Posted on 03/24/2015 6:35:39 PM PDT by Redcitizen
The U.S. Army is considering several upgrades to the M4A1 Carbine that could improve its accuracy and performance and change the weapon's appearance.
Army weapons and contracting officials recently launched a market survey to see what the small-arms industry has to offer as far as better rails, triggers, charging handles and sights for the M4A1.
"The government is seeking to procure M4A1-Plus (abbreviated as M4A1+) components as non-development items ... for improvements to the M4A1 Carbine," according to the March 13 document posted on FedBizOpps.gov. "It is anticipated that the M4A1+ components will be evaluated as a system. The system must then install on/interface with stock M4A1 Carbines."
The Army decided to replace the standard M4 with the M4A1 in 2013 after the service abandoned a five-year effort to replace the M4 with a brand-new carbine.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
You are exactly right. It has been a long time ago but I remember reading about how the FN- FAL design dates to before WWII and they were going to use the British .280 (7mm).
When NATO adopted the 7.62, FN was able to use the same platform for it but anything bigger and it wouldn’t have worked.
Active Duty ping.
I suggest they return to .30 caliber weapons.
My father says they need to bring back the M1 Garand or at least the M-14. Even so, I always thought if they had to go to a sub .30 caliber round, I always thought they should have used the .270 Winchester or the .243 Winchester or something similar.
The M4 is basically an up to date CAR-15.
The Tsarist Russians made a selective fire “assault rifle” around 1915 or so that used 6.5 Jap. I think it was called the “Avtomat.”
That is interesting.
IIRC, the deal with the 5.56 was to wound the enemy and cause a couple other soldiers to haul him out of the fight, thus reducing the fighting capabilities of the enemy, plus pound for pound, you couple pack 3X the ammo in the field carrying 5.56 v. .308 or 30-06. Both have their advantages/disadvantages.
Does anyone remember the Beltway sniper?
They used an AR in 5.56. They killed people far more often than injuring them. The round is deadly against people but using the long heavy for caliber bullets with a really fast spin results in a .223 sized hole. They will really penetrate but that is also the problem. They penetrate too easily.
What’s not to like? Costs of barrel replacements, if the loads push bullets as fast as the civilian ones. ;-)
.243 is lovable, BTW.
"Field proven?" When has direct impingement been "field proven" where the forces using it did not have mastery of the battlespace?
Furthermore, gas piston is the older of the two systems and IS field proven, from the Sturmgewehr to the new bullpup "spaceguns." It just hasn't been used on the AR platform until recently.
Ooooooo....Now that DOES make my little heart patter ;)
Please disregard my earlier ignorant comment about burning speed. A .243/6mm about 85-90 gr. could probably do really well with a military barrel at a reasonable speed.
What the hell is wrong with you? Isn't current FR protocol to reach up your a$$ to the elbow and pull out some tangential bit of esoterica to preserve the viability of your original statement?
Geez, you remind me of the old days when people around here knew how to argue, and more importantly, when to concede!
I think I'll report you to the mods ;)
My same recollection. The 5.56 round was smaller but tended to “rotate” and “disintegrate” once it entered the target, causing an astonishing amount of internal “soft tissue” damage to the target. I believe I read at one point that the 5.56 round was actually being touted as a round that caused “excessive” damage to a target due to the way it acted once it entered said “soft” target.
Over All Length OAL of the .243 is between 2.6 and 2.7 is gonna put the rifle in a 7.62 x 51 mag well size lower which holds the nato round OAL around 2.75..... So think SR-25 or AR-10 size rifle.....Mk 11 Hk series. More than a just a barrel swap sadly. The 243 with a 105gr ball round runs around 2900 fps...... love the load. Plus....as we’re not in a fight with a uniformed enemy go to a boat tail hollow point to use on ISIS style enemies.
Stay Safe !
:o)
Oh its a powerful round in 160gr ball..... 240 rounds basic combat load would be heavier than ...... ;o)
1. Standardize the 6.8 SPC (6.8 Remington) as a replacement for the 5.56 NATO. [The 6.8 SPC was specifically designed to work in weapons designed for the 5.56 NATO cartridge.]
2. Standardize a gas piston drive upper receiver like the HK416 and that will cure the carbine's reliability problems.
3. All legacy weapons in inventory could be easily converted to the new caliber by changing barrels, bolt assemblies (and carriers), magazines, and modifying the M27 links to 6.8 SPC for the M219/Mk 46 SAW. Change over would cost far less than a new rifle and training and logistics would hardly be affected.
Either that or start issuing the .30 caliber M1 carbines issued as control weapons for the last M5 carbine tests that the troops preferred over the M4! The US Army has been a total cluster flock when it has tried to replace the M4 carbines.
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