Army Possibly Phasing Out M-16

[Zero-Six]

[Sir_Brass]

From all I've heard about the m4 and m16 from former soldiers and from the history channel on "The Tales of the Gun", that all seems to be pretty accurate.

Still, I wonder . . . why the OICW?? From what I've seen of it, that weapon is HUGE! Hardly the weapon one would want for urban fighting. Maybe a good heavy weapon for support and supressive and light artillery fire, but as a standard weapon for every soldier . . . well, if what I've heard about the OICW is correct, that hardly seems feasable.

Something more along the lines of the AUG, or the L85 would seem to be more practical. Or maybe even the H&K G36k, even. Any of those three, IMO, would be a good choice for a standard weapon for a soldier who needs compactness for close situations, but needs longer barrel length for range and accuracy.

[OfficerGoat]

OCIW is only huge with that freaking 20mm grenade launcher mounted to it. Its relativly compact without it. I am guessing though that we will see significant differences between the revision of OCIW we see in Janes and in Video games to what they end up releasing due to lessons recently learned.

So far as the Aug and G36.... I think the big thing that will keep them out of the normal soldiers hands is the fact that they use plastic magazines. I don't think they will have the lifespan that the army likes to see for stuff like that. Especialy with 18 year old kids beating the crap out of it on a daily basis.

Just my .02

[p8ntball1016]

Caliber: 5.56x45 mm NATO
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt
Overall length: no data
Barrel length: no data
Weight: 2.67 kg empty
Rate of fire: no data
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds (STANAG)

this gun is the likely replacement for the m16. the xm8 is basically an hk g36 designed to take metal m16 cartridges.

[logamus]

the g36 would be a great replacement, except its not made here. if h&k were to allow another company in the us to manufacture them it might be a viable choice. you have to remember our security and that if we are dependant on a forign country to supply us with the tools to wage war, that could put us in a tight spot. germany wasnt much of a supporter of the iraq war, just imagine if they decided to ban the shipping of weapons until we had un approval or somesuch. whatever the replacement is, it has to be built here. but the g36 is an outstanding rifle.

[dansim]

the m-4 doesnt fire full auto....

[p8ntball1016]

Originally posted by logamus
the g36 would be a great replacement, except its not made here. if h&k were to allow another company in the us to manufacture them it might be a viable choice. you have to remember our security and that if we are dependant on a forign country to supply us with the tools to wage war, that could put us in a tight spot. germany wasnt much of a supporter of the iraq war, just imagine if they decided to ban the shipping of weapons until we had un approval or somesuch. whatever the replacement is, it has to be built here. but the g36 is an outstanding rifle.

the military already buys mp5s and usps from hk. not to mention model 92s from beretta. also i doubt politics will play a major role

[Sir_Brass]

I agree, politics usually doesn't play THAT big of a role in who's using what weapons.

And, I agree: no reason why a metal cartridge can't be used instead of plastic. As long as it's built to the same dimensions, the metal cartridge will be interchangable with the plastic one.

[CaliWagon31]

the m4 does fire full auto

[fire1811]

i really dont believe that the US will pick there "main" weapon and not have it manufactured in the US.
Since you never know who the next war will be with.

[Sir_Brass]

I highly doubt it will be with Germany.

[-J�ker-]

Originally posted by logamus
the g36 would be a great replacement, except its not made here. if h&k were to allow another company in the us to manufacture them it might be a viable choice. you have to remember our security and that if we are dependant on a forign country to supply us with the tools to wage war, that could put us in a tight spot. germany wasnt much of a supporter of the iraq war, just imagine if they decided to ban the shipping of weapons until we had un approval or somesuch. whatever the replacement is, it has to be built here. but the g36 is an outstanding rifle.

im sure if Heckler and Koch got a deal with our military they would be more than happy to build a a few fat factories over here and that would be AWESOME!!

[-J�ker-]

m-4 full auto?

http://www.colt.com/mil/M4_2.asp

the answer is YES! FIRE CONTROL SELECTION Safe - Semi - FULL AUTO

[Torbo]

what can be done to increase stopping power without increasing caliber? the 5.56 bullet was shown to be lacking power in somalia, correct? what are they planning to do about that? the same size bullet will still have the same mass, and therefore the same amout of stopping power. Increasing velocity would just increase penetrating power.

[kenndogg]

They should go with an AK or one of its many variants. Has the stopping power that the M-16 lacks and more importantly it can take a beating. M-16s needs to be highly maintained so it won't jam(I had a few jams in my day of handling one). AKs can handle an evironment like Iraq where M-16s have trouble doing so.