Colt Is Expensive
So, somebody in the Senate finally figured out what the rest of the world figured out a long time ago: Colt is pricey for what you get. The dancing pony adds a couple hundred bucks on for no more functionality.
The rest of the article is the same debate that has gone on since literally before I was born. Gas piston systems are cleaner and less prone to fouling issues than Papa Stoner's wayward child. Or at least, that's what everybody unhappy with the M-16 family has said for the past 40 odd years. Never having owned or carried a gas piston rifle, I have no opinion on their merits. From a design perspective, it makes a certain amount of sense. I can also see gas piston designs failing for the same reasons. Too much crap in your piston housing will eventually cause it to quit moving. I have neither the time nor the resources to do a comprehensive test program, so I'll have to trust DOD. I will note that any of the replacement weapons have not been adopted by any other armed force, so field data as to reliability is in short supply at this point. Once SOCOM runs the SCAR for a while, we may have some hard data to judge.
Until that happens, I can speak to the military procurement issues. Short answer: DOD ain't giving up on the M16 series any time soon. Yes, there may be better rifles out there. The transition costs are not insignificant and aren't going to happen in the middle of the current wars. Too bad, so sad, but them's the breaks.
The rest of the article is the same debate that has gone on since literally before I was born. Gas piston systems are cleaner and less prone to fouling issues than Papa Stoner's wayward child. Or at least, that's what everybody unhappy with the M-16 family has said for the past 40 odd years. Never having owned or carried a gas piston rifle, I have no opinion on their merits. From a design perspective, it makes a certain amount of sense. I can also see gas piston designs failing for the same reasons. Too much crap in your piston housing will eventually cause it to quit moving. I have neither the time nor the resources to do a comprehensive test program, so I'll have to trust DOD. I will note that any of the replacement weapons have not been adopted by any other armed force, so field data as to reliability is in short supply at this point. Once SOCOM runs the SCAR for a while, we may have some hard data to judge.
Until that happens, I can speak to the military procurement issues. Short answer: DOD ain't giving up on the M16 series any time soon. Yes, there may be better rifles out there. The transition costs are not insignificant and aren't going to happen in the middle of the current wars. Too bad, so sad, but them's the breaks.
posted by T at 2:25 PM
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