Army service rifles getting significant upgrades

Stars And Stripes ^ | 10/29/2010 | Dan Blottenberger

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Calling it “the biggest overhaul of service rifles in nearly 50 years,” the Army soon will send soldiers to Afghanistan with new M4A1 carbines.

Upgrades to the M4 include a more resilient barrel, ambidextrous controls and a full-automatic setting. Add better ammunition, and soldiers will have a more lethal weapon to fight insurgents, according to Program Executive Office Soldier, which introduced the improvements.

The new carbines are expected to be integrated into the force starting next year.

Soldiers in Afghanistan expressed enthusiasm about the improvements, especially the ability to shoot on fully automatic.

“That would be sweet. You could definitely get more lead downrange,” said Sgt. Aaron Billington of the 10th Mountain Division at Kandahar Air Field.

Billington, 26, of Syracuse, N.Y. — who is on his first deployment to Afghanistan, but also served in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad in 2004 — wasn’t even worried about the extra 5 ounces of weight that comes with the more resilient barrel. The new barrel was needed to sustain the higher rate of fire when the weapon is used in fully automatic mode.

[screaminsunshine]

I have an SKS long barrel. I never have used it. Did you like it?

[American Constitutionalist]

" If I were going into Afghanistan, I’d want to be in an F/A-18. "

Or being in a A-10 Thunderbolt.

[Dacus943]

"I think I'd trust the guy on the ground to decide whether he wanted to fire semi or full"

You are so right. If I had to kick down a door and deal with a room full of POS's I'd want the full auto function of a minigun!

[Rammer]

Lots of brass and debris flying around in cqb. Don’t want to lose vision when something hits you in the eye.

[redgolum]

Agreed.

[2111USMC]

Interesting.

I just now noticed that the bolt handle is on the wrong side in that picture.

[Rappini]

We need everyone to qualify as a Sniper.

[Eagles6]

Exactly.

[Eagles6]

"Armchair opinion but nevertheless, an M-14 derivative with a lighter stock strikes me as more in line with the sort of combat we see in this theater.

Yeah, too bad billy bob clinton had them all destroyed rather than demilled to semi only and sold to the public through the CMP.

His administration feared an armed, patriotic citizenry.

Sorta like obama and the Garands and M1 Carbines that S Korea wants to send back.

[Lurker]

Check out the Appleseed Project.

[jboot]

Gorgeous! Is that the original finish? If so, it’s a particularly pretty one.

[JoeProBono]

Thanks!

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I like the SKS. Its very accurate and very easy to load

[archy]

Full auto fire is a waste of ammunition, plus it overheats the weapon to the point of malfunction. The army needs to teach fire discipline like the Marines. The army does a lot of spray and pray.

The Gurkhas with whom I worked who were contract security for a critical communications installation had their choice of anything to be found in Afghanistan, US, NATO or Sov Bloc. They wanted and got AKMs, some fixed butt, some Romanian sidefolders.

I fudged a little and came up with an AKM folder, but had a night-scoped RPK should we have our perimiter hit at night, and a PKM in the event such a thing happened during daylight hours.

It's all well and good to say that the troops don't really need a full-auto capability, but it's quite another thing for them not to have it when the other side does. If the weapon has it, their NCOs and platoon leaders can simply tell them to leave things on semi, and that should be that. And at night, if anything lets go on full-auto, EVERYBODY knows to grenade it.