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Washington Times reports soldiers have to modify M4 to make it reliable
The M4 is a fantastic weapon and many thousands of soldiers and contractors use and love it. Regardless – there is evidence that many soldiers are modifying their weapons to make them more reliable and accurate depending upon the conditions of use. I have heard of military policies disallowing the use of high quality accessories such as Magpul PMAG magazines – and NOT allowing our servicemen the best equipment to do their jobs.
The Washington Times article is reporting that there is evidence that M4 carbines manufactured by Colt provided sub-par performance. Even with this knowledge – the military continued to issue them to soldiers. Beyond that – evidence shows that the M4 is being issued for mission objectives that involve required work beyond the design of the weapon.
Although Colt lost its exclusive contract with the military in 2013 – I do not know how the performance of the M4 has changed since FN has begun supplying our military. All of the negative reports and studies discussed in the article were published prior to FN coming on board.
Here are few excerpts from the article:
Army Senior Warrant Officer Russton B. Kramer, a 20-year Green Beret, has learned that if you want to improve your chances to survive, it’s best to personally make modifications to the Army’s primary rifle — the M4 carbine.
The warrant officer said he and fellow Special Forces soldiers have a trick to maintain the M4A1 — the commando version: They break the rules and buy off-the-shelf triggers and other components and overhaul the weapon themselves.
“The reliability is not there,” Warrant Officer Kramer said of the standard-issue model. “I would prefer to use something else. If I could grab something else, I would.”
Documents obtained by The Washington Times show the Pentagon was warned before the Afghanistan and Iraq wars that the iterations of the M4 carbine were flawed and might jam or fail, especially in the harsh desert conditions that both wars inflicted.
“There are enhancements you can do to your weapon to bring that reliability level up. While we’re not authorized to change our weapon or modify them in any manner, obviously there are some guys out there, including myself, we’ll add some things to our guns to bring that reliability level up,” he told The Times. “I’d rather face six of my peers in a court martial versus being 6 feet down.”
Should this effect your decision as to buy an AR or not? In my opinion – not in the least. The AR-type firearm “fits the bill” for my needed application and has been extremely reliable.
BOTTOM LINE: Our service men and women put their lives on the line protecting this country and ensuring the freedom it provides. They should be provided the best equipment to do the job…..period.
The full Washington Time article can be seen HERE.
- – – Rourke
Brownell’s Aluminum 30 round AR Magazine – only $9.99!!
These Brownell’s 30 round AR magazines are an incredible bargain on a quality AR-magazine. Remember several months ago when these things were going for $40-$50?
From Brownells.com -
A battle rifle is only as reliable as its magazine – make sure the one in your rifle is from Brownells. When the difference between a “bang” and a “click” is life and death, a magazine failure is more than inconvenient – it can be fatal. So when we decided to build our own AR-15/M16 magazines, reliability was our first priority.
Some of us have sons and daughters serving overseas or in law enforcement, and we aimed to build the kind of magazine we’d trust their lives with. We started with a clean slate, then worked out the bugs on the drawing board and the test range before we offered a single mag for sale, so you get a magazine of uncompromising quality and reliability that’s built to last and ready to run hard.
When failure is not an option, these magazines deliver on the range, in the field, in a tactical situation, under fire. Load these smooth-feeding magazines to maximum capacity and fire the full 30 rounds you expect. No jams, no misfeeds, no hangups.
If interested……
© 2014, Rourke. All rights reserved.
Source: http://modernsurvivalonline.com/washington-times-reports-soldiers-have-to-modify-m4-to-make-it-reliable/
