Posted on 07/29/2015 6:40:26 AM PDT by w1n1
Marine leaders have made the momentous recommendation to ditch the iconic M16 in favor of the M4 carbine as the new universal weapon for infantrymen.
The recommendation to swap the venerated rifle that has served as the grunt’s primary implement of war since Vietnam now sits on the commandant’s desk, pending his final review and a decision. But, the swap appears imminent and if approved will relegate the M16 to a support role. It follows a similar shift already underway in the Army.
With the endorsement of several major commands already supporting the switch — including Marine Corps Combat Development Command; Combat Development and Integration; Plans, Policies and Operations; Marine Corps Systems Command; and Installations and Logistics — final word is possible in weeks or months.
“The proposal to replace the M16A4 with the M4 within infantry battalions is currently under consideration at Headquarters Marine Corps,” according to a jointly written response from the commands provided by Maj. Anton Semelroth, a Marine spokesman in Quantico, Va. Read the rest of the story here.
I still liked my M-14 best of all.
I’m old school partial.....Garand.....
Many of us strongly advocated ditching the M16 in the eighties.
It isn’t as if the mighty mattel were universally loved by the troops.
Certainly this makes sense for close quarters and short range jungle type combat but in an open area where you may engage at longer range I would prefer the M16 of the two. Actually, I’d prefer a .30 caliber rifle in such an environment like the desert.
From Wiki:
On 21 April 2012, the U.S. Army announced to begin purchasing over 120,000 M4A1 carbines to start reequipping front line units from the original M4 to the new M4A1 version.
The first 24,000 were to be made by Remington Arms Company. Remington was to produce the M4A1s from mid-2013 to mid-2014.[20] After completion of that contract, it was to be between Colt and Remington to produce over 100,000 more M4A1s for the U.S. Army.
Because of efforts from Colt to sue the Army to force them not to use Remington to produce M4s, the Army reworked the original solicitation for new M4A1s to avoid legal issues from Colt.[21] On 16 November 2012, Colt’s protest of Remington receiving the M4A1 production contract was dismissed.[22]
Instead of the contract being re-awarded to Remington, the Army awarded the contract for 120,000 M4A1 carbines worth $77 million to FN Herstal on 22 February 2013.[23][24] The order is expected to be completed by 2018.[25]
Ditto!
I wanted us to go with a recoil operated 7.62 for long fields of fire, and fully automatic 12 guage systems for jungles and urban warfare.
I had an HK91 that would fire under pretty much any condition. It was infuriating that my service weapon was so inferior {albeit lighter} to the G3.
Makes a lot of sense to me.
Thought they did this years ago.
Colt has a real knack for stepping on their ****.
From the story it sounds like the troops in the field prefer the M4 over the M16. They should know.
Colt is run by a collection of a special kind of idiot.
It was a sad day for me in 1961 when I had to turn in my M-1 Garand and was issued a M-14.
I’ll agree with that, the M-14 was the better of the two.
Exactly.
If you cannot do it with a Gladius, yer a wimp.
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