Calico Reliability Testing: Round #2

When I ran my Calico carbine through the PCC course of fire last month, I was rather surprised to see it run through 150 rounds without any malfunctions. I plan to continue shooting it without any cleaning or lubrication, to see how long it will go before it stops working. Today was the second range trip with it, and it ran another 100-round drum flawlessly.

That puts it at 250 rounds in a row now. To be continued…

13 Comments

  1. Another “everyone knows” further debunked.

    Seems like it could have good application for tank crews and such — if they need to bail out, just grab and go. No need to keep up with spare magazines.

    Have armorers load the magazine–just find one who can count. That, or as mentioned in a post in an earlier video, there are ways to limit the number of turns of a key. It is a simple mechanism used in some wind up clocks: https://youtu.be/NsnLVYwqESM

    • “Another “everyone knows” further debunked.(…)”
      Lack of evidence that X work reliably is not evidence that X has reliability issues.
      Interestingly cartridges for Evans Repeating Rifle (which also use helical magazine) were made up to up to the early 1920’s, despite only dozen or so thousands examples were made before 1879, which suggest they served well for several years.
      http://www.leverguns.com/articles/blancard/evans.htm

  2. I had a “Liberty 100” when I lived in Oakland, it was my “bug out” gun.
    The magazine was finicky, but IF you followed the loading directions precisely it worked well.
    Sold it when I moved to the country.

  3. I have a friend who swears by the Calico system. His opinion is that the reputation for poor reliability comes from people who just can’t understand mechanical systems and also can’t read and follow simple instructions.

  4. Do not confuse “technical reliability” and “user reliability”.
    For example, the machine gun Maxim (and Vickers-Maxim), contrary to the common stereotype, had not so good reliability, both of them. But thanks to a well-thought-out design, in the hands of well-trained operators, they worked quite well.
    And in Calico, the root of all possible problems is the mag.
    In the dash, on one single sample, everything is in order. But in the hands of the average consumer, problems are inevitable.
    And nothing can be done about it.

    There is no smoke without fire, and all anecdotes come from life.
    If there is already a widespread opinion (even among lamers) that “it could be much better”, then it is so.

  5. I think that ‘complainers’ were never designers and cannot even wear designer’s shoes. If they did, they would shut up. I consider this magazine a miracle when is working.

    • I think that the “complainants” are direct users.
      And when the “creators” of the next wunderwaffe fall out of reality and stop paying attention to the “complainants”, then there are miscarriages such as …
      (substitute what you want)

  6. Be careful Ian, if the feds see this they may cancel the NGSW trials and say we need calicos chambered in their 6.8mm magnum cartridge.

  7. Calico is a good rifle but the people running the company now should not be trusted. Dealing with them is a chore.They are more unreliable then their Magazine.

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