1955, Eugene Stoner, the chief engineer of weapons and life-saving guns in the shooting competition of American Fairchild engine and aircraft manufacturing company Armalite, developed an automatic rifle with a caliber of 7.62mm, named AR- 10.
The design of AR- 10 was quite avant-garde in both material and appearance at that time. The case is made of aluminum alloy, the straight butt and small grip are made of engineering plastic, and the barrel is made of aluminum with a stainless steel liner inside. Only the bolt and frame are made of chrome-plated steel, and the empty gun weighs only 3.4 kg. Of course, being avant-garde is not always good. 1956, AR- 10 participated in the selection test of the US Army. During the test, the gun barrel was overheated, which caused the muzzle device to loosen and hit the steel lining continuously, causing serious cracking, so it was disqualified.
The design team of AR- 10 scaled down AR- 10 into an automatic rifle with a caliber of.222. It took only six months to submit six sample guns for trial at Aberdeen proving ground, and then the caliber was changed to 223 (5.56 mm), that is, 1957. In addition to the caliber, the gun barrel of AR- 15 was changed to an all-steel gun barrel, and a short rod-shaped flame arrester was used. The hook-shaped pull handle originally located in the handle is changed into the T-shaped pull handle behind the handle, which is basically the same as AR- 10 in other aspects.
The appearance of AR- 15 has attracted the attention of the US military. From 1958 to 1959, the army conducted comparative tests of AR- 15 and M 14 at the proving grounds of Benningburg, Audebourg and Aberdeen. The test results show that AR- 15 is light in weight. The U.S. Army lost interest in AR- 15, so Amarette decided to stop the research on AR- 15. 1959, colt company purchased the design, manufacture and sales rights of AR- 15, and improved it. The bullets fired were also changed from Winchester 5.69mm bullets tested in the past to Remington 5.56mm bullets.
Just when the US Army lost interest in AR- 15, the US Air Force suddenly became interested in it. General Curtis E. Li Mei of the Air Force thinks that AR- 15 may replace M2 carbine, and strongly advocates purchasing AR- 15 in small quantities. 1960, the air force tested AR- 15 at an air base in Texas, which prevented the death of AR- 15.
196 1 In August, the military aid advisory group requested to purchase 1 0,000 AR- 15 aircraft for comprehensive combat test in Vietnam, which was approved by the then Minister of National Defense. The test shows that AR- 15 is suitable for short soldiers of the South Vietnamese government. Soon, the Ministry of National Defense officially instructed to test AR- 15 under actual combat conditions. The test shows that AR- 15 is superior to other weapons in performance.
1962, colt company got the support of the advanced research projects agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, and prepared to take out 1000 AR- 15 for battlefield testing in the Vietnam War emergency plan. However, in 1962 and 1963, the US Army rechecked the AR- 15 twice, and rejected the AR- 15 twice on the grounds of poor accuracy and easy damage at a long distance.
However, with the efforts of the air force and the military aid advisory group, the Ministry of National Defense decided to test the effectiveness-cost ratio of AR- 15 and the existing M 14. The experiment shows that AR- 15 is better than M 14, and the price is lower. This result not only caused a sensation in the upper echelons of the War Department, but also in the White House. The army was ordered to compare the overall performance of AR- 15 and M 14 again.
Real test records prove that AR- 15 is indeed better than M 14. Subsequently, President Kennedy made a speech, and Defense Minister McNamara gave instructions. The commander-in-chief of the US military stationed in Vietnam, Westem Moran, repeatedly asked for equipment. At the end of 1963, the US military signed a contract with Colt Company to produce 104000 XM 16, of which 85,000 were used for army special forces and air mobile tactical units, and the other 19000 were used for airborne special forces of the Air Force. At this time, the Air Force named the AR- 15 used in Vietnam XM 16. 1964, the us air force officially defined XM 16 as M 16. While AR- 15 is still a firm of M 16 series.
For AR- 15 to become M 16, M 14 can be described as "indispensable", and things have to start from the 1950s. When NATO's "ammunition generalization" is to unify the caliber of bullets within NATO, the United States believes that T65 7.62X5 1mm bullets have long range and strong penetration, and resolutely opposes any small-caliber ammunition that reduces its power. Therefore, the United States exerted a tough influence by virtue of its status as an ally. 1953, NATO officially recognized T65 bomb as NATO standard bomb. 1957 The United States conducted a selection test of standard rifles. The rifles participating in the competition are FN FAL rifle, AR- 10 of Stoner and T44 automatic rifle based on M 1 Garland semi-automatic rifle.
In fact, the results of the selection test have already been determined internally. American standard rifles don't use foreign goods, and FAL's participation is just for show; There is a problem with the AR- 10 test, but it is not allowed to be modified, so the qualification will be cancelled immediately. So T44 rifle naturally won, and it was finally decided as M 14. M 14 was put into use on the battlefield in Vietnam as soon as it was equipped. In the jungles and mountainous areas of Vietnam, the shortcomings of M 14 are exposed completely. The length of M 14 is 1 120mm, and the total weight of the real magazine is 4.54kg. Due to the powerful bullet of 7.62mm, the recoil of automatic shooting is very large, which is difficult for the shooter to control and the shooting accuracy is poor. The most unbearable thing is that the M 14 distributed on the battlefield in Vietnam is locked on the speed machine. The company commander has the key. Soldiers can only shoot semi-automatically. If they want to shoot automatically, they need to apply to the company commander for unlocking. Under the suppression of AK47' s powerful firepower, the American soldiers who used M 14 were miserable.
The American troops stationed in Vietnam urgently need a new rifle to replace the M 14 rifle. 1962, us secretary of defense McNamara ordered M 14 to stop production immediately, and then M 16 rushed to the battlefield in Vietnam to put out the fire. M 14 started to equip the troops from 1957, 1963 stopped production completely, and 1967 completely changed clothes, only equipped for 10 years. In fact, M 14 is not a useless gun, it is just a gun that was misused at the wrong time and place.
Generally speaking, to equip a new type of rifle, the US military always has to undergo repeated and extremely detailed tests and evaluations. However, M 16 is equipped with troops under insufficient tests and evaluations, which makes it congenitally deficient and will be impeached repeatedly in the future. Since the autumn of 1966, the news that M 16 failed has been frequently reported on the battlefield in Vietnam. Colt immediately sent several expert groups to the scene, and the US Senate Armed Services Committee and the American Rifleman magazine also sent people to investigate and interview.
At that time, the main problems of M 16 were: serious dirt in the bore, jam, broken shell, damaged magazine, rust in the bore and the bore, and lack of wiping tools, especially under bad conditions. When the news reached China, there was an uproar. The wave of criticizing M 16 is constantly rising, especially those who oppose the use of small caliber add fuel to the fire. There are many reasons for these failures. Vietnam has a humid climate and high temperature. If you don't pay attention to wiping and maintenance, it is easy to rust the gun, but the main reason is to use rifle propellant.
The M 193 atomic bomb used in M 16, imported from DuPont IMR4475 single-base tubular explosive, has the advantages of fast burning rate, rapid pressure curve rise and less residue. Soon, DuPont informed the army that they could not mass-produce IMR4475. 1964 65438+ 10, the army decided to adopt WC846 double-base spherical propellant from Olin company. They believe that this propellant is easy to produce, low in cost and slow in burning rate, which reduces the peak pressure and is beneficial to improve the life of the barrel. Moreover, the original T65 bullet also used this propellant.
However, contrary to expectations, there are many problems after using WC846 in M 193 bomb, such as insufficient combustion of propellant and many residues; The peak pressure moved forward, which increased the stomatal pressure and firing rate from 850 rpm to 1000 rpm. . Unlocking is fast, and the residual chamber pressure is high when unlocking, which increases the friction between the chamber wall and the shell casing, so the phenomenon of shell jamming and shell breakage often occurs. In order to solve these problems, in addition to strengthening wiping, Colt also improved M 16 itself. For example, chromium plating of the chamber; Redesign the buffer (i.e. reentrant spring guide tube) to reduce the firing rate to 850 rpm; ; The rifling distance is changed from 14 inch to 12 inch; Strictly control the production process and improve product quality. Through these measures, the performance of M 16 has been improved.
In addition, because the pull handle of M 16 only has the function of pulling the bolt, it can't be boosted. Once the bolt cannot be put back in its original position for some reason, the bolt cannot be locked. Therefore, a bolt-in-place booster is added to the right side of the gearbox (below the handle). 1On February 23rd, 1967, the US Army decided to completely replace the improved XM 16E 1, and officially named XM 16E 1 as M 16A 1. The difference in appearance between M 16 and M 16A 1 is whether there is a piston-shaped bolt booster in place.
1966 colt company is the only manufacturer of M 16, with a monthly output of 25,000 pieces. 1967 On June 30th, the U.S. government purchased the patent and franchise of M 16. In April, m 1968 and M 16 were put into production in General Motors and Harrington Richardson Company, with a monthly output of 25,000 pieces respectively. With the expansion of Colt Company in 1969, the monthly output of M 16 reached 50,000. 1970 in May, the highest monthly output of the three companies reached 89,000. By 197 1, GM and Harrington stopped production one after another, while Colt was still supplying M 16 rifles to the US military until 1988.
M4 carbine, formerly known as M 16A2 carbine, 1984 was commissioned by Colt Company to be developed by the United States Department of War, and it was successfully developed with the joint participation of the Department of War and the Marine Corps, numbered 720. 199 1 year in March, officially finalized, named M4. First, equip the 82nd Airborne Division to replace the M16A1A2 rifle, M3 submachine gun and some 9mm pistols used by vehicle drivers.
Although M4 was originally developed for airborne troops and special forces, it is also loved by other combat troops and non-frontline fighters because of its light weight and small size. From1June, 1997 to1June, 1999, the U.S army officially equipped M4 carbine. By the end of June, all the active troops were replaced by M4, while the original M 16A2 was handed over to the reserve forces and the Coast Guard.
M4 carbine is basically the same as M 16A2, and many parts are shared by each other. M4 can also hang M203 Grenade launcher, but it is not necessary to replace the guard wood, and only the lower part of the original guard wood needs to be removed to accommodate the installation guide rail of M203 Grenade launcher. However, because the front end of M4 barrel is as thick as M 16A2, it is necessary to cut a short neck on the barrel to fix the front end of M203 installation guide rail. Like M 16A2, M4 has two types of shooting functions: single shot/continuous shooting and single shot/triple shot.
1994, colt company improved it to M4A 1 with serial number of 927 on the basis of M4. It was originally called M 16A3 carbine, and it was produced for American special forces. The main improvement of M4A 1 is to change the original fixed handle into RIS guide rail, so that different aiming devices can be installed. In addition, it is equipped with a mobile handle that can be installed on the RIS guide rail, which is also the obvious difference in appearance between M4 and M4A 1.
In order to make M4A 1 meet the operational requirements under special conditions, at the request of the Joint Special Operations Command, the "M4A 1 Special Operations Improvement" produced by Knight Ordnance Company (K.A.C) was released. SOPMOD M4 is not just a carbine, but a modular assault rifle system based on M4A 1. The main modules include a wooden protective cover with four RIS guide rails, a quick-release muffler, a Grenade launcher, and various sights, lasers, tactical lights and other accessories installed on the RIS guide rails. The mobile handle used in M4A 1 is very firm and reliable when installed on the RIS guide rail. An /PEQ-2 infrared laser sight is installed on the RIS guide rail of M4 Sopmode, with a range of 600 meters.
Full name: colt m4a 1 carbine with silencer
Price: 3 100 USD
Country of origin: United States of America
Manufacturer: Colt
Diameter: 5.56 mm NATO
Capacity: 30 rounds
Maximum bomb reserve: 90
Effective range (CS): 685 rpm
Weight (empty): 3.22kg.
Projectile weight: 4g
Initial speed: 2900 ft/s
Muzzle kinetic energy: 1570 Joule
Special weapon function: add (remove) silencers.
Lethality: 49 (without silencer), 26 (with silencer)
Armor correction: 0.20
Magazine changing speed: 3. 16 seconds.
Firing rate: 9.37 rounds per second (without silencer) and 8.43 rounds per second (with silencer)
Remarks: it can be muted, with high firing rate and high precision. It has great terrorist power without silencer, and there are too many advantages! M4 (also called M720)5.56 carbine is a light and shortened type of M 16A2 automatic rifle. The gun was finalized in March199/kloc-0. First, the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division was equipped to replace the M 16A2 rifle. 1992 officially installed in the second quarter. The gun has been produced and equipped with the US Army and Marine Corps. Canada, Honduras, United Arab Emirates, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries are also equipped with such guns.
The M4 5.56 carbine is a variant of the M 16A2 automatic rifle, and its basic structural principle is the same as that of the M 16A2 rifle. 85% of the parts on the gun are the same as M 16A2 rifle, which greatly simplifies the training, maintenance and logistics supply of weapons.
The gun uses all Colt M 16 rifles and magazines that meet NATO standards. The butt stock is retractable, which can be used for waist shooting when retracted and shoulder shooting when pulled out.
M203 40mm grenade launcher can be hung under the gun bore, and can launch any rifle grenade from the United States and NATO, with point and surface killing capability.
The gun adopts a mechanical sight, the height of which can be adjusted by a cylindrical sight, and a new type of competition-level gantry scale can correct the wind deviation within 800 meters.