(Article) "The Big M4 Myth"

[b.faust]

I was doing some research tonight for a project and ran across this interesting article:



Long article, but here's a little snip:


I found it to be an interesting read (and a good way to procrastinate from some work)

Enjoy.
B.

[gorblimey]

Thanks for the link. I've read this author's earlier articles, and this latest update is interesting food for thought.

[fastkevin]

As one of the millions that carried an M-16/M-4, I wholeheartedly disagree with 'fouling' not being a cause of jams. Because of it, I(and everybody I knew) became quite the expert doing 'S.P.O.R.T.S'. It's also funny that it's 50 freaking years since the weapon was first introduced.

[Okami]

Great article, thanks!

[sd1023x]

I was doing some research tonight for a project and ran across this interesting article:



Long article, but here's a little snip:




I found it to be an interesting read (and a good way to procrastinate from some work)

Enjoy.
B.

Nice....you want to really waste some time? Alright...I'll play some devils advocate.

1. "What I eventually realized was that when magazine issues were removed, along with broken parts, about 80% of the malfunctions had been accounted for."

-What is a bad magazine in an AR/m16/m4 (AR)? If it works in one AR and doesn't work in another, is that a bad magazine, cuz I've seen that alot? I got some old orlites that don't even seat in half the AR's I've tried them in, but have a flawless track record when used in a Sig556 and SCAR. I would like to say AR's are a little to finicky with magazines, thoughts?

[PIRATE14]

Nice....you want to really waste some time? Alright...I'll play some devils advocate.

1. "What I eventually realized was that when magazine issues were removed, along with broken parts, about 80% of the malfunctions had been accounted for."

-What is a bad magazine in an AR/m16/m4 (AR)? If it works in one AR and doesn't work in another, is that a bad magazine, cuz I've seen that alot? I got some old orlites that don't even seat in half the AR's I've tried them in, but have a flawless track record when used in a Sig556 and SCAR. I would like to say AR's are a little to finicky with magazines, thoughts?

Orlites have always had a bad track record in ARs....

STD GI mags should always run in different guns.....never found them to be mag picky....

[dwa]

alot of mags will dead line but you wont be able to visibly tell, the military rarely throws things away so those mags stay in the mix.

[dwa]

As one of the millions that carried an M-16/M-4, I wholeheartedly disagree with 'fouling' not being a cause of jams. Because of it, I(and everybody I knew) became quite the expert doing 'S.P.O.R.T.S'. It's also funny that it's 50 freaking years since the weapon was first introduced.

as one of those ill go ahead and disagree with you, you should have learned SPORTS because you were a professional. what had probably happened was poorly lubricated weapons or some other training issue. 50 years just means nothing better has come out in 50 years.

[4thSBCT]

His analysis isn't very in depth. A new spring?.......thats it?.......LOLRUS

[Hoop]

No, it just means that nothing better has made it through the Army procurement bureaucracy.

They have to have the money to replace them all as well. If direct impingement AR's were actually as bad as the internet claims they are they would've been replaced, bureaucracy or not, a long time ago.

I still don't get why they didn't just copy the AK like everyone else though.

[Spaceghost]

I remember doing the rifle range qual years ago and my weapon would always malfunction on the second mag. Then I realized, we used no lube at all! Seriously, running an AR with no lube was retarded. I still remember one D.I. swearing and throwing the mag I was using in the woods behind the range.

[Hoop]

I remember doing the rifle range qual years ago and my weapon would always malfunction on the second mag. Then I realized, we used no lube at all! Seriously, running an AR with no lube was retarded. I still remember one D.I. swearing and throwing the mag I was using in the woods behind the range.

The first AR I ever built I shot for months without lubing the bolt and it functioned fine. I didn't even know I was supposed to lube it until a buddy gave me a can of CLP.

[dwa]

No, it just means that nothing better has made it through the Army procurement bureaucracy.

show me whats better

[dwa]

They have to have the money to replace them all as well. If direct impingement AR's were actually as bad as the internet claims they are they would've been replaced, bureaucracy or not, a long time ago.

I still don't get why they didn't just copy the AK like everyone else though.

who copied the ak ussr client states? if you talking about a long stroke piston the ak wasnt the first.

[Merc1138]

No, it just means that nothing better has made it through the Army procurement bureaucracy.

You're right, nothing better has made it through the government bureaucracy since they adopted the AR 50 years ago, however they've been demonstrated many many firearms over the years from a multitude of vendors. Am I saying that it means the bureaucracy determined that everything else was bad? No, but they haven't been shown anything that's been better.