the FX Simunition rounds we had.
I believe this product has great potential, and at $9 for a four-ounce bottle, it is quite affordable as well. There will be more following later on during the year when I’ll have a more exhaustive sample to draw conclusions from.
You can purchase Weapons Shield on Amazon.com.
