Soldiers Report Gun Glitches

Shortly after the close of Operation Anaconda in March, the Army's small-arms experts saw a surge in e-mail traffic from soldiers critiquing the performance of their weapons.

According to troops returning from combat, key weapons such as the M4 carbine, M9 pistol and M246 Squad Automatic Weapon did not always perform up to spec. Soldiers reported jams and misfires, and complained that, in high-altitude mountain warfare, they wanted weapons with larger rounds that could "drop a man with one shot."

The Army is now evaluating the lessons learned in Afghanistan. In mid-March, U.S. Central Command dispatched a team of experts to Afghanistan to survey soldiers about the quality of their weapons and gear.

The team, led by Lt. Col. Charlie Dean of the Natick Soldier Center in Massachusetts, the Army's main laboratory for developing soldiers' equipment, found that U.S. soldiers were generally satisfied with their gear. But the Natick team found problems with important items: body armor, boots and some of the rifles and pistols.

According to Lt. Col. Robert Carpenter, Army product manager for small arms, that survey prompted Army specialists to take a closer look and see if it they could identify the cause of those problems.

"We took that as an opportunity to go back and talk to those same soldiers," he said. "When we looked at [Dean's] report, we said, `Hey, this is great, this is an opportunity to go and see if there's truly some problems out there.' "

Carpenter's group interviewed soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division who took part in Operation Anaconda. While his group found that soldiers were generally confident in their weapons, it found that key weapons—such as the M4 Carbine—did indeed suffer from jams and "misfeeds" in combat. Soldiers also complained that standard ammunition, designed during the Cold War for use against Soviet troops wearing body armor, was not always suited for use against an unconventional enemy.

Some of Carpenter's most interesting findings have to do with lethality of the ammunition issued to U.S. troops. According to some reports from the field, the M855 round—a 5.56 mm cartridge used interchangeably in the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), the M16 and the M4—had a tendency to "overpenetrate." In other words, it could pass right through a person without causing lethal damage.

Carpenter said there were cases where "where you shot right through the guy—and it wasn't stopping him, and they kept coming."

However, Carpenter said most of the evidence of "overpenetration" was anecdotal and unsubstantiated.

"The 855 round is a great all-around round," he said. "What we heard in e-mail traffic and some comments was—very few substantiated, I'll tell you—I shot right through the guy. With any type of round at high velocities and certain ranges, unless you hit something on that person's body that's going to cause that bullet to begin to yaw or deform, you may get overpenetration. Basically, you're going to punch a hole right through the guy."

However, the Army is doing a lethality study on the issue. The 5.56 mm cartridge has evolved since Vietnam to create a NATO-standard round that is compatible with the SAW; its higher-velocity bullet has a slightly faster rate of twist and a steel penetrator.

"That's a great round for punching through body armor, based on that [Soviet] threat that we were facing during the 1970s and 1980s," said Carpenter, who noted that few al Qaeda or Taliban soldiers had body armor.

Asked about the main lesson for the Army, Carpenter added: "Overall, our stuff works, and our soldiers do very well with it, and they adapt our weapons to every environment. And they learn rapidly on how to take care of the weapon in every unique environment."

Part of the problem, Carpenter said, was that Afghanistan posed some "unique" environmental problems that made weapons maintenance a real headache. The country's fine dust, in particular, seems to seep into everything, he said.

"This is different sand than we saw during Desert Storm, and all those things have a unique effect on weapons," he said.

For instance, 54 percent of the soldiers polled by Natick on the performance of the SAW reported problems cleaning and maintaining the weapon. Roughly the same proportion of soldiers reported rust and corrosion problems in the M9 Pistol barrel.

"We tell guys, `Clean your weapons,'" Carpenter said, adding: "But sometimes, you don't have all the time it takes to do that."

However, soldiers didn't always have everything in their kits to make the task of cleaning easier. As the Natick report noted, soldiers had to supplement their cleaning kits by paying out of pocket for extra items such as barber brushes and dental picks that can serve as weapons-cleaning tools.

Some of the problems could be traced to the equipment itself, not just to the environment.

The M4 Carbine—a shorter-barreled version of the Army's 5.56 mm M16 assault rifle series—was widely used in Afghanistan. It has a light, modular design that allows for interchangeable weapons sights and other additions.

The Natick survey said 20 percent of soldiers reported double feeding; 15 percent reported feeding jams. Carpenter said that this was a subject of concern.

"Overall, the M4 is a great weapon, but we heard we had some stoppages with it, so we've got to drill down and find out ... what's causing those stoppages," he said. "Is it the performance of the weapon itself? Or is it something else?"

According to Carpenter's survey, the majority of the stoppages were caused by aging magazines. Some magazines had worn lips and feeders; sand would seep in, and as rounds stacked in the magazine start to get flattened out, they would begin to bind up.

"That's where we find the majority of the problems," said Carpenter. "The problem wasn't the weapon, the performance of the weapon itself, it was the magazine. So we're right now looking at ways that we can get the word out to the field to inspect the magazines. Sometimes, we just don't throw things out, and perhaps we've kept some of the magazines around too long."

A similar problem affected the M9 pistol. The Natick report said: "Soldiers had problems with the magazine springs becoming too slack."

Carpenter said the Army would look into ways to inspect magazines to make sure soldiers are not issued old or worn ones. And he said he was working closely with Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois to come up with a document or slip of paper to send out to the field so platoon leaders can instruct troops on what to do to make sure their magazines work.

FYI - Sounds like the introduction of the M16 all over again. Overpenetration? I never really undstood what I was hearing in the 1960's about the 5.56 mm round tumbling when it hit a human. Now, it sounds like instead of tumbling the round just slips right on through. Maybe we need to look at something like a good old silvertip or just a plain jane hollow point. I guess that would violate all the rules of war, but how many rules were followed on Sept 11th?

The M855 5.56 round is heavier than the original 5.56 ball and has a steel rather than lead core.

I recall an article several years ago in which some NATO countries were concerned by the types of wounds you described (bullet tumble and break-up). THe Swiss I believe developed the M855 to counteract that tendency and it was adopted as standard.

I'll stick with my M1A and 168 grain Sierra BTHPs.

Regards

J.R.

From my reading the problem of overpenetration mostly seems a r4esult of the 1 in 9 twist rate for the newer ammunition. The 1 in 9 as opposed to the 1 in 12 or 14 I do not remember the exact ratio means the bullet is inherently more stable and less likely to upset on strikeing a colloidal type mass (flesh). I agree that hollowpoints would be in order for the 5.56 X 45 mm rounds.

Now when it comes to the M9 I for one do not think that a 9mm round nose is going to do the job for our troops. They either need silver tips or they need a .45acp. The best choice would be silver tip in .45acp. It was a war against moselm insurgents in the Phillipines that led to the adoption of the .45 acp in the first place.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

Roughly the same proportion of soldiers reported rust and corrosion problems in the M9 Pistol barrel.

I'm not sure what anyone can do about this. Barrel steel corrodes, even stainless. Chrome lining helps, but no barrel that I know of is corrosion proof, especially in field conditions.

Worn, dirty or damaged mags will often be the culprit in reliability problems. Anyone whose had any experience with current-production 1911s, for instance, knows that the first place to look when dealing with a finicky specimen is the mags (and there are a lot of finicky specimens), and I suspect that the problem can be worse on a double-stack like the Beretta.

Bring back the M-14 and the M1911A1.

I agree, I carried an M-14 and a .45 the few times I was in the desert during DS/DS (never had to fire them in anger, thank God). I wouldn't trade them for those pea shooters our guys have to carry around now. My dad was a Recon Marine in Vietnam, and that's what he used. He said the M-16 round was 'a .22 on steroids'.

“Maybe we need to look at something like a good old silvertip or just a plain jane hollow point. I guess that would violate all the rules of war, but how many rules were followed on Sept 11th?”

It would be a major violation, but of course – using the 50 cal. against troops is a violation too.
In Viet Nam we would (when time permitted) run a file over the tips of the rifle rounds – in effect making illegal hollow points. Much better knock down power.

RE: 5.56x45 - Rifling started at 1:14 and went to 1:7 as the bullet evolved to the M855. The problem which remains is that it often makes for little hydrostatic shock, unless the bullet tumbles, expands, or hits the goods. (What lessons from the last 100 years?) Were we to use an expanding bullet, aka DumDum from the Brits, cries of war crimes would become even louder.

A VLD 6mm or 6.5mm bullet in an otherwise unmodified .22-250 case at about 1:8 twist would make an efficient and effective uniform replacement for both .223 M16/M4 and .308 SAW, very well mannered with sufficient punch to 1,000 meters.

If the (PC) US brass (Clintonized) intends to reprise the ~50,000 rounds per casualty inflicted as in Nam, we would do better to arm ourselves and get ready to battle terrorists in our own neighborhoods.

"We tell guys, `Clean your weapons,'" Carpenter said, adding: "But sometimes, you don't have all the time it takes to do that."

This brings to mind a TI inspection we had once in Viet Nam.
We were informed of it while returning from a mission, and had one day to prepare. We passed with flying colors until the inspection team (from Ft. Eustis, VA – never been incountry) was about to leave the boat. One member realized the 50s weren’t inspected. We removed the canvas covers and he placed his white gloved hand on the barrel – it came away covered in grease.
“This is outrageous! Look at the book! You only use a very light coating of oil!” We didn’t try to explain, but removed the barrel and cleaned it “properly”. We applied a light coat of gun oil and received an on the spot correction. The inspector then watched as the barrel rusted before his eyes. High humidity, high temperature and salt air tend to do that to gun barrels. He promised to have the book changed for tropical conditions.

M1A1/M14 and any traditional .45 will always do the trick.

I often hear the argument that our guys can carry more .223 b/c it is lighter. I can see their point, but what never seems to occur to them is that it takes an average (according to reports coming out of Afghanistan) 4+ rounds to stop a person. I'm pretty sure that one .308 to the center of mass will stop any man cold in his tracks.

The .308 is heavier than the .223, but you wouldn't need to carry as much of it.

It was a war against moselm insurgents in the Phillipines that led to the adoption of the .45 acp in the first place.

And as you may recall, it was designed to be used against very, very stoned warriors - too stoned to recognized when they had been seriously wounded by a .38 round. I wonder if any of the al Queda folks were in that condition?

In the late 7o's( O God!) I went through basic, they said nothing about the M-16 magazine, other than clean it. Ditto in the 82nd. When I went to group, they issued me my own personal magazines. Some near new, some not. We went to the range and if a magazine were tricky the weapons guys would look it over. If it kept it up, they destroyed it right then and there on the range and gave me a new one. In the 82nd, I would of been told to turn it back in (so that it could be issued to another) The penny wise idiocy of the Army drove me up the wall.

Yeah, I'd support rearming the troops with the M14. Esp when you look at the fact that the troops are now starting to use special BlackHills ammo (80gr bullet) in the 5.56 cartridges...Sorta negates the argument of being able to carry so much 'more' .223 ammo...

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