Building an Early-Afghanistan M4A1
WeaponsMan has begun a project that I personally find very interesting: Recreating a SOCOM M4A1 from the initial 2002 Afghanistan campaign. Hognose’s goal is to recreate with as high a fidelity as possible the weapon he served with during that period, using a 14.5″ SBR Colt LE M4.
His stamp for the SBR was approved, and he received the rifle on the 15th.
One of the interesting things Hognose included in the post was a weighing of the rifle – sources as to the exact weight of the M4 have been all over the place, and so it’s nice to have one more confirmation that the rifle is so light as I suspected. With the carry handle attached, it weights 6.5lbs, which comes out to about 5.9lbs unloaded without the carry handle/rear sight.
As an aside, this has been a bugbear of mine: for all the flaws the M4 may have as an infantry weapon, it is very, very light. So light, today’s competing firearms designers cannot seem to even approach it, despite having access to materials and manufacturing processes that would make George Sullivan green with envy.
I certainly am looking forward to what Hognose will do with this rifle in trying to recreate a piece of recent history!
Nathaniel is a history enthusiast and firearms hobbyist whose primary interest lies in military small arms technological developments beginning with the smokeless powder era. He can be reached via email at nathaniel.f@staff.thefirearmblog.com.
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My next 'nostalgia rifle' is an M16A1 clone (I carried an A1 at Marine Corps OCS in '77).
Did the original M4 carbines actually have as many defects as some claim? I heard stories about the M16A1, that never showed up during my NG days. We had 125 M16A1 rifles (120 made by H&R and 5 Colts). They worked well.