Posted on 07/14/2003 1:31:45 AM PDT by xzins
U.S. forces rolled over the Iraqi military in just weeks.
The plans seemed flawless, and the courage of the soldiers and Marines unflappable.
But with the dust settling — and the adrenaline rush of battle now subsiding — military officials are finding some weapons performed as advertised. Others, however, let troops down when they needed them most.
Army and Marine officials recently released after-action reports compiling what was right and what was wrong about the small arms with which troops squared off against Iraqi forces. Soldiers and Marines rated the rifles and pistols they carried into battle, and not all got perfect scores.
Soldiers and Marines relied on variants of the M-16 rifle. The M-16, in service since the early days of the Vietnam War, was highly criticized then as unreliable, often jamming during firefights. Soldiers who participated in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan also complained the M-4 variant, a shorter version of the M-16, lacked what they needed in combat.
In Iraq, reviews were mixed.
Most soldiers carried the M-4 into battle in Iraq and “were very satisfied with this weapon,” according a report from the Army’s Special Operations Battle Lab. “It performed well in a demanding environment, especially given the rail system and accompanying sensors and optics.”
Marines carried the older and larger M-16A2 rifles, but a report from the Marine Corps Systems Command Liaison Team stated: “Many Marines commented on desire for the shorter weapon vice the longer M-16s.”
One Marine told the team that the shorter rifle would have been better in confined urban battle. Some also said the smaller rifle would have been easier to handle when climbing in and out of trucks and armored vehicles.
“Several Marines even opted to use the AK-47s that had been captured from Iraqi weapons caches,” the Marine report stated. “Others were trading rifles for pistols to go into buildings to allow for mobility in confined spaces.”
Marine Corps officials announced late last year that infantry forces would soon switch from the M-16A2 to the M-16A4, a heavier-barreled version of the long rifle with a rail system like the M-4. Stocks of the weapons, however, arrived in Kuwait too late to be fielded and sighted for battle. Most stayed in storage, but some weapons were delivered to Marines under a plan to initially field one per squad.
A number of M-16A4 rifles, fitted with a 4X scope, were given to Marine rifleman. The combination, Marines said, allowed them to “identify targets at a distance, under poor conditions, and maintained ability to quickly acquire the target in close-in environment[s].”
But not all soldiers and Marines were enamored with the performance of their rifles. Complaints centered on lack of range and reliability problems.
“The most significant negative comment was reference [to] the M-4’s range,” the Army report stated. “In the desert, there were times where soldiers needed to assault a building that may be 500+ meters distant across open terrain. They did not feel the M-4 provided effective fire at that range.”
Safety was another concern. The M-4’s bolt can ride forward when the selector switch is on safe, allowing the firing pin to strike a bullet’s primer.
“Numerous soldiers showed us bullets in their magazines that had small dents in the primer,” the Army report said.
Reliability complaints also found fault with the oil soldiers and Marines used to clean their weapons. In the dusty, sandstorm-plagued battlefields of Iraq, weapons became clogged with sand, trapped by the heavy oil, called CLP.
Several Washington Post articles recalling the night the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed recounted moments when soldiers in the convoy, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch, battled their weapons to continue fighting Iraqi irregular forces.
“In the swirling dust, soldiers’ rifles jammed,” one article reported. “Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, from suburban Wichita, began shoving rounds into his rifle one at a time, firing single shots at enemies swarming all around.”
“We had no working weapons,” Sgt. James Riley told The Washington Post. “We couldn’t even make a bayonet charge — we would have been mowed down.”
The Army’s after-action found more soldiers unhappy with CLP.
“The sand is as fine as talcum powder,” the report stated. “The CLP attracted the sand to the weapon.”
Unlike the soldiers’ reports after Afghanistan, Marines in Iraq said the 5.56 mm round fired from the M-16 “definitely answered the mail” and “as long as shots were in the head or chest, they went down.” The Marine reports said many were initially skeptical of the small rounds’ performance against the heavier 7.62 mm round fired from AK-47s. There were reports of enemy being shot and not going down, but most were referencing non-lethal shots on extremities.
Still, “there were reports of targets receiving shots in the vitals and not going down. These stories could not be described, but are of the rare superhuman occurrences that defy logic and caliber of round.”
The report said Marines asked for a heavier-grained round — up to 77 grains.
The M-16 series of rifles fires a 55-grain bullet, a projectile that weighs slightly more than three-and-a-half grams. Some servicemembers believe a heavier-grained bullet would carry more energy downrange, creating greater knockdown power.
Both soldiers and Marines also noted problems with the M-9 9 mm pistol.
“There was general dissatisfaction with this weapon,” the Army report said. “First and foremost, soldiers do not feel it possesses sufficient stopping power.”
Soldiers asked for a tritium glow-in-the-dark sight for night firing.
But soldiers and Marines alike railed against the poor performance of the M-9 ammunition magazines.
“The springs are extremely weak and the follower does not move forward when rounds are moved,” the Marine report stated. “If the magazine is in the weapon, malfunctions result.”
Soldiers complained that even after they were told to “stretch” the springs and load only 10 rounds instead of the maximum 15, the weapons still performed poorly. Lack of maintenance was determined not to be the cause.
“Multiple cleanings of the magazine each day does not alleviate the problem,” the Marine report stated. “The main problem is the weak/worn springs.”
Still, Marines wanted more pistols to back up their rifles, especially in urban environments, according to the report.
Heh. Roger that. That is one of the things I liked about the M16. You could always tell the status of the action by the sound and feel of the shot. Definitely not true on some other combat rifles, and it is one of the many details that I learned to love about the rifle. Every time you pulled the trigger you knew if you had another round ready to go; if the mag was empty, or there was a blockage/jam, or if the bolt didn't seat, you could feel and/or hear it. On the fly diagnostics without having to peer into the action.
Um, I have done just that. So have many of us! :)
One ALICE pack and a Seabag, tha's it!
With the exception of a mandatory MOPP gear A3 bag that stayed in camp or staging areas I carried all my goodies in a then new ruck we had called a CFP90. Worked very well. Even with extream weight loadouts of team gear and personal existance loads.
Troops in Iraq right now are getting a lesson in tough IMO. Hopefully they will learn from it and improve physically, mentally and material wise........oooops .....back to that after action report that is never read.......:o)
Stay Safe !
Specifically, I was in a heavy weapons platoon, headquarters company. A REMF, truck-riding, hot showering, chow hall commando who had bunkers made for us by engineers with heavy equipment while we read comic books.
Spent most of my time trying to get transferred to the air wing to be a long-haired, CH46-riding, apartment-living, aerial-machinegunning, NCO-club commando.
Had a *few* hard days, though.
The French make some, and the Israelis use them for just about everything.
The US Army Rangers have taken up using the M79 grenade launcher again.
Bullet weight has a meaningless relation to energy retention. Ballistic coefficient specifically, and more generally sectional density, is the primary determinant of how much energy will be retained down-range. The only other meaningful variable is how fast you drive it.
The amount a bullet drops at a certain range is mathematically related to the same properties that determine penetration, and penetration is the primary performance factor for killing critters. So it IS related. The two primary determinants of penetration are sectional density and velocity -- "bigger" has nothing to do with it. The 7.62x39 doesn't have much of either, whereas the 5.56x45 has moderate quantities of both, so for an equivalent bullet design, the 5.56x45 will both have more range AND better penetration on target.
It is physics, not voodoo. It is the reason "tiny" 6.5mm bullets have been used to kill countless moose, elephants, and bear, while no one would dream of using a .308 in most cases, which is technically "bigger" in every dimension except those that actually matter. The object isn't to launch "big bullets", it is to hit the vitals of your target.
I never could read a 10/22 either, and I certainly used it enough. I traded up for a mag-fed bolt-action Anschutz sporter that can shoot well under 1-MOA all day with the lovely-but-cheap Winchester 40gr PowerPoints. Really quite nice for $400-500; I'll probably never get rid of it. I can't bust loose with it like a semi-auto, but then I rarely miss with it even at a distance.
Cheaper than just about anything else that performs as good (e.g. Win M52). But I digress...
Wolf Ammo sells lots of Russian-calibre ammo in the US. Perhaps they might be talked into making the same type bullet in .223?
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