Finally Fixing The M4 Carbine

[ErnstBlofeld]

The Strategy Page:

The U.S. Army has begun delivering upgrade kits for its M4 carbines. The kits replace the barrel, receiver and auto-loading system with one that is easier to keep clean. There is also a heavier barrel and the ability to fire full automatic. There are also stronger rails on top of the barrel, for mounting scopes and such. The army is distributing at least 10,000 of these kits this year. The marines are not upgrading their M4s (which are mainly used by support troops.) Most elements (except for the piston loading system) were already incorporated by SOCOM (Special Operations Command) for their own M4s, which were then redesignated M4A1.
This conversion kit addressed years of complaints about the M-4 and M-16 assault rifles. The M-4 is a short barrel M-16, and has become very popular with the troops. The army had asked the Department of Defense for permission to spend a few hundred million dollars on these upgrades for its 400,000 M-4 assault rifles. The main change was replacing the main portion of the rifle with a new component that contains a short stroke piston gas system (to reduce buildup of carbon inside the rifle) and a heavier (by 142 gr/five ounces) barrel (which reduces barrel failure from too much heat, which happens when several hundred rounds are fired within a few minutes.)

Much of this goes back to the decades old argument about replacing the recoil system in the M-16 assault rifles, to make them more reliable and easier to clean. This came to a head (again) three years ago, when the army ran more tests on its M-4 rifle, involving dust and reliability. Four weapons were tested. The M4, the XM8, SCAR (Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle) and the H&K 416 (similar to the new M4 with the upgrade kit).

The testing consisted of exposing the weapons to 25 hours of heavy dust conditions over two months. During that testing period, 6,000 rounds were fired from each of ten weapons of each type. The weapons with the fewest failures (usually jams) were rated highest. Thus the XM8 finished first, SCAR second, 416 third and M4 last. In response, the army said it was satisfied with the M4's performance, but was considering equipping it with a heavier barrel (to lessen overheating) and more effective magazines (27 percent of the M4s 882 jams were magazine related.) The army noted that the M4 fired over 98 percent of its rounds without problems. That missed the point that the other rifles had far fewer jams. In combat, each jam is a life threatening situation for the soldier in question. The army had been forced by Congress to conduct the tests. Congress was responding to complaints by the troops.

[AceRimmer]

Should we just go back to the M-1 Garand? The M-16(and its adaptations) has been in service since Vietnam, and it's always had a wierd track record(though I loved my M-203).

[Argyle58]

Should we just go back to the M-1 Garand? The M-16(and its adaptations) has been in service since Vietnam, and it's always had a wierd track record(though I loved my M-203).

 

The military variants of the AR-15 have definitely had a checkered past, and were virtually forced on troops in the early days of the Vietnam conflict. Many infantry troops did their best to hold on to their M-14s and M-1 carbines (Garands were rare and primarily sniper weapons by that time). This whole weapon needs to be replaced, as does the Beretta 92 series handguns.