12.22.2006

Lusa A2 Range Report


Got to wring out the Lusa A2 at the range on Tuesday. Talk about FUN!

I have to preface that last exclamation with the gripes, though. It was a bitch-kitty to get the first rounds to feed and fire. I spent about twenty minutes dickering around with the mags, cycling the action, and general futzing. Turns out, while I let Eclipse fondle the gun, he didn't seat the barrel properly. It has a notched detent that locks it in place when you put it on. I should have known it was a problem when I didn't hear the locking lug ratchet down in place. That could have been really bad if I did strum off a round.

The only other thing that bothered me was the wide, gaping maw of a hole that the ejection port and action are. If you aren't careful, you might lose a hand in there. As I was working the action and trying to get the damn thing working, rounds weren't properly ejecting. Instead, they were rolling back into the receiver and jamming the bolt open. It wasn't too serious to fix. I just had to follow my round clearing procedures and turn the ejection port down and rack the action a few times to clear it.

Slow trigger and all, the gun shoots very well. It was zeroed right out of the box. I just have to put sights on target and go to work. Recoil is almost nil. Feels a lot like a hot .22 round. Going back to the trigger, Eclipse noted that it was really slow. We couldn't go really fast because of the long trigger pull and reset. A trigger job to shorten the pull would be nice.

When I first picked up the weapon, I was worried about problems with the magazines. I had to work them in and out of the mag well to make sure they didn't get hung up. One mag in particular took five minutes to remove. This was after I cleaned the weapon and made sure there was nothing able to give me problems. I ran each magazine through its paces in the gun until they fed without hanging up.

I think if you could overlook the glaring problems with the trigger this would be a great plinker and camp carbine. From a tactical stance, I think the mag release and safety need to be re-worked. The mags don't drop freely from the mag well. Given enough time, they might. I am stuck with trying to manipulate the release and strip the mag like I would with an AR. I've tried different things, but it is going to take some work to get used to it. The safety is also so far forward that I have to bring my hand off the grip to activate the safety.

Overall, lots of fun. Yeah, there's some problems, but nothing that prevents me from running through a couple hundred rounds at a stretch. I'd really like to have a rail or scope mount to put a red dot on top. Don't believe I would go whole hog on this and load up with an EOTech or Aimpoint. Maybe just put a Bushnell on it and call it a day.

Always wanted a 'grease gun' and now I have one. Too bad that the little barrel is only for show. Switching between a short barrel and a suppressor would be awesome.

4 comments:

none said...

Keep us posted on whether the Lusa problems work themselves out. I love these kind of fun guns.

I've fired a regular and supressed greasgun at the machinegun rental in my town and in Vegas.

Great fun!

Anonymous said...

I own a lusa and love it. Not 1problem at all. Shoots great, mag feeds great, very accurate for a subgun. For people that can't extract mags and don't know how to attach barrels, should learn more about firearms.

Anonymous said...

lusa a2 is a portuguese gun
its the previous form of Lusitania
the ancient name for Portugal

Anonymous said...

love my lusa, took it to the rang- all 30 rounds in bin laden's face.one shell got stuck while extracting, it was just dirty-cleaned it problem solved.i like it better then my calico (except for the 100 round drum)