9 Aug 12
Guns in the Phillippines, from a friend there:
âMost M16s here were produced locally, years ago, under license from Colt. Nearly all are now decades old and have seen continuous, heavy use. Factory anodizing is nearly all worn off, and barrels are shot-out. Yet, when properly maintained, they still run well. I consider that good testimony to the inherent durability of the Stoner System!
M4 variants are usually frankenguns. They may or may not run, depending on the local gunsmith who did the work.
Militia in rural areas are still issued âlegacy weapons,â such as Garands, M1 carbines and M14s. These were received under US foreign military aid long ago, and are showing their age! Still lots of parts for the M1 Carbine, but M1s and M14s are becoming hard to maintain. OEM M14 magazines are scarce, but versions fabricated by backyard industries are still obtainable.
The Israeli Tavor you mentioned, imported from Israel, is currently standard with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Those guys get good equipment, but the situation rapidly deteriorates as one moves down the food-chain!
Police sidearms are in short supply. There is a contract for 60,000 pistols, which Glock is poised to win (G17, Gen 4). However, until these pistols are received, one in two uniformed cops are forced to make do with personally-owned pistols, of various makes, or go unarmed. A friend is a reserve cop on Mindanao. Two days ago, a Muslim separatist group began a series of attacks in his area. He was called-up to help in the local defense, but, when he got to his police station, there were no guns for him, nor for his fellow reservists. All serviceable weapons were already in the hands of active-duty police. None were left over. Reservists were all told that, if they had personally-owned weapons and ammunition, they should carry them. Most didnât!
High-performance pistol ammunition is scarce and expensive. Cor-Bon is the most sought-after, but insanely priced, when you can find it. Gold-Dot situation is similar. Thus, ball-ammo may be all you can get, so an ability to quickly place multiple, precise hits is a critical skill!â
Comment: In the Phillippines, and most other places in the world, scarcities (natural and politically-manufactured) of useable weapons are the norm. Operators thus need to be flexible and able to effectively run whatever guns and ammunition they can get their hands on.
We all naturally develop preferences, but finding a way to prevail, with whatever is at hand, still represents the winning attitude. The key is to find a way to be victorious, instead of spending all your time thinking about what you donât have. Youâre going to live or die with what you can get, feed, and maintain!
For example, the Kalashnikov is a good rifle, for what it is intended to be. It isn’t popular and widely distributed solely because of superior functionality nor, heaven knows, aesthetics. It’s apparent popularity is mostly due to the fact that it is cheap and ubiquitous!
Finally, the current spate of proposals by leftist politicians in this Country for âcommon-sense restrictionsâ of guns and ammunition will lead, by a short route, to exactly what we see in the Phillippines, South Africa, Mexico, the UK, and many other venues. Good and decent people, armed only with hollow promises from dithering government yes-men, facing heavily-armed terrorists and other violent criminals. All, while heavily-armed politicians, with their heavily-armed bodyguards, endlessly lament that we peons may be enjoying entirely too much personal freedom!
/John
