The Firearm Blog

MilitaryPhotos.net has some interesting photos of the Chinese International Criminal Police Organization.

Some interesting suppressed AKs, they look like AK-103’s but could be something else, and what is probably a Norinco CQ (M16A1 clone) or CQ-M4 (you guessed it, an M4 clone).

Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if these were airsofters (btw, I have nothing against airsoft).

FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received a $33.7 million firm-fixed-price, contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

….

Colt Defense in Hartford, CT received a $15.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for M16A3 and M16A4 Rifles to support the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps.

I know FN and Colt are happy

More at DID

From MilitaryPhotos

Armed Forces of the Philippines chief general Germohenes Esperon (L) and Philippine National Police chief general Avelino Razon (R) hold a rifle during hand over ceremony of captured, confiscated, surrendered or recovered firearms at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon city, east of Manila, Philippines on 27 November 2007. Around 200 assorted firearms were handed over to police for securement and to prevent said firearms from landing into the hands of terrorists, criminals and insurgent groups

I suppose it is good that they recovered those rifles. I wonder how many US supplied M16s are in the hands of rebels and common criminals!

This Is Awesome!

AM15 full auto UPPER RECEIVER allows you to shoot slightly modified.22LR American 180 drums, in either 165 round, 220 round or 275 round capacity, on your M16 host receiver. The full auto AM15 upper receiver conversion is a BATF APPROVED OPEN BOLT .22LR rimfire caliber conversion that ejects through the AR mag well.

It uses fire control parts that are similar to Colt Light Machine Gun parts, which will be provided with the AM15 conversion. The AM15 conversion at this time will only work on registered receiver sear drilled M16 lowers. We are working on reliable solutions for owners of drop in auto sears.

Check out the videos

Hat Tip for the 2nd post in a row to Traction Control (via SaysUncle). Check out the Traction Control blog, its a good read.

Two years ago, an M16 automatic rifle could fetch $5,400 or more in the Palestinian West Bank. Now buyers at Hebron’s clandestine gun market are asked to pay more than double.

Four months after Islamist Hamas routed secular Fatah in the Gaza Strip, fears that clashes between the Palestinian rivals could erupt in the West Bank and uncertainty ahead of a U.S.-led peace conference are fuelling a scramble for guns.

Dealers at the gun market in Hebron, the West Bank’s most populous city, say weapons sales have jumped by up to 70 percent since Hamas took control of Gaza, while buoyant demand and supply bottlenecks due to tighter security have inflated prices.

In the northern West Bank city of Jenin, every bullet for an AK-47 rifle costs 35 Israeli shekels, or more than $8. In Hamas-controlled Gaza, an AK-47 bullet goes for 4-6 Israeli shekels, $1-1.50.

I have heard it said that gun prices reflect upcoming conflict….

Also, I wonder where they get M16 or AR-15’s from.

More here.
Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

I came across a Navy presentation showing what can happen when the bore of an M16 is obstructed!

Click on the below thumbnails to enlarge them.

The upper receiver has been blown off:

Half of the upper receiver was found 25-35 yards away!

More photos here.

I have been getting quite a lot of visits from people searching google for M16 / M4 / AR-15 manuals. So I decided to post some of them.
US Army M16 / M4 operators manual

This covers Disassembly, Cleaning, Reassembly, Magazine, Operation and Ammunition and more.

Click here to download it.

Bushmaster: Operating and Safety Instruction Manual.

Uses the diagrams from the US Army manual and covers the same content but is not as detailed.

Click here to download it.

Olympic Arms: OWNER’S MANUAL FOR PCR/AR RIFLES

Covers the same content as the above manuals.

Click here to download it.

The M16 has been in service for over 40 years and I did some research to see which governments now use it. I decided to create a map showing who uses the M16/M4, AR-15 (civilian version)and the C7/ C8 (Canadian version).

This is what I came up with (click the image to increase the size)

Some of the countries, such as the UK, only use M16/M4/AR-15/C7/C8 rifles for their special forces. Presumably because the AR-15 platform has no end of customizations available.

Here is a complete list of countries (from the Colt website. The above map is more detailed than the Colt map):

Argentina, Australia, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, East Timor, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq ,Ireland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Maldives, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Laos, Nigeria, Netherlands, Oman,Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vietnam and Venezuela.

UPDATE

Added Georgia, who are adopting the M4, and Afghanistan, who have been given C7 rifles.