Faults found in army's new rifle

ic Wales ^ | 3 July 2002 | staff

[Shooter 2.5]

I had forgotten that I owned the video "Deadly Weapons" as you corrected me on the title. I just finished viewing the scene with the .223, 30 carbine, 45 ACP, 7.62X39, .308 and the .50 BMG. The .50 did indeed tumble after hitting the brush. I couldn't believe it. I know that he was shocked that the .308 tumbled because he seemed like he was intent on mentioning superiority. The .50 opened his eyes. The only pair of shots that showed that a round didn't tumble was the 7.62X39 but as he said, he doesn't know if the single bullet that didn't tumble, hit any brush.

[Shooter 2.5]

I read an account of WWI where the consensus was:
The US 1903 was the best target rifle.
The Mauser was the best hunting rifle.
The Enfield was the best military rifle.

[tortoise]

I doubt very much if your freind has seen "more" unless he has been sent off to the "other side" and returned. What makes me think that is that he is still interested in guns at all. Not a characterisitc of those who have "seen more". In any case, he likes the carbine because its light weight. But it lacks the punch needed to be a "heavy duty inducstrial grade bush cutter."

For starters, he has eleven years of trigger time in Southeast Asia. There aren't many GIs who have had more. He currently has liver cancer, a consequence of Hepatitis C contracted from a blood transfusion during one of the many times he was wounded in action. He has a visceral hatred of communists that kept him in the action a LOT longer than he needed to be. His combat and soldiering credentials are pretty much impeccable. His daughter tells me he was captured in '75 by VC while out in the boonies of Vietnam and spent a year or so in a slave labor camp before escaping (with some outside help I've been told), but he's never really told me much about that himself.

He actually doesn't own any guns. Nonetheless, he knows the weapons from his theater of operations blindfolded. While I wouldn't choose a .30 Carbine either, he claims that it "killed communists" as well as the next weapon. He also like the M16 a lot. As you surmised, weight of both the ammo and rifle were important factors as he spent a lot of time in the bush. I sure as hell wouldn't question his weapon selection, and he isn't particularly religous about it either.

That said, I've beat the crap out the M16A1 (and variants) from rainforest to desert, and it always served me very well. I've never had reliability problems with those weapons, even when they are filthy and I've put a ton of rounds through them. There are a few weapons that I used in the Army that really were pieces of crap IMO, but the M16 wasn't one of them.

[archy]

And a weighted cleaning pullthrough as well, in lieu of a threaded-section cleaning rod, I believe.

I'm missing that for mine, but I prefer an ordinary cleaning kit with a rod. The idea of the cleaning-kit-in-a-trapdoor-in-the-stock seems to be that your overburdened footsoldiers don't have to carry a separate cleaning kit that way.

The British idea is that every soldier has the means to at least pull a cleaning swab through the bore of his own rifle, and the section or squad leader will have a more serious cleaning rod that can be used for more comprehensive work, as with a ruptured cartridge extractor. As a backup, the rifleman can use the rod provided in the unit's squad automatic weapon, which in the case of the Enfield, was the rather complete kit provided with the Bren Gun.

Mauser and Kalishnikov rifles have their own cleaning rods hung under their barrels, with the Germans additionally having a very nice weighted pullthrough in addition, and the AK series usually containing additional cleaning and maintenance equipment in a buttstock compartment reached via the butt-trap fitted on those rifles.

The early issue M16s had a compartment for the jointed cleaning rod in the canvas case for the bipod provided for that rifle, not frequently carried by M16 users, but fairly common among users of the M14 and XM21 sniper's rifle, whose M2 bipod weighed about 2 pounds- the lighter stamped sheetmetal M16 unit was a considerably easier load.

But the buttstock rod and handle for an M1 Garand works very nicely with a #4 Enfield [or L42A1 7,62 NATO version] though better carried in the pack or elsewhere than in the buttstock.

-archy-/-

[VadeRetro]

Thanks for the further history! Nice pic, BTW. Is that you?

[archy]

Thanks for the further history! Nice pic, BTW. Is that you?

Nope, but there are a few of those about. Here's an older one, from a galaxy far,far away:

[Top row, between the USAF cutie and the Navy guy with the beard.]

[VadeRetro]

More evidence that I'm in love with CAL. (From afar. Very far.)

[Tailback]

There's plenty of straight stock Remington 1903A3's left. They're predicted to be available into next year. Smith Corona's are sold out and Remington's with the 'C' stock also.

[Shooter 2.5]

Here's a list of the sold out rifles:

R031SCS (M1903A3 Smith Corona w/S stock)
R031SCC (M1903A3 Smith Corona w/C stock)
R031REMC (M1903A3 Remington w/C stock)
R030SMC (M1903 Springfield Mark I w/C stock)
R030SLC (M1903 Springfield Low Sn. w/C stock)
R030SLS (M1903 Springfield Low Sn. w/S stock)
R030RILC (M1903 Rock Island Low Sn. w/C stock)
R030RILS (M1903 Rock Island Low Sn. w/S stock)
R030RIHC (M1903 Rock Island High Sn. w/C stock)