#M4

Personally, I would rather be shot by neither, but a Special Operations doctor spent some time going into detail about why he would rather be shot by the 7.62x39mm round from the ubiquitous AK-47 over the smaller 5.56mm round fielded by many NATO forces.

Special Operations Forces the world over are uniquely appealing to firearms enthusiasts for a number of reasons. For me, the sheer diversity of what they carry is fascinating enough. When you study military history, or examine a large number of military photos, the plain jane issue gets very boring, very quickly.This is especially true if you are in the service and all you are surrounded is with the stock gear; the M16A4s, Berettas, and M240s. Even the M27s and SMAWs get boring after awhile… But looking at SOF guys, there’s H&K this, Safariland that, this thing hasn’t come out yet that. Eye candy for the firearms enthusiast, and future envoy of every “operator” nowadays (isn’t everyone an operator these days?). But I digress, this post is about the Afghan SOF community, or at least what they want to allow to show us on their official Facebook page. Apart from browsing through pictures of “Commandos” (all the red patches in the photos are their official insignia, MARSOC wore it in Helmand), I’ve worked with them in Helmand. Many of the Afghan SOF units are partnered with American or British units that help train and mentor them both on the bases and on missions. The particular unit we worked with was Task Force 444, or simply “Triple Four” in short. Their mentors were British Paras, and we would provide security and trucks/helos for them in Helmand. Absolutely great guys, although their dispersion could have used some work. But they were always willing to get in a good gunfight, always willing to push forward despite them not having half of the modern amenities that we had (ECMs, air support, CMDs, Medevacs). Which makes it truly heart breaking to see the current situation the country is in now. Because although many of these ANA and SOF guys absolutely fight like lions, many of their battles were predetermined from the start because of politics/tribal dynamics, corrupt officials, or terrorism.

Hartford, Connecticut gunmaker Colt has won confirmation of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy exit plan. The plan, which includes a new lease on the company’s Hartford plant as well as negotiated terms for retiree medical benefits with the United Auto Worker’s union, was approved by all of the company’s stakeholders.  ABLAdvisor reports:

If you’ve spent any time at all in military history circles, you will have probably witnessed or been a participant in an argument about what, exactly, an “assault rifle” is, or whether a particular weapon qualifies as one. I, personally, have enjoyed this totally unproductive and thoroughly wasteful argument in one form or another more times than I could possibly keep track of. Although, maybe that says more about my memory than anything else…

Two days ago, we blogged about the New Zealand Defence Force’s promotional video sneak peak of their new service carbine, based on the Lewis Machine & Tool CQB16, which will replace the joint Australian-New-Zealand variant of the Steyr AUG in service with the Commonwealth nation. We spoke with an LMT representative after the publication of that article about the New Zealand contract and the company’s plans for the future. The LMT representative said the company is

The $212 million contract that Colt and FN won for M4A1 Carbines is not going through uncontested. Remington Arms Co. has named the two companies, along with the Federal Government in a sealed lawsuit, reports Guns.com:

M855A1 is the Army’s new round; it boasts improved accuracy, penetration, and terminal effectiveness vs. the legacy M855 “green tip” round. We previously covered the story of M855A1, and Major Glenn Dean’s history of the round’s development, but how does it really perform? Fortunately, The Wound Channel has come into possession of some of the new ammunition, and put it to the test.

Thomas Kivlehan Jr is a retired Marine 2112. In other words, he knows a thing or two about how to manufacture and maintain firearms of all types. The majority of his accomplishments come from being in the Precision Weapons Section in Marine Corps Base Quanitco, Virginia. There, the section produces all the M40s in use by Scout Sniper platoons, refines all the match weapons in use by the shooting teams, and tests various weapons for the Marine Corps, in addition to providing guidance on how to maintain them and so on. Unlike other military occupational specialties, the 2112s aren’t something a Marine can just be assigned to. They have to prove themselves as a 2111, and then pass a rigorous school in which some of their final tests involve making 1911s, M14s, and M40s from scratch.

Looks like Colt has a guardian angel in Washington. From today’s DOD contract announcements:

Jumping past the blue-print mats, TekMat has introduced their 3D Cutaway Gun Cleaning Mats. Rather than an exploded view, the new 3D mats show the firearm assembled with all the parts called out individually, including magazines. 

While at Bullpup 2015 I met these two cool guys from LDF Research. LDF is the Youtube channel name and not a legitimate company, but regardless, they are starting out on Youtube and one of them, Dean Van Marel even has his own Bullpup design through a company by the name of Jard that he brought along to the shoot, and will be featured in a later Firearm Blog post. However, what they have been mainly doing for their channel is conducting dry ice tests with various firearms, sometimes getting the temperatures down to negative fifty degrees, by packing firearms down with dry ice, in a wooden crate, and then bringing them out and shooting them. They freeze the ammunition inside the magazine as well. These tests are common in military testing procedures, but I haven’t seen many Youtubers go about this, to the extent that these guys are. Interestingly enough, out of the rifles they had, the Mini 14 had the best performance after being frozen. They use a non contact Infrared digital temperature gun to measure the surface temperature of the receiver, stock, magazine.

Forget about any military endurance testing of the AR/M16 platform, a rental range in Las Vegas has some extremely interesting findings when it comes to large round counts, sometimes in excess of 200,000 rounds through commercially available and full auto ARs. Granted, none of the grueling testing procedures in place from a military standpoint are there, but for sheer round count alone, it really tells a lot about what some companies can take and what others can’t when it comes to their rifles and products in general. This all stems from a forum thread on AR15.com that was started in June. His screen name is HendersonDefense, and there is a small arms company in Henderson, NV called Henderson Defense, but the range operations he is talking about are occurring at  Battlefield Las Vegas, a big time rental range in Vegas. His name is Ron, and he’s been featured here at TFB before in the form of a post about the rental AKs at his range earlier this year.

Gay Army was a Scandanavian TV show that aired in 2006. It was a reality show featuring 9 effeminate gay men who were instructed by a US drill sergeant.

Old promotional videos and literature aren’t just entertaining for their nostalgic qualities, but also as important tools for the historian. Features being marketed in a video or pamphlet give the viewer decades later a marker for when those had been introduced, and the characteristics emphasized in such articles give a window into the way the winds were blowing at the time it was made. This weekend, we take a look at a Colt promotional video from 1993, on the then-new M4 Carbine:

In the Marine Corps, every man is a rifleman, but it seems the days of the full-length rifle with the USMC may be coming to a close. The M4 Carbine, pending approval by the commandant, will likely become the general issue weapon of the Corps, replacing the M16A4 for the infantry, Marine Corps Times reports: