M16 now seen as 'the weapon of choice' for Iraq's army

GeoStrategy Direct ^ | 1/14/2010 | GeoStrategy Direct

[ASOC]

For the level of ‘skill’ shown by the hadjis, the AK makes a lot more sense.

THen again, I’d like to see the Standard Issue rifle in 7.62 x 43 or thereabouts.

As always, YMMV

[pennyfarmer]

Good. We have a better chance of them jamming when they give the weapons to their “cousins” who would like to use U.S. soldiers as backstops for their lead.

[Iron Munro]

For the level of ‘skill’ shown by the hadjis, the AK makes a lot more sense.

Agreed. The difference in maintenance requirements is another huge factor arguing against the M-16 as the best choice.

Soon after our troops pull out and American presence declines, these M-16's will end up in the junk pile.
.

[ComputerGuy]

The M-16 will always be a POS to me.
You couldn't give me one.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

The M-16 will always be a POS to me.
You couldn’t give me one.
~~~
Same here,,,

Only a fool would take an M-16 over an AK-47,,,

Guys I know in the 10th.Mtn.Div. are still cussin’ em’...

[ComputerGuy]

The AK wins that contest hands down.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

LOL,,,Roger Dat!,,,I guess our AGE is showin’...;0)

[truthguy]

In any environment where you can keep it reasonably clean, M16 is superior weapon to AK-47. The only thing that the AK is better at is working when it is in dirty & filthly environment.

[DemforBush]

Since we're sort of on the subject...I'm curious about something. Can anyone tell me how the AK-74 measures up, in terms of reliability and performance, to the AK-47 and M16 families, respectively?

[Sarajevo]

Soon after our troops pull out and American presence declines, these M-16's will end up in the junk pile.

They'll end up on the black market.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

From what I have read the AK-74 has had feed problems as

well as the range of the .22 cal. bullet,,,

Many units have gone back to the AK-47 because it WORKS!,,,

The .223/5.45x39mm round is what they are,,,A mouse gun !,,,

They have gone to a heavier bullet to try to increase the

range and penetration,,, 62gr.?,,,Don't remember,,,

Some info :

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu.TSP1BLgmoBKGFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1NHZuM25mBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA01BUDAwN18xMTI-/SIG=11mqddu2a/EXP=1263636818/**http%3a//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-74

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geuymFQFBLFbkA1etXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1NHZuM25mBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkA01BUDAwN18xMTI-/SIG=11qc66m0o/EXP=1263636997/**http%3a//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M16_rifle

Neither one will shoot through the bushes,,,

The AK-47 and the M-14 will...

[darkside321]

well i guess the “weapon of choice” strongly depends on what the US is willing to hand over to them and has little to do what weapon would be the better choice for them.
There for it seems logical to me that the “weapon of choice” is an american product because it helps to keep some jobs in the american arms industry and you don´t have to hand over money to the chinese or the russians to buy them their Aks (that would be definitely the “weapon of their choice” because they are allready familiar and trained with it if they really would have a “choice”.
greetings

[Shooter 2.5]

There’s no such thing as a brush buster. Every bullet can deflect in brush.

[Shooter 2.5]

Only hits count. That leaves out the AK-47. It was designed for the individual soldier to lay down massive amounts of fire during an assault.

[Eye of Unk]

I would not trust my life to any AR rifle unless it is converted to a piston design like my trustworthy Springfield Armory M1A.

The .223 is a good cartridge to use if you have to haul around a lot of ammo, but its still a very small bullet, normally in the 52-75gr. weight. The .308 uses bullets from 147 to 180gr. or heavier in bolt actions, three times the bullet weight.

[BuffaloJack]

> The M-16 will always be a POS to me.
> You couldn’t give me one.

Amen to that. I had to take that POS that was issued to me apart and clear a bent round while in a fire fight on the Mekong River in 1970. When it wasn’t jamming, that idiotic flash supressor with the 3 prong fork design was collecting weeds, vines, leaves and all sorts of other crap when we were on patrol.

[ComputerGuy]

My unit got the M-16 in early April, 1967.
I remember the armorer saying that it was made of aluminum alloy and "wouldn't rust". Maybe that's the reason so few guys were issued cleaning kits. I don't know. Anyway, each recipient (being a Corpsman, I wasn't one of them) got to fire maybe five rounds. That was it. If everyone had been allowed to fire a full magazine on auto, we would been aware of the potential for problems. Some of the guns would have locked up tight, I'm sure. Our first firefight with them was three weeks later. We were on Hill 881S, in the deepest of sh!t, and virtually unable to defend ourselves. If it weren't for the AKs we got from dead NVA, I wouldn't be here.

[thefactor]

So it's the weapon of choice, but less than 50% will use it, and as time goes on more Iraqis will go back to the AK.

O...K...!

[Caipirabob]

The only thing that the AK is better at is working when it is in dirty & filthly environment.

Agreed, but that's also just about every battlefield in history.