Posted on 02/21/2014 3:26:13 AM PST by Timber Rattler
Army Senior Warrant Officer Russton B. Kramer, a 20-year Green Beret, has learned that if you want to improve your chances to survive, it’s best to personally make modifications to the Army’s primary rifle — the M4 carbine.
(snip)
Warrant Officer Kramer has been dropped into some of the most ferocious battles in the war on terrorism, from hunting Islamists in the mountains of northern Iraq to disrupting Taliban opium dealers in dusty southern Afghanistan. He was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery in Operation Viking Hammer to crush the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam in Iraq.
The warrant officer said he and fellow Special Forces soldiers have a trick to maintain the M4A1 — the commando version: They break the rules and buy off-the-shelf triggers and other components and overhaul the weapon themselves.
“The reliability is not there,” Warrant Officer Kramer said of the standard-issue model. “I would prefer to use something else. If I could grab something else, I would.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I understand even the rigidity of Basic is flaccid.
Who set this up?
The same al Qaeda that brought the Boston bombers in
WITHOUT PASSPORTS?
There has been no end to the treason, all encouraged
by the HATED, EXEMPT Congress.
Will an M-15/M-4 work at the range? Sure, most of the time. In the severe rigors of sustained combat in a filthy environment? No.
Once a POS, always a POS.
Certainly wouldn’t be the first time troops were sent to fight with a faulty or the wrong weapon.
I’m sure many at the Little Bighorn wished the army had given them repeating rifles in their final moments.
I think it was James Rowe who wrote about the problems of the M16 in his book about being a POW in Vietnam.
It appears to be the case. I work with new troops (training for Cyber troops) and I notice that far too many have no idea of proper military protocol and don't know how to report or do many of the things I still remember being taught in 1974.
Far too much PC touchy-feely crap being promoted to the demise of military bearing and professionalism.
” M-16 and its idiot caliber “
What caliber should it be?
Colt was killed in the 1980’s and buried in the 1990’s. Wiki:
In 1985, Colt’s workers, members of the United Auto Workers went on strike for higher wages. This strike would ultimately last for five years, and was one of the longest running labor strikes in American history.[50] With replacement workers running production, the quality of Colt’s firearms began to decline. Dissatisfied with Colt’s production, in 1988 the U.S. military awarded the contract for future M16 production to Fabrique Nationale.[51]
Some criticized Colt’s range of handgun products in the late 1980s as out of touch with the demands of the market, and their once-vaunted reputation for quality had suffered during the UAW strike. Colt’s stable of double-action revolvers and single-action pistols was seen as old-fashioned by a marketplace that was captivated by the new generation of “wondernines” - high-capacity, 9x19mm Parabellum caliber handguns, as typified by the Glock 17. Realizing that the future of the company was at stake, labor and management agreed to end the strike in an arrangement that resulted in Colt being sold to a group of private investors, the State of Connecticut, and the UAW itself.[52]
The new Colt first attempted to address some of the demands of the market with the production in 1989 of the Double Eagle, a double-action pistol heavily based on the M1911 design, which was seen as an attempt to “modernize” the classic Browning design. Colt followed this up in 1992 with the Colt All American 2000, which was unlike any other handgun Colt had produced before—being a polymer-framed, rotary-bolt, 9x19mm handgun with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds. It was designed by Reed Knight, with parts manufactured by outside vendors and assembled by Colt; its execution was disastrous. Early models were plagued with inaccuracy and unreliability, and suffered from the poor publicity of a product recall. The product launch failed and production of the All American 2000 ended in 1994.[53][54] This series of events led to the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992.[55]
The 1990s brought the end of Cold War, which resulted in a large down turn for the entire defense industry. Colt was hit by this downturn, though it would be made worse later in the 1990s by a boycott by the shooting public in America. In 1994, the assets of Colt were purchased by Zilkha & Co, a financial group owned by Donald Zilkha. It was speculated that Zilkha’s financial backing of the company enabled Colt to begin winning back military contracts. In fact during the time period it won only one contract, the M4 carbine. However, the U.S. Military had been purchasing Colt Carbines for the past 30 years (See Colt Commando). During a 1998 Washington Post interview, CEO Ron Stewart stated that he would favor a federal permit system with training and testing for gun ownership. This led to a massive grass-roots boycott of Colt’s products by gun stores and US gun owners.[56]
Zilkha replaced Stewart with Steven Sliwa and focused the remainder of Colt’s handgun design efforts into “smart guns,” a concept favored politically, but that had little interest or support among handgun owners or Police Departments. This research never produced any meaningful results due to the limited technology at the time.[56] Colt announced the termination of its production of double action revolvers in October 1999.
It seems the only flaw to the armies that are armed with AK47’s is their inability to shoot and be tactical ... not the weapon itself
The M16 was a bad idea from day one.
I have heard the same from returning vets. While the general drift is that the M-4 was better shooting at a distance, they'd grab an AK because of reliability issues, related to difficulties keeping the weapons clean. It can be a real SOB to keep a rifle clean when you get hit with a sandstorm.
“The M16 was a bad idea from day one”
It amazes me that the same weapon that the ‘best and the brightest’ were fixing and fine tuning all those years ago is STILL out there bedeviling the troops and being modified. Geez...
Money and politics!
> The M16 was a bad idea from day one.
An M16 nearly got me killed when it jammed and had to be repaired during a fire fight in the Mekong Delta.
Almost anything bigger, it is barely enough for a varmint round. I wouldn’t use a .22 for deer hunting let alone for combat.
The original M16 design was so robust they didn't even think it needed to be cleaned and in fact shipped it without cleaning kits. It wasn't until some procurement half-wit decided to change the powder the ammo was using that it started to experience problems.
In terms of caliber, it was also originally designed to fire the .308 so blame a pencil pusher for that change. Regardless, the AR platform can be modified to use a large variety of calibers. It is also significantly more accurate than any piston rifle is capable of.
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