The Firearm Blog

Matt recently comment on this post about the Australian AUG A4 (ADI Austeyr F88 A4):

To clear up “125″ issues and confusion the A3 varient is to be upgraded to allow the firing of GLA and underslung shot gun attachment with the trigger finger. There is much speculation on INF 2012 weapon systems and the steyr will look marketly different. What is concrete is that what changes happen to the weapons system the it must have the same range or better and must not be any heavier than current weight with modifications. There is a photo around of an ugly australian modified A3, this is not the new rifle and was a test bed system and was a demo only. The ADF rumour mill is leaning more to the AUG A4 design as now Australia owns the rights of all world wide styer production and also pattened designs from Austria.

I had not idea that the A4 existed. I did some Googling and found some photos in a brochure from ADI, the Australian arms and ammunition manufacturer. They may be the “test” A4 that Matt mentioned in Matt’s comment.

I think it’s a pretty ugly design. It looks like someone attacked an AUG with a hacksaw, screwdriver and a few picatinny rails. Especially in contrast to the AUG A3 (from steyr-arms.at):

Where is the grenade launcher trigger?

I would be surprised if the Australians upgrade their A1/A2 AUGs to use the M203 when the M320 will go into production later this year (according to Wikipedia).

M4 with M320

Blackwater announced that they will soon be selling AR-15s. Customers will choose what features they want and the Blackwater Armory will build it.

Blackwater BW-15

The public seemed poised to receive Blackwater’s new BW15 rifle after handling two samples that featured the Blackwater logo. “We’ve had a lot of people ask how they can get one, said Alan Alligood, Blackwater armorer.” Blackwater’s highly trained and ex-perienced armorers take the basic M4 to the next level by offering custom rifles that are built exactly to the customer’s wishes.

“We have a hard time helping people understand that we are not offering a line or series of guns. We build want they want. Each one may be different,” says Armory Chief Bill Kirkland. In a business where the firearms industry is saturated with variations and types of ARs, the BW15 represents a truly unique approach. The rifles can only be ordered through the Blackwater Armory, making them very exclusive and highly desirable.

I have emailed Blackwater for more information … lets see if they respond.

Aviation Week reports that last week the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office Soldier, Brig. Gen. Mark Brown weighed in on the M4/.223 issue:

“I don’t think we need an unhealthy, discordant debate over the current carbine because I don’t think the current carbine is a long-lived solution anyway. However, the M4 carbine has been continuously improved. It has 68 substantial engineering design changes and about 380 total engineering design changes, so it’s become a modular system. It’s very accurate, it’s the most accurate of the carbines, it’s the lightest of the carbines, and it’s the shortest of the carbines. We’re very pleased with it, and we expect it to be the Army’s carbine of record, for a little while.”

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).

From Army Times

One of the upgrades that may be coming in the future is a more reliable magazine. The test revealed that 239 of the 882 stoppages M4 suffered were magazine-related.

The hope is that upgrades, such as stronger springs, will increase the magazine’s ability to feed rounds more effectively, Radcliffe said. If all goes well in testing, the improved magazines could be ready by next spring.

Another upgrade under consideration is a “hammer-forged” barrel, Brown said.

I didn’t think that they were actually planning on replacing the M4 when they announced the testing. Even without magazine stoppages the M4 performed very badly.

DID has a very comprehensive article

“Even with extreme dust test III’s 98.6 percent success rate there was a total of 863 class 1 and 2 weapon/magazine stoppages with 19 class 3 stoppages. During extreme dust test II conducted during the summer, there were 296 total class 1 and 2 stoppages and 11 class 3 stoppages.

A class 1 stoppage is one a Soldier can clear within 10 seconds; a class 2 stoppage is one a Soldier can clear, but requires more than 10 seconds; and, class 3 is a stoppage that requires an armorer to clear.”

DID will simply point out that 10 seconds can be a rather fatally long time when people are shooting at you, and at your friends. So, what happens when the Extreme Dust Test III stoppages are broken out by weapon?

The M4 Carbine is the Army’s existing weapon.

* 882 jams, 1 jam every 68 rounds, again using heavy lubrication. In addition all 10 of the M4 barrels needed to be replaced, and a number of their parts were replaced during the test. None of the cold hammer forged HK416 and XM-8 barrels needed replacement.

The HK416 is a modified M4 carbine, which can be and has been converted from existing rifles. Used by US Special Forces.

* 233 jams, 1 jam every 257 rounds, 3.77x more reliable than the M4.

FN SCAR is US special Forces’ new weapon, designed by SOSOCM. It just went into production in late 2007.

* 226 jams, 1 jam every 265 rounds, 3.85x more reliable than the M4

XM-8 is a developmental rifle. It’s an advanced version of HK’s G36, a rifle in wide use by many NATO armies. The US Army cancelled the XM-8 weapons family 2 years ago.

* 127 jams, I jam every 472 rounds, 6.95x more reliable than the M4.

Hat Tip: Murdoc Online

The Army dust test results are out. As you can see above the M4 has fared very badly.

Weapons officials at the Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., exposed Colt Defense LLC’s M4, along with the Heckler & Koch XM8, FNH USA’s Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle and the H&K 416 to sandstorm conditions from late September to late November, firing 6,000 rounds through each test weapon.

When the test was completed, ATEC officials found that the M4 performed “significantly worse” than the other three weapons, sources told Army Times.

Officials tested 10 each of the four carbine models, firing a total of 60,000 rounds per model. Here’s how they ranked, according to the total number of times each model stopped firing:

* XM8: 127 stoppages.
* MK16 SCAR Light: 226 stoppages.
* 416: 233 stoppages.
* M4: 882 stoppages.

The results of the test were “a wake-up call,” but Army officials continue to stand by the current carbine, said Brig. Gen. Mark Brown, commander of Program Executive Office Soldier, the command that is responsible for equipping soldiers.

You can bet H&K, FN and Magpul are happy about these results!

Hat Tip: Murdoc Online

Malaysia is apparently switching from Steyr rifles to Colt M4 Carbines.

The Deputy Prime Minister has said a Malaysian company, SME Ordnance (SMEO), has a license to manufacture the M4 for use locally and possibly for export in the future.

“We took this decision as we want to enable our soldiers to be soldiers of the future, equipped with the latest modern technology”

Interesting. I don’t think Colt will allow export to North America. Export will probably be limited to South East Asian countries.

More here.

Hat Tip: Rustmeister @ The Gun Blogs

I came across an M4 comparison chart. Its compares the Colt 6920, LMT, Noveske M4 Light Carbine, Sabre Defense XR15-A3 M4, S&W M&P15 CMMG 16″ M4 Carbine, Stag Model 1, Bushmaster BCWA3F 16M, Rock Rivers Arms AR1251X, Armalite M-15A4C, Olympic K3B-M4-A3 and DPMS AP4-C.

Click to enlarge.

The latest version of this chart can be found here on m4carbine.net

(Click for a bigger version)

This beautiful poster has been designed by Mark Fingar and can be purchased here.

Accessories include:

Colt M4
(SOPMOD STYLE) with KAC RAS Handguard & KAC Vertical Grip.

Optics & Iron Sights:
ACOG
EOTech 552
Aimpoint COMPM2 & 3X Magnifier
Leupold CQ/T MK4
Nightforce NXS Riflescope
Trijicon AccuPoint
Trijicon Reflex
Colt C-MORE Tactical Sight
A3 Detachable Carry Handle
LaRue Tactical IronDot
Troy BUIS
Matech BUIS
A.R.M.S. #40 BUIS
LaRue BUIS
LMT BUIS
Troy Front Sight
PRI Front Sight

Lasers:
PEQ-2A
PAQ-4C
DBAL-A2
OTAL
VITAL-2

Lights:
Surefire L72
Surefire M910
Insight M6
Surefire Millennium
Surefire Scout

Silencers & DD’s:
Knight’s Armament M4QD
YHM Phantom, and QD Flash Hider
GemTech M496D
Surefire M4FA556-BK
Ops Inc CQB 15th Model

M203 Grenade Launcher
with AN/PSQ-18A Day/Night Sight

Night Vision:
PVS-22
PVS-14 & Magnifier
PVS-17

Misc Hardware:
LMT SOPMOD Stock
Magpul CTR Stock
Colt M4Stock
LaRue Tactical Free-Floating Handguard
TangoDown Vertical Grip
TangoDown Battle Grip
Magpul MIAD Grip
Magpul Magazine Pull
Harris Bipod with LaRue QD mount

Hat Tip: The Download Munkey

Do your kids play with Lego? Then treat them to life-like Lego guns!

A company called BrickArms sells Lego guns based on real guns. To image to the right is a WWII Sergeant armed with a M1A1 and his trusty 1911.

Other guns available are the MP5, M4, S&W 500 and more

even a briefcase uzi

Hat Tip: The Download Munkey

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.

This animation shows how both the 416 and M4 operate and explains the differences between the M4/M16/AR15 direct-gas impingement system and the H&K 416 piston system.

View the animation here. Below is a screenshot.

The ArmyTimes has written about how the army is stuck with the M16/M4 while spec ops are moving to the H&K 416:

Delta Force worked with a gun maker to come up with a better weapon. The 416 is now considered in many circles to be the best carbine in the world, but the regular Army is sticking with the M4 and M16.

Members of the elite unit linked up with German arms maker Heckler & Koch, which replaced the M4’s gas system with one that experts say significantly reduces malfunctions while increasing parts life. After exhaustive tests with the help of Delta, the H&K 416 was ready in 2004.

Members of the elite commando unit — formally known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta — have been carrying it in combat ever since.

The 416 is now considered in many circles to be the best carbine in the world — a weapon that combines the solid handling, accuracy and familiarity of the M4 with the famed dependability of the rugged AK47.

For the foreseeable future, however, the Army is sticking with the M4 and M16 for regular forces.

More here.