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Army issues instructions for painting M16s, M4s
Defense Talk ^ | 5/25/2010 | Defense Talk

Posted on 05/23/2010 9:47:14 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld

Soldiers already have uniforms that blend them into their surroundings. Now there's instructions on how to have a weapon that blends in too.

In April, the Army released instructions on how Soldiers can apply spray paint to their M4 or M16 rifle, without decreasing the effectiveness of either the weapon or the installed optics.

"The Army has always had techniques to camouflage the Soldier ... we have techniques for the Soldier and the equipment," said Col. Douglas A. Tamilio, project manager for Soldier Weapons, Program Executive Office Soldier. "We found in Iraq and Afghanistan that Soldiers were starting to paint their weapons. It wasn't really approved or disapproved for them to do that."

Tamilio said the Army worked with the Army Tank-Automotive and Armament Command as well as the Army Research, Development and Engineering Center to put together the instructions.

The resulting document, "Maintenance Information Message 10-040," is titled "Camouflaging Specific Small Arms." It focuses on where to apply tape to protect sensitive areas, what areas should not be painted, and what kind of paint to use.

"It just shows Soldiers how you tape your weapon up before you go to spray it," Tamilio said. "We are just trying to make sure the Soldiers don't do the wrong things with their weapons. So we make sure we don't reduce the reliability of our weapons system."

The new MIM explains the rationale behind why Soldiers would paint their rifles.

"Warfighters must be able to conduct tactical operations while reducing/limiting detection by the threat," the message reads. "Camouflage paints provide for reduced visual detection and enhanced warfighter survivability via neutral, non-reflective, and predominantly non-black colors."

Additionally, the message explains, the color black is "highly infrared reflective" and it can also "provide a high degree of visual contrast when carried by camouflaged uniformed

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


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; camouflage; camouflagepaints; emcha; m14; m16; m4; rifle; usarmy; ustroops
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To: sonofstrangelove

Great. Now they will start losing their weapons. ;0)


21 posted on 05/24/2010 5:21:07 AM PDT by seemoAR
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To: ASOC

Lauer Custom Weaponry or Brownell’s Gun-Kote. And ya gotta degrease before using either.


22 posted on 05/24/2010 9:49:17 AM PDT by gundog (Outrage is anger taken by surprise. Nothing these people do surprises me anymore.)
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To: Liberty Valance

Don’t sit on me Bro.


23 posted on 05/24/2010 9:52:05 AM PDT by MaxMax (Conservatism isn't a party)
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To: piroque

thank you kindly!


24 posted on 05/24/2010 9:29:16 PM PDT by ASOC (Things are not always as they appear, ask the dog chasing the car)
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To: gundog

THanks for the tip!


25 posted on 05/24/2010 9:29:40 PM PDT by ASOC (Things are not always as they appear, ask the dog chasing the car)
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To: ASOC
You're welcome. Lauer Custom Weaponry's DuraCoat product line is the one that made Mike Bloomberg have a cow, if it matters to you. :)
26 posted on 05/25/2010 8:04:52 AM PDT by gundog (Outrage is anger taken by surprise. Nothing these people do surprises me anymore.)
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