Finally Fixing The M4 Carbine

[ErnstBlofeld]

James Dunnigan/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).