A Quick Fix for Fouling M4s

[unhappycamper]

A Quick Fix for Fouling M4s
December 04, 2008
Tactical Life|by Eric Poole

"Click."

It's the sound that no operator ever wants to hear under fire. And if he carries a gas-impingement automatic rifle, it's a sound that could mean a malfunction.

Enter Adams Arms which offers a simple conversion kit that helps address this issue by keeping receivers cleaner, offers more consistent operation and saves money.

The firearms world is often a place of trends -- the latest of which is a shift to piston-driven battle rifles. Although the military has not officially adopted an infantry rifle of this type, a few models have found their way into the hands of operators in Afghanistan and Iraq. The trend started with complaints from the field that M16s and M4s would malfunction due to carbon fouling in the receiver area.

A military survey a few years ago found that 19 percent of 2,600 soldiers returning from a deployment that actually used their M4s and M16s in a firefight encountered a stoppage while engaging the enemy. One-fifth said they were "out of a fight due to malfunction with their weapon."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/a-quick-fix-for-fouling-m4s.html?col=1186032310810&wh=wh

[Greyhound]

1. Why does this sound so familiar? n/t

:kick:

[unhappycamper]

2. Because we had the same problem with the M-16s in the mid sixties.

It was the powder used in the cartridge. The receiver needs to be chromed. You must clean your weapon.

I wonder what other lessons they've forgotten.

[old mark]

3. Like everything we supposedly learned, it was filed away

and forgotten.
And how many years is it before they notice this is a problem again?

mark

[Greyhound]

4. I remember my parents friends talking about this in the wee hours.

IIRC, there was some issue with changing the round from the original design demanded by (DoD, Army?) and the designers said that necking down a .30 cal cartridge to the .223 would produce just this problem, and was unnecessary for the rifle's effectiveness. Too much powder for not enough increase in energy, causing fouling.