The Army (and Marines) have encountered a lot of problems with their primary weapons in Iraq. The M16 rifle and its M4 carbine variant get a lot of stoppages and jams due to the operating environment. It’s a fine weapon for fighting off the Soviet juggernaut in the Fulda Gap but not so good for use in non-temperate zones, such as South East Asian jungles and rice paddies, or South West Asian sandpits, which, strangely enough is where we’ve done most of our fighting for the last 40 years.

The beast fouls. Two major problems cause most of the fouling: the less-than-optimum environment, and the gas system, which operates the bolt, and the ejection, extraction, and loading processes.

I discussed this once before:

It is beyond ironic that the M4 is now plagued with a problem similar to that experienced when the M16 was first fielded. A combination of inside-the-system antipathy to Eugene Stoner’s revolutionary operating system and a refusal by DuPont to modify their powder manufacturing led to misapplication of the M16, aggravated by a failure to supply cleaning kits and the proper lubricant to troops at first. There were a lot of instances of fouling and cartridge cases torn on extraction, resulting in dead troops.

The Army rushed to supply cleaning kits and a better lubricant (LSA) which solved one problem, but DuPont remained intransigent. Then some bright spark (probably a sergeant) asked the obvious question: Why aren’t our chambers and barrels chromed, like the AK47?

And now, 40 years later, we’re facing the exact same issue. Again.

The Colt Defense-made M16/M4 is built to very close tolerances. With literally no room for error (or dust, or mud, or even heavy condensate,) the weapons’ bolt and chamber must be kept scrupulously cleaned and lubricated. Back in the day it was just as bad, and even worse because E I DuPont De Nemours flat out refused to change their powder manufacturing line to produce a string powder particle that would have produced less fouling in the M16 chambers.

Weapons could (and did) foul and jam in the middle of a firefight. The first a trooper might know about it was when the base of a cartridge was torn off in the extraction process, leaving the brass sidewall jammed in the chamber, preventing further feed. The first M16s issued in Nam were not supplied with cleaning kits, and you were forced try to clear the torn case with a bayonet or knife, or else pick up another weapon that wasn’t being used.

In some units the commanders turned a blind eye when their troops opted for “found” AK-47s. There were a lot of them around, and ammo was usually pretty easy to get, too. It’s a damned fine weapon, by the way; designed to be used under primitive conditions, with some good tolerances that were very forgiving of an operator more interested in shooting than cleaning. People say that troops would mistake the sound of your AK for Nguyen’s AK, but actually, the troops in your squad had a pretty good idea of where you were. The heavier round the AK fired was a lot more accurate in heavy brush, too.

One reason the US went to the M-16 system was weight. The weapon was about 2½ pounds lighter than the M14, the rifle it replaced. It fired a smaller, and therefore lighter, round. A basic load of ammunition for the M14 (in magazines) was about twice the weight of the corresponding load for the M16.

But the commentary about the reliability problems of the M16/M4 has reached the ears of Congress and the Army has been forced to have a “bake off” between the M4 carbine and several other competing weapons.

The [Army has] yielded to critics - particularly lawmakers in Congress - who recently ratcheted up the debate over whether the current M4 carbine, manufactured by Colt Defense, is more susceptible to jamming in dusty conditions than other weapons used by Soldiers and special operators.

"The Army agreed to conduct testing of four carbine designs in an extreme dust environment," said Lt. Col. Timothy Chyma, product manager for individual weapons with Program Executive Office Soldier, in an email to Military.com.

"The test results will inform the U.S. Army Infantry Center in the development of a potential new carbine requirement as part of their ongoing capabilities based assessment."
…

The Army's carbine uses a gas system that evidence shows is susceptible to stoppages unless it is frequently cleaned.

The shoot off will test the capabilities of the M4/M16 operating system against three other rifles: the Heckler and Koch-built HK416, the FNH USA-designed Mk16 SOCOM Combat Assault Rifle and the previously-shelved, H&K-manufactured XM8 carbine.

The XM8 suffered from several defects in testing, most notably NIH. The FNH Mk16 is at least manufactured in this country. The special ops people seem to like the M4 with a better barrel and gas operating system, but replacing the upper receivers and barrels just seem like too simple a fix for the jamming problem to satisfy the Ordnance Branch.

If Herstal was contracted to supply the new carbine they’d probably have to reopen the Winchester factory in New Haven that they closed in 2006. That might put some jobs back onto Mr Bu$h’s very anemic employment figures If my stockbroker is reading this, he’d probably decide to buy some FHN-Herstal.