Unfortunately, when soldiers are forced to switch their M4 systems role from rifleman tasks to that of a light/medium machine gun, they are going to run into some problems after a while.
Exactly correct.
B
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
Be sure to enter the NES/MFS May Giveaway ***Canik METE SFX***
Unfortunately, when soldiers are forced to switch their M4 systems role from rifleman tasks to that of a light/medium machine gun, they are going to run into some problems after a while.
The current AR platform, even in it's "enhanced" configuration, has shown problems when subjected to extended burst and automatic fire. These guys were in a protracted engagement and did NOT have the option of disengaging the enemy and performing "proper maintanence and lubrication" as required. The opposition forces pressing them were armed with weapons that do not require such attention. If a weapon is issued to troops going into a combat theater the thing should be expected to perform without calling for "time out" so you can service your rifle. My Metalurgy 101 always taught me that quenching hot steel in water leads to cracking & deformation. Not two things I'd want to introduce into something my life was dependent on. Having spent several years responsible for the care & feeding of Vulcans and minis that was something we specificly did not do. But that was 30+ years ago, maybe the laws of physics have been amended since my day. I have taken two 100 rd drums and a dozen or so 40 rd mags and bump fired a Yugo M70 thru every one of them in an extremely short period and the gun never jammed, failed to fire/feed/eject or in any way malfunction. The rifle could not be held with out a mechanics hot glove and even that was getting uncomfortable. Try as I might, I was also unable to get the wood hand guard to ignite as I've seen a few other do.
Battlefield surveys show that nearly 90 percent of soldiers are satisfied with their M4s
Am dying to hear of your solution to the overheating!
Am dying to hear of your solution to the overheating!
Coordinated controlled fire.
Coordinated controlled fire.
If I'm not mistaken, SS does not dissipate heat as fast as the chrome moly barrels now in use.
If it is to be believed, the only story here is how a complement of 50 brave men were able to hold their position against vastly superior numbers long enough to not get completely overrun while only suffering casualties of 9 dead, 27 wounded. Holding that position came at a high cost.
The M4 weapons system is popular among 90% of the soldiers that used it, according to the last article i saw about this carbine, which was today.
Unfortunately, when soldiers are forced to switch their M4 systems role from rifleman tasks to that of a light/medium machine gun, they are going to run into some problems after a while.
I just wish the soldiers getting overran had more M240B's. Those are excellent weapons and very popular among soldiers.
The article gives the numbers.
If everybody is waiting for "The perfect rifle" solution to come along, don't hold your breath. Every series of rifle will be a compromise.
I'm saddened by the loss of our troops. Nuff said.
Right, but the compromise in the case of the M16 was better accuracy and lighter weight over reliability and rate of fire. The AK is less accurate but more reliable and can put more lead down range in a given amount of time. It seems to me that most battles these days are shorter range, high volume engagements where the compromises of the AK are a better fit.
Maybe one guy in the fire-team should be a "designated marksman" with an accurate rifle like the M16 and the rest should get something with looser tolerances for this sort of short range, high volume engagement.
Then again maybe better marksmanship training would get the rate of fire down. We always went by the "one shot, one kill" mantra. Not sure if that's the case in the Army.
Pardon my noobish question but wouldn't something like an HK416 be the best of both worlds? And, if so, why isn't the army implementing them?
But they should be able to take more heat before becoming unfunctional.
Pardon my noobish question but wouldn't something like an HK416 be the best of both worlds? And, if so, why isn't the army implementing them?
Does a piston even help with heat dissipation? After all, that's what the problem was in A-stan, right?
that's a good question. The article listed heat and 'glowing white hot barrels' as the problem, but as others have posted, who knows the veracity of such claims.
I've always assumed the loosey goosey build of AKs helped with the heat and dirt. If you have a rifle that can fire with such large gaps for part tolerance variation, it allows for successful operation with more variables such as heat expansion, sand, mud, all that fun stuff.
I did something about it. -1Following the prescribed rates of fire for the weapon, talking guns, and cleaning the weapons especially the chambers and using a good lube. The issue with all of this is more of improper maintenance in my opinion, they weren't sending enough rounds downrange to turn their M4s white. But since you seem to know more than the guys over there and want to criticize them do something about it, www.goarmy.com
Does a piston even help with heat dissipation? After all, that's what the problem was in A-stan, right?
Fire to Destruction Test of 5.56mm M4A1 Carbine and M-16A2 Rifle Barrels conducted by Rock Island in 1996.
Conclusion - It took them 2 minutes and 49 seconds to destroy an M-16A2 and 3:00 ~ 3:33 to destroy two of the M4s.
B
Fire to Destruction Test of 5.56mm M4A1 Carbine and M-16A2 Rifle Barrels conducted by Rock Island in 1996.
Conclusion - It took them 2 minutes and 49 seconds to destroy an M-16A2 and 3:00 ~ 3:33 to destroy two of the M4s.
B
What's not reported is how many lives are saved every day with the M4. Shots that couldn't be made with the vaunted AK47. The extra ammo that is used that couldn't have been carried with a larger caliber.
What's also not reported is weapons malfunctions that happen with the AK-series. Please don't try to tell us it doesn't happen. From the beginning, Soviet propaganda would not allow any criticism of it's technology, and it has just been carried forward as gospel.