12 Sept 23
“The little man felt ill at ease. He said, ‘Some bread sir, if you please.’
The waiter hollered from down the hall,
‘Yuh gets no bread with one meat ball!’”
From “One Meat Ball,” originally written by George Lane in 1855. Most famous rendition was sung by Josh White in 1944
During its sixty-year tenure, the M16/M4 in military service with this nation (as well as the balance of NATO) has undergone numerous improvements/fixes. This is all normal for military weapons and is often called “evolutionary”
“Evolution” is typical for military small arms, as over multiple decades and deployments they are produced by the millions and used by generations of troopers. Used, abused, beat-up, frozen, baked, maintained, not maintained, worn-out, rebuilt, broken, fixed, refined, tuned, amended, advanced, neglected, improved.
The M4 of today is thus among the most tested, reliable, durable, useable, and trusted military rifles ever to serve Western Civilization.
Every American should own a copy!
Since we stupidly deactivated our sole “National Armory” (Springfield Armory, closed by then Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, in 1968), nearly all critical improvements in the original “Stoner System” have originated in the private sector, audacious American “gun-makers,” the same ones the BHO Administration is trying to put out of business.
At this point, DOD by itself is incapable of authoritatively developing and refining anything on its own!
Specifically, DOD’s new “main battle rifle cartridge,” the 6.8×51 (277 Fury) is already exhibiting
disturbing issues:
Operating pressure for the innovative bi-metal “service round” version is having to be (quietly) reduced, because our new rifle can’t handle it. The rifle is not holding up. I’m not sure any autoloading rifle could with that level of pressure! Many predicted this over a year ago.
That means, in order to maintain ballistic specifications, barrel length will have to increase.
Which means the highly-vaunted suppressor-can will have to be reduced in length, or discarded altogether!
It’s thus going to continue to be a bumpy road getting this new rifle in a position where it can actually serve adequately, and in the end DOD well may end-up imitating UK’s SA80 debacle!
All of which means that the existing 5.56×45 (223 Rem) round, and the venerable M4 that shoots it, are not going anywhere soon!
This combination will continue as our predominant military rifle and cartridge for the rest of my lifetime, and probably a good deal longer!
“Freedom breeds innovation”
Frank DeSomma, former president of POF (Patriot Ordinance Factory), and my good friend.
/John
