The Firearm Blog

This cartoon encourages soldier to upgrade to the Army's new "tan" M16/M4 magazine.

The "New, Improved Magazine" (left), "Old Timer" (Middle, Right)

[ Many thanks to Concerned_Soldier for emailing me the cartoon. ]

An interesting piece of intel I picked up at SHOT was that C-MORE are considering civilian sales of their M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System.

I love this photo. M26 Pistol (top), Standalone version (middle), M4 underslung version (bottom)

The pistol and underslung version would have NFA requirements (destructive devices AOW or Short Barreled Shotgun) but the standalone "carbine" would be civilian legal without any paperwork if the barrel was extended to 18".

The M26 is a breaching tool and not designed as an anti-personnel weapon. It was chosen by the US military over the KAC Masterkey and Remington MCS Accessory Weapon, both of which use the Remington Model 870 shotgun as a base. The M26 distributes its weight further back compared with the 870 and so it feels lighter.

Remington Model 870 MCS Accessory Weapon

I came across Imperial Defense, a British company, who manufacturer M16 and M4 clones.

Imperial Defense MG4A5 (M4 Carbine clone)

Imperial Defense MG4A6 (M4 Commando clone)

According to this post at the MP.net forum, the guns are manufactured in Vietnam! This makes Vietnam the second communist country to manufacture M16s.

I would guess that the guns are copied off China's Norinco CQ 5.56 (M4A1 clone).

This is not the first time a Vietnam company has manufactured clones of Western weaponry. They notably manufacture a Lee Enfield clone, the AIA M-10, much to the frustration of American Lee Enfield enthusiats who cannot import the rifle due to BATFE rules which ban firearm imports from Vietnam.

Issuing pressing a press release is one thing but actually selling to the Army or Marines is another! The press release, dated 15 December 2009, infers that their product can deliver 10,000 mean rounds between failure (emphasis added)...

SARASOTA, Fla., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The 40-year-old problems of the M16 / AR15 / M4 rifle are now a thing of the past. In testing Osprey Defense, LLC has been able to install their OPS-416 system in under 4 minutes followed by firing more than 10,000 rounds without cleaning through an ordinary M16 rifle without failure. This is unprecedented from any firearm and even more amazing considering it requires no modification of the original gun.

Osprey Defense, LLC, www.GasPiston.com, a Florida based Limited Liability Company, has spent the last 3 years dedicated to developing a robust yet deceptively simple solution to the problem plaguing US Military's standard rifle platform. The M16 has historically been a less than reliable platform due to the deposits of hot gasses, carbon and debris in the critical operating areas of the rifle which cause malfunctions.

The Osprey Defense OPS-416 family of user installable gas-piston conversion systems is the solution to this problem. The company demonstrates it extensively on their website where you can watch demonstrations of the system being blasted with high-pressure sand which is enough to cut concrete, yet the rifle still runs. In another demonstration they buried a rifle using a 17-ton excavator, ground it into the earth, then dug it out caked with dirt, and the rifle still ran.

After millions of rounds of testing and an aggressive law enforcement agency and military Test and Evaluation program, the system is being made available today via their website and dealer/distributor network. New dealer opportunities are still available according to the company.

The OPS-416 piston.

[ Many thanks to Morten for sending me the press release ]

I first mentioned the new "Tan" M16/M4 magazine back in June.

New and old, and older

The Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier agency has just blogged about it ...

“With the improved magazines, we’re taking weapons reliability up another notch,” said LTC Chris Lehner, Product Manager Individual Weapons. “By incorporating a heavier, more corrosion resistant spring, along with a new follower design that does not tilt inside the casing, our engineers were able to develop a magazine that presents a round to the weapon with even greater stability. Increased magazine reliability results in overall improved weapon system performance.”

...

“Soldiers can remember it like this: ‘Tan – is the plan. Green – start to lean. Black – take it back,’” said LTC Lehner. “While the improved magazines increase reliability to an even greater degree, the new magazines by no means reduce the importance of Soldiers keeping their weapons clean and lubricated appropriately for the environment. Also, Soldiers must be proficient on conducting immediate action (SPORTS) if their weapon has a stoppage.”

The Army has also developed a nifty tool to check if the feed lips are worn out. It is kind of a no-go gauge for magazines. If this does not already exist for civilians or law enforcement, I imagine it would be a popular accessory.

Feed lip wear tool.

[ Thanks to Solomon and Daniel for the link ]

From MP.net ...

AGUSAN DEL SUR, PHILIPPINES - DECEMBER 12: Hostages of tribal gunmen are seen on December 12, 2009 in San Martin, Philippines. The suspected bandits, reported to be former government-armed militia led by Danilo 'Ondo' Perez, have abducted dozens of villagers, included schoolchildren and teachers, in the Southern Philippines.

I was surprised to see a polymer Thermold magazine being used by these bandits.

Thermold's nylon AR-15 / M16 magazine.

Most of you, I think, know what is meant by a term "STANAG magazine". For those of you who do not, it refers to a specification prepared by NATO which describes the dimensions of an AR-15 / M16 compatible magazine. An example of the usage of the term is in the Magpul's Masada spec document (emphasis added) ...

Multiple ammunition magazine capability is accomplished with unique lower receivers to accept either the NATO STANAG (USGI M-16) or the Automatic Kalashnikov (AK) magazine. Additional lowers receivers that accept other maga- zine types are also possible.

I received an interesting email from Roberto, a NATO employee, who explained that despite the term being commonly used, the specification does not exist. Apparently the draft STANAG 4179 was never ratified by member states and therefor it was discarded by default. If you call up the NATO Standardisation Agency (Bruxelles) and ask them for the STANAG 4179 document they will tell you that it does not exist.

This slide comes from a NATO presentation ...

So there you have it - STANAG 4179 does not exist! "USGI compatible" is a more correct term than "STANAG compatible" when referring to AR-15 magazines.

Many thanks to Roberto for this information.

Simon, aka. Simon_the_Brit, was an Armorer in the British Army. He sent me photos of the M16 he was issued with during the British Army jungle training in Malaysia, which he participated in sometime between 1984 and 1986.

I was surprised to learn that at the time, just before the introduction of the L85A1, the Army had quite a mix of rifles in use, including M16s. This particular M16 was of 1960s vintage.

Now that, my friends, is a nice mustache

Simon with a L1A1 SLR (FN FAL), the standard issue rifle at the time.

Many thanks to Simon for these very interesting photos.

There is an interesting article at Human Events about the US Army culture favoring the M4, while the Marines culture being pro-M16A4.

Two years ago when I was in Iraq, I noticed there were essentially two different primary infantry weapons (the M16 automatic rifle and the also-automatic M4 carbine) carried by America’s two primary ground forces — the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army.

Marines for the most part were carrying the M16. The Army on the other hand was primarily carrying the M4: a shorter, lighter version of the M16 with a collapsible-stock.

Hat Tip: Say Uncle

The M16 in this photo, which was taken in Afghanistan a few days ago, has a carry handle mounted on the 9 o’clock handguard rail.

I had not seen a carry handle mounted there before so I asked about it on MP.net. BumpkinBoy and scrybe suggested he has it there in case his optics fail. If it failed he would need to detach the scope and carry handle, then reattach the carry handle.

I suppose it is not a bad idea if you cannot afford, are not allowed, or do not have backup iron sights (BUIS) on hand.

“FREEFALLE7″, a Ranger Instructor, posted the above photo at AR15.com. A student, on arrival at the Swamp phase of Ranger School, showed him his M4 and said “my barrel fell off”. His punishment for not telling an instructor at the Mountain phase (the previous phase) about the broken M4 was to be given a M240, which weights 27 lbs, as a replacement.

Keith J came up with a plausible theory of how this happened

Salt water in the threads. Steel rusts. Steel in contact with aluminum. Aluminum then oxidizes, reducing the rust to iron dust. Joint remains tight until it is abused, then it just falls apart.

This all started when the barrel was installed and it was tightened a bit too much, causing the anodizing to crack

Of course this would have happened over a long period of time and use.

Thanks to Jay for the link.

In March Brownells were awarded a contact for 1.4 million M16 magazines. They have just shipped the first 60,000. Interestingly these have a new propriety anti-tilt follower, instead of the normal green follower.

The new military magazine manufactured by Brownells

Larry, from Brownells, told me that the follower will unfortunately not be available to the civilian market as part of the contact prohibits them from using the design for any other purpose than the military.

These were all confiscated off Mexican criminals. Click to expand the images.

I have never seen such an ornate AK-47 before.
I would be embarrassed to go to the range with it.


AR-15 / M16 SBR


I think the bling on this one is fake


I am sure the saints do not protect gangsters.

Hat Tip: Dragunov at MexicoDefense

Colt and Umarex have teamed up to produce the Colt M4 .22 Tactical Rimfire. The is probably the only real “Colt M4″ you will ever be allowed to own!

I am not 100% sure they are in fact AR-15s. UMAREX USA uses well known brand-names such as Beretta, Ruger and Walther to sell their airguns. This could easily be a AR-15 patterned rifle much like the .22 GSG MP5 or GSG AK.

There will be four different models.

Colt M4 Carbine

* 16″ Barrel
* M4 collapsible style stock
* A4 flat top upper recoever
* detachable carry handle
* A2 flash hider
* A2 pistol grip
* 30 round magazine
* Weight: 5.95 lbs

Colt M4 OPS (includes the following extras):
* Rear BUIS (Backup iron sight)
* Free floated aluminum picatinny rail handguard

Colt M16 (includes the following extras):

* 20″ barrel

Colt M16 SPR (includes the following extras):

* 20″ barrel
* Free floated aluminum picatinny rail handguard
* Flip up read and front sights

Fake suppressors will also be available as seen in the above photo.

It will be officially announced at SHOT Show 2009.

Hat Tip: OnPointFirearms