Thread: M4's fail in combat

In deadly ?08 Afghan battle, U.S. weapons failed - Afghanistan- msnbc.com

Seems I heard this before, in 1970.......

What was wrong with the M-14? I liked it!

I saw this earlier today too. That must have been one mofo of a firefight.

When you read Marcus Lutrell's book you realize how tough the M-14 (or at least the SOCOM one he had) is. His went through some shizzle to say the least.

My question would be why haven't we heard much about the M4 failing until this? Is this really a push for the SCAR? Conspiracy theory ??????

I'm actually working on a school project for this.

What's your thesis statement? I'd love to know the direction you are going in.

....and after reading back through the "M4's failing in combat" I see that this story has some age to it. Why is the media picking it up now?

Originally Posted by shootin&strummin

What's your thesis statement? I'd love to know the direction you are going in.

....and after reading back through the "M4's failing in combat" I see that this story has some age to it. Why is the media picking it up now?

Yeah it's weird. Because it's been failing for years and years...but for different reasons.


The main thing about my project is why this rifle and it's family keep having problems when others of the same nature and gas system do not.

It also asks why piston and other solutions aren't adopted....with reasons against them as well.

I'm trying to create something or some modification that will make these rifles more reliable without changing them so much that they must change training procedures and controls.

It's a very ambitious three year project.

The media picks at it because it makes controversy and makes a story. Honestly, these rifles and carbines don't fail as frequently as you think....but when they do fail it is catastrophic.

When you get further along I'd love to hear what you have on that. I've heard people in the past opine on different things design-wise, training, maintenance, etc. Best of luck with your project. Sounds very cool.

I wonder what made them fail?


RIP Soldiers.

Originally Posted by Strycnine

I wonder what made them fail?


RIP Soldiers.

X2,

"My weapon was overheating," McKaig said, according to Cubbison's report. "I had shot about 12 magazines by this point already and it had only been about a half hour or so into the fight. I couldn't charge my weapon and put another round in because it was too hot, so I got mad and threw my weapon down."

Twelve mags full auto/burst in under half an hour will cause almost any weapon system to overheat and jam. I'm sorry but the problem is not in the weapon its in the operator. They are running outside the limits for sustained fire and this is what happens. Any rifle will do this under these conditions.

Aimed controlled fire at a rapid/riflemens cadence (one round every 2-3 seconds) would have saved lives and prevented this. Again I say this was a training issue. If these guys could have hit their target at reasonable distances, they wouldnt have been doing mag dumps and overheating their rifles.

RIP. I hope this is a leason to the Army. CQB is important but so is marksmanship. They have forgone the latter resently and its showing.

And i believe if you try to put 360 rounds through an M14 in that same time period in those same conditions you will find that it fails even sooner. Rifles dont work when they are white hot, I dont care who built them. Pistons will swell and seize just as easily.