Archive for the ‘Guns’ Category

In 255-67 vote, House places Holder in contempt of Congress

17 Dems voted for. 108 didn’t vote at all.

Army Now Says No Ban on Rifle Magazines

The Pentagon has clarified the Army’s stance on a recent safety message that effectively banned a certain high-performance, commercial M4 magazine, which means soldiers can keep using their PMAGs…

Army officials acknowledged June 6 that TACOM’s message was poorly written and not intended as a directive on the use of PMAGs. Matthew Bourke, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon responding to questions from Mililtary.com, said the message should have included guidance that the final decision rests with commanders in the field.

Staff Sgt. David Schwartz looks down the barrel of an M-24 rifle at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, May 7, 2012. Schwartz is an advanced designated marksman with the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and is deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Ericka Engblom)

USAF Advanced Designated Marksmen often provide base counter-sniper security. Armed with M24s or M107s and operating in 2-man teams, they are far closer to traditional snipers than infantry designated marksmen who are sharpshooters in a rifle squad and usually carry semi-auto accurized M14s or M16-based rifles.

In Reversal, Army Bans High-Performance Rifle Mags

The message did not single out PMAGs, but instead authorizes only the use of Army-issued aluminum magazines. The message offers little explanation for the new policy except to state that “Units are only authorized to use the Army-authorized magazines listed in the technical manuals.” Nor does it say what Army units should now do with the millions of dollars’ worth of PMAGs they’ve purchased over the years…

The decision has left combat troops puzzled, since the PMAG has an Army-approved national stock number, which allows units to order them through the Army supply system.

“This just follows a long line of the Army, and military in general, not listening to the troops about equipment and weaponry,” said one Army infantryman serving in Southwest Afghanistan, who asked not to be identified.

It’s no secret that many of the M16/M4 reliability issues are related to magazines. The green follower was introduced to help and then the newer tan followers were introduced after the infamous dust tests (where the M4 finished a very distant last) had over a quarter of M4 malfunctions related to green follower magazines.

Murdoc is unaware of any conclusive studies about the reliability of PMAGs or other third-party magazines compared to standard government mags, but the troops seem to love them. You know. The guys who count on their weapons to stay alive.

Murdoc predicts that this ban will be reversed shortly.

Staff Sgt. Gary Shaffer, a member of the Mississippi Army National Guard, serving with the Zabul Agribusiness Development Team, stands guard during a visit to the proposed site for a new slaughterhouse in Qalat, Afghanistan. {Note the Magpul PMAG}

A U.S. Marine with Bravo Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion heads to a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft after executing a narcotics and weapons raid in the Khash Rod district of Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 14, 2012, in support of Operation Lion's Den. The raid was part of an effort to disrupt the selling and distribution of contraband throughout Afghanistan. (DoD photo by Cpl. Marcus Kuiper, U.S. Marine Corps/Released)

The Marine has what appears to be an M110 SASS.

M110 SASS Sally

Marines fighting the war on drugs.

Remington M4A1 Carbine Contact & Press Release

USMC Issues Production Delivery Order to HK

Heckler & Koch was awarded a competitive contract to produce the U.S. Marine Corps’ new Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR). The formal “Full Rate Production” announcement by the Marines caps a competition that began more than three years ago.

Designated the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, the lightweight, 11.62 pounds weapon with ancillary equipment, is a variant of the highly successful Heckler & Koch HK416 used by military, law enforcement, and special operations units in the U.S. and throughout the world.

For more discussion of the IAR and how it will be used, see The Infantry Automatic Rifle: Closing the last 5 yards in the Marine Corps Gazette.

Army demonstrates new LSAT lightweight machine gun

Lightweight Small Arms Technology over at SoldierGeek:

The LSAT program has been run out of the Armaments Reserach, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal for several years. It’s original goal was to produce a lightweight machine gun aimed at the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon role, by redesigning both weapon and ammunition from the ground up. The program was later restructured to look at lightweight small arms technology applications in multiple roles, to include carbines, using the lightweight LMG as the technology demonstrator.

Go check it out. SoldierGeek was involved in some early work on the project and has some good personal thoughts. And if you don’t have him bookmarked or in your RSS feed, fix that problem right now.

Here’s an overview of the LSAT:

Lightweight Small Arms Technology (LSAT)