The truth behind the recent M4 controversy | The Firearm Blog
"The truth behind the recent M4 controversy
Yesterday I blogged about the M4 reliability controversy story that was originally reported by the Associated Press.
At best the writer of the AP article exaggerated many the points. The leaked draft of the of the analysis of the Battle of Wanat reads quite differently.
The AP infers that the barrels of many of the weapons were getting white hot. From the AP article:
The platoon-sized unit of U.S. soldiers and about two dozen Afghan troops was shooting back with such intensity the barrels on their weapons turned white hot.
There is only one reference to a gun getting white hot in the draft report, and it is a SAW not a M4 Carbine"
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Some actual fact From the Ground Precautionary Message:
(B) FIRING 140 ROUNDS, RAPIDLY AND CONTINUOUSLY, WILL RAISE THE TEMPERATURE OF THE BARREL TO THE COOK-OFF POINT. AT THIS TEMPERATURE, ANY LIVE ROUND REMAINING IN THE CHAMBER FOR ANY REASON MAY COOK-OFF (DETONATE) IN AS SHORT A PERIOD AS 10 SECONDS.
...
(D)
SUSTAINED RATE OF FIRE FOR THE M16 SERIES RIFLES AND M4 SERIES CARBINES IS 12-15 ROUNDS PER MINUTE. THIS IS THE ACTUAL RATE OF FIRE THAT A WEAPON CAN CONTINUE TO BE FIRED FOR AN
Indefinite LENGTH OF TIME WITHOUT SERIOUS OVERHEATING.
Back to the AP Article we read:
"My weapon was overheating. I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn’t charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down.”
And the blogger responds:
"I sympathize with the solider and would not dare to presume to question his actions in combat. He did what he had to do in the heat of the moment,
but I cannot think of any current weapon in the M4 class that can sustain continuous fire. To make such a weapon it would need to have a heavy quick change barrel and maybe also include a heat sink. I doubt any soldiers will want to trade in their M4 for a heavy automatic rifle."
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This story about the M-4 is a total non-issue. The real story is that a platoon sized element of US troops and their M-4s and M-249s held off 200 enemy fighters and won the battle.
The enemy forces using AK's, and outnumbering US forces almost 3:1
LOST the battle.
Quite a feat for our guys IMO.
Here's the AR-15.com thread on this story:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=939798