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Montana Highway Patrol Upgrades (downgrades) firepower (switched from M14 to AR15)
The Daily Interlake ^ | 9 April 08 | NICHOLAS LEDDEN

Posted on 04/10/2008 6:59:04 PM PDT by LSUfan

Crack, crack, crack.

Three Montana Highway Patrol troopers, firing from the prone position, sent 15 rounds from their new rifles downrange in quick succession recently.

The .223 caliber bullets punched easily through the plywood and paper targets, kicking up clods of dirt from the berm behind the range at Glacier Park International Airport.

After officers from the sixth district-which covers Flathead, Lake, and Lincoln counties-qualify with the new weapon, every trooper in Montana will be riding shotgun with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle.

"They're just all-around more versatile for our day and age," Trooper Jerril Ren, one of the patrol's firearms instructors, said of the AR-15. "For the changing times, I think it's just more appropriate."

The AR-15s are replacing the patrol's old M-14 rifles, which normally are carried in a patrol car's trunk. After qualification, troopers will be required to carry their assault rifles mounted between the front seats of their vehicles.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailyinterlake.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: ar15; banglist; m14; m16; rifles
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To: Habibi

Sounds like in that case, an MP-5 would have been ideal.


41 posted on 04/10/2008 11:27:48 PM PDT by wastedyears (The US Military is what goes Bump in the night.)
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To: wastedyears

“Sounds like in that case, an MP-5 would have been ideal.”

That is basically what they use in European terminals (Frankfurt comes to mind as it was the first airport terminal that I noticed police equipped with fully automatic weapons.) Granted, European terminals needed the additional firepower long before we did in the US. Unfortunately, we have always been too PC and lacking in the political “cajones” to stop problems before they are reported with headlines written in human (American) blood. Were it otherwise, the Twin Towers would still be standing and the little matter of 3000 fatalities would not have happened.

We are still too timid in my opinion, but my judgement is “clouded” by working on the pointy end for most of my adult life. YMMV


42 posted on 04/10/2008 11:48:04 PM PDT by Habibi
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To: Mariner

I was thinking the same thing. In that case it must have been a Liberal who wrote the article.


43 posted on 04/11/2008 12:52:39 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: LSUfan

I was doing some reading on the M14, and I saw it was only in large-scale service for about 5 years. That’s an awfully short time. And about the AR-15: why would they be using only 20 round magazines? There is no reason to use 20-round magazines outside of training, unless maybe you are extremely short on space. An extra 10 rounds for police might not be critical, but I wouldn’t want to take the chance. 20 rounds goes by very quickly.


44 posted on 04/11/2008 3:47:19 AM PDT by tlj18 (Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President!)
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To: appeal2
was designed to fire the round in a manner that caused it to flip end over end.

The 5.56 round, just like the 7.62, tumbles upon contact.

this caused the round to frag upon content(sic)

contact

45 posted on 04/11/2008 4:18:55 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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To: LSUfan

I think there is a mistake in thinking these M-14’s are in good shape. I seriously doubt that. They are probably all worn out so any reasonable replacement is a good idea.

The M-16 series isn’t a bad choice since only hits count.


46 posted on 04/11/2008 5:22:07 AM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Vote against the dem party)
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To: Shooter 2.5

According to Wikipedia, the M 14 ceased production over 40 years ago - so definitely not of recent manufacture. If I was issued a 40-year-old M 16, I would probably refuse to sign for it, especially if I was going to a combat zone.


47 posted on 04/11/2008 7:59:00 AM PDT by tlj18 (Governor Sarah Palin for Vice President!)
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To: Mariner
I'm betting they were MINI-14s... I've seen bunches of those in the trunks of Sherriffs in WA state.

I'm pretty sure you're right. I know that the Montana state prison guards use Ruger Mini-14 GB models, and a couple of years back there was a news article about a Montana State Trooper who'd emptied a 20-round magazine from his *M-14* into a Grizzly, which annoyed the bear, which then walked away. I don't think that would have been the case with 20 rounds of 7.62 NATO from a GI M14, even with ball ammo.

There IS quite a difference between the teo....


48 posted on 04/11/2008 7:59:48 AM PDT by archy (Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. [from Virgil's *Aeneid*.])
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To: Shooter 2.5
I think there is a mistake in thinking these M-14’s are in good shape. I seriously doubt that. They are probably all worn out so any reasonable replacement is a good idea. The M-16 series isn’t a bad choice since only hits count.

We completely rebuilt better than 20,000 of them at the Crane Small Arms shop around 1979-1980 when I was working there as a Navy civilian armorer, anticipating a transfer of them to the Nicaraguan Contras, who it turned out preferred AK47s instead, and got new Polish AKMs and captured Israeli ex-PLO equipment. the M14s went back to storage in Warehouse A, two to the carton, until the 1991 war when US units that hadn't received SAW or M21/M24 Sniper's rifles found that the old M14 made a pretty fair substitute.

I'd happily take a 45-year old M14 over a ten-year-old M16A2/M4A1 any day.

49 posted on 04/11/2008 8:14:33 AM PDT by archy (Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. [from Virgil's *Aeneid*.])
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To: umgud
During the infamous North Hollywood bank robbery by the body-armored AK 47 toting bady guys, the cops didn’t have enough firepower and had to go to a local gun store to get high-powered rifles........ they didn’t grab .223’s.

They also apparently didn't fill out Form 4473, thus engaging in illegal transfers.

one thousand one......one thousand two........one thousand three........
50 posted on 04/11/2008 8:32:28 AM PDT by rickomatic
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To: Habibi
That is basically what they use in European terminals (Frankfurt comes to mind as it was the first airport terminal that I noticed police equipped with fully automatic weapons.)

You must never have travelled through Havana in the 1950s, nor Madrid, Paris, or Lod in the early 1960s.

When I was a young tank crewdawg in Germany in 1967, neither the German cops around Flughafen Frankfurt am Main , nor the Munich, Augsburg or Stuttgart airports, all of which I travelled through as a courier at least monthly and usually weekly. the most usual weapon found on German uniformed cops then was the 7,65mm/ .32 auto Walther PP, the heavier stuff not coming into use until the Communist/Anarchist riots in May 1968. After that some old BGS Beretta machinepistols were hastily pressed into service until new Walther MPL and MPK SMGS were obtained. After the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre, more buzzguns became more common, and 9mm handguns that shared the same ammo came into use, particularly after the Red Terrorists began to be known as *the 9mm gang*.

My memories of 1961 Paris as a kid include the nervous cops with MAT49s at Le Bourget, and the Sherman tanks parked around the Chamber of Deputies just in case the Army paratroopers then in revolt against DeGaulle over French policies on Algeria decided to come a-visiting. But that was nothing real new to me: dad was a senior refinery engineer who'd previously [1958] been assigned to the Caltex/Texaco refinery at Santa Clara, Cuba, during the closing days of the Fidelista revolution. Before things had gotten so sporty, my folks had thought that spending a year in Cuba with my dad would make a great *learning experience;* it was that all right. Three years later, we went through Paris while THEY were in the middle of an equally tense period, and it looked pretty much as if their airport cops had taken lessons from the Cuban airport cops.

51 posted on 04/11/2008 8:48:16 AM PDT by archy (Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. [from Virgil's *Aeneid*.])
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To: archy

that’s an AC556, but I get your point. Personally I’d rather have a FAL than a M14 for everyday use. M14 is a target rifle, FAL is a battle rifle.


52 posted on 04/11/2008 9:02:37 AM PDT by henry_reardon
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To: archy
I'd happily take a 45-year old M14 over a ten-year-old M16A2/M4A1 any day.

Yep. I purchased my National Match M1A from a gentleman going through a divorce about 15 years ago. I paid the outrageous sum of $500.00 for it.

Best money I ever spent.

Since then I've glass bedded it after I replaced the fiberglass stock with a with a Tiger Birch stock I got from Fred before he ran out. I stripped it bare, sanded it till I couldn't sand any more, and then hand rubbed it with 15 coats of Tung Oil.

Then I topped it with the SA Rangefinding scope.

I had a guy offer me $3,000.00 cash for it at the range one day. Turned him down flat.

The only way I'm parting with that rifle is passing it to a loved one after I've assumed room temperature.

L

53 posted on 04/11/2008 9:12:18 AM PDT by Lurker (Pimping my blog: http://lurkerslair-lurker.blogspot.com/)
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To: henry_reardon
M14 is a target rifle

There are quite a few NVA and VC who would disagree with you were they still breathing. Not to mention a rather large assortment of jihadi scum who were terrorizing Iraq until they encountered US personnel using the venerable M14.

L

54 posted on 04/11/2008 9:15:02 AM PDT by Lurker (Pimping my blog: http://lurkerslair-lurker.blogspot.com/)
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To: Spktyr
Garands are nice - except for how they tell the enemy that you're outta ammo. "PINNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!"

Some of our troops devised a deception. They'd fire a couple shots and toss an empty clip to the ground. When the enemy heard the ping and popped up, we'd shoot them.

55 posted on 04/11/2008 9:55:06 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (When hopelessness replaces hope, it opens the door to evil.)
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To: tlj18

Looks like Springfield Armory is still putting out some nice rifles...


56 posted on 04/11/2008 10:02:38 AM PDT by wastedyears (The US Military is what goes Bump in the night.)
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To: rickomatic

LOL


57 posted on 04/11/2008 10:04:13 AM PDT by wastedyears (The US Military is what goes Bump in the night.)
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To: LSUfan
So the Highway Patrol gives up .308 (which CAN go through a car lengthwise, and CAN crack an engine block) for .223 (which would have inadequate vehicle penetration power)

The rationality escapes me

58 posted on 04/11/2008 10:04:25 AM PDT by PapaBear3625
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To: TexasRepublic

Yeah, I know about that... but it’s still not optimal, especially if you’re operating by yourself or in a small team.

Plus - you can’t really top up if there’s a pause in the action.


59 posted on 04/11/2008 10:35:55 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: archy

The subject of the thread is whether one would trade a forty year old M-14 for a new out of the box M-16/M-4 series.

I’ll take the new out the box.


60 posted on 04/11/2008 5:04:34 PM PDT by Shooter 2.5 (NRA - Vote against the dem party)
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