Next G.I. Rifle? (1957)

Guns Magazine ^ | March 1957 | Eugene Jaderquist

[Copernicus]

For eight years, California hunters have been unnerved by the sudden appearance of George Sullivan in the field.

There is nothing peculiar about Sullivan himself when he's out hunting.

It is just his weapons that prompt a fast double-take. Most guns just don't have light, silvery barrels, bright red breech actions, and Kelly green stocks.

But Sullivan's guns are a little unusual in more ways than color. They are the advance guard of a major airplane company's entry into the gun-making field.

[Copernicus]

Whatever you do DO NOT tell Jim Zumbo people have been hunting with ugly "Black Rifles" since 1957!!!!

Poor man might have a heart attack!

Best regards to all,

[Anti-Bubba182]

Zumbo is toast!

[OldSmaj]

Zumbo is toast!

Zumbo got Zumbo'd.

[VoiceOfBruck]

Interesting peek into history - so much but so little has changed in 50 years!

[Anti-Bubba182]

He had it coming!

[LibKill]

The AR-10 has a pretty good reputation for reliability. It was only when they shrank it to AR-15/M-16 size that the fouling issues came up.

[OldSmaj]

He had it coming!

Oh, no disagreement on that from me.

But ya gotta give him credit for injecting a new adjective into the language.

From now on, when a Fudd (or any other nitwit) makes those kinds of stupid remarks, no matter the subject, he'll be "Zumbo'd".

Kinda like "Freeped", doncha think?

[Anti-Bubba182]

I think so. It is hard to imagine an outdoor writer so clueless that he would get in this position.

[RunningWolf]

Not sure what this article is about, but I think the M16 replacement will be close to the 7MM range, but perhaps going from .680---.710

FWIW, The M16 round was a very effective killing tool. The rifle built around it was a great advancement and therefore had the flaws of cutting edge technology built into it, and so it failed in the field because of that.

[OldSmaj]

It was only when they shrank it to AR-15/M-16 size that the fouling issues came up.

Would that have more to do with the shortening of the gas tube or the closer tolerances of the bolt/chamber?

I tend to think that the closer tolerances, necessary to withstand the 28,000 psi chamber pressures, had much to do with the jamming issues.

I carried an M-14 in 'Nam, but I'm aware of some that carried the M-16, that learned that a nearly worn-out action jammed much less.

They'd refuse to turn them into the unit armorers for just that reason, even when you could hear the bolt rattle in the receiver like a tin can with pebbles in it.

I'm not sure and I don't claim to be a M-16/AR-15 expert and I never took an M-16 to war.

But every time I qualified with it, the damn thing would jam at least once with me, unless I kept it full of BreakFree.

Beats me.

[umgud]

Black rifles can take upright two legged specimens at great yardage, but just ain't quite OK to take deer and other four legged beasts.

[ExpatGator]

Zumbo is an idiot, but is not representative of many/most hunters. Calling people "Fudds" accomplishes nothing towards the goal of protecting our Constitutional Right to own whatever firearm we want.

I own and operate a gunstore and welcome the tactical types, accuracy addicts, and the hunters. A number of people are all three of the above. Do not let small differences separate us and allow the Gun-Haters to divide and conquer us. Let's band together and protect OUR 2nd Amendment rights.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

LOL. He is going to call us terrorists again.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

AR-10...308, not .223.

[dljordan]

Man, that was great! I just love those old ads from an era before Americans were wetting their panties at the sight of a gun.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

"but I think the M16 replacement will be close to the 7MM range, but perhaps going from .680---.710"

WTF

[Wonder Warthog]

"Whatever you do DO NOT tell Jim Zumbo people have been hunting with ugly "Black Rifles" since 1957!!!!"

Actually, Zumbo has "seen the light" on "black rifles", thanks to the efforts of Ted Nugent. See "The Nuge Board" for details.

[punster]

---

The AR-10 has a pretty good reputation for reliability. It was only when they shrank it to AR-15/M-16 size that the fouling issues came up.

---

A big reason for the fouling problem was the powder being used. Originally, the ammunition was being loaded with a IMR powder, commonly referred to as a stick powder (shaped like little pieces of pencil lead). There were not any problems with this powder.

When the rifle was chosen for military usage, the ammunition was loaded with ball powder. The early ball powder had a high calcium carbonate content (to neutralize any acid that would result from hydrolysis of the cellulose nitrate and nitroglycerin in the powder). The calcium carbonate tended to deposit in the gas tube. Later powders had much less calcium carbonate, and did not cause this problem.

The other problem was an failure in training. Some of the troops went into combat, believing that it was not necessary to clean the rifle. This not only made the gas tube problem worse, but the fouling that built up in the action was sure to cause a failure to operate properly.

[Anti-Bubba182]

It is too late for him and he should have known better anyway.

[RunningWolf]

I got my metric/american conversion crossed up. My bad