Cycling magazines?

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Nitrox314 wrote:

You know, when I was Active Duty USMC, we cycled our magazines ever couple days. They swore that the tension would cause the last couple rounds to be stuck in the mag. Maybe the M-16 mags are not made too well? They do get well used though! Everytime we cycled, we had to pull out the springs and lube them too. Of course this was probably all a conspiracy to keep us busy anyways...

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You're talking about USMC equipment. Let's just say, if I ever got drafted, I'd bring my own magazines.

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Hell, If my boy was going tomorrow, he would get a Crazy Horse M1a with a fine Leupold scope on top (plus Eotech sight for close) and 15 of the best Mags (USGI TRW) and a titanium Sadlak scope mount and Sadlak gas piston and Spring.

223 is for pussies

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It is my understanding that one is NOT allowed to bring their own personal weapons in any branch of the service.

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Right Wing Wacko wrote:

It is my understanding that one is NOT allowed to bring their own personal weapons in any branch of the service.

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Maybe today but there were more than one or two "personal" 870's that made their way to Viet Nam.

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A Marine (Mose Bailey, a professional Hobo) I served with, carried a single action Colt 45. The Lt asked him one day what he was going to do if that was all he had when he met Charlie. Mose just said "Specs he'll have 12 holes in him"

Lt said "what do you mean 12 holes, that's a six gun"

Mose said "6 goin in an 6 comin out"

Jim

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Marines can still get command approval for personal weapons. It's not common. They also still have some few duty .45 1911s in some armories. It is my understanding that if you see a Marine with a .45 on his hip you can pretty much assume he is the unit armorer. because they know the value and get dibs.

Largely the other services do not allow carry of personal weapons, and you wouldn't want to carry anything except a 9mm or a .223 M4 anyway (well, there are SAWs, .50s, and shotguns), because you can't just run down to Sportsman's Warehouse and buy more ammo.

Accessories for your duty weapon- no prob.

Even contractors, for all practical purposes, find it impossible to bring personal weapons into the conflict area. Especially lately, the MoI has been enforcing weapons card rules for contractors, especially in light of Blackwater's recent PR difficulties. IP are confiscating sidearms from people without weapons cards.

The difficulty has driven up prices for weapons. Lately, it costs between $900 and $1100 in the IZ/Baghdad areafor a used Glock 19, if one were to purchase it privately.

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expvideo wrote:

You're talking about USMC equipment.

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We had colt mags (Probably from M16A1 era) and then we had plastic ones that worked better, had grips and never seemed to jam. They had the canadian flag on them. Hmmmm.... Thats not right! Lol. USMC using Canadian M16 mags

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The 9mm Beretta's are not that great. The officers have to carry them, and they never want to go into Iraq with only it. The officers used to trade them in for a reliable and more powerful m-16a2. Another problem over there is they keep issuing drivers of HMMWV's M-16A2's but they are kinda hard to drive with and to fend off another vehicle thats firing on them, they cant really use the m-16 effectively. We told them the best ides was to give them an M-16A2, a 9mm Beretta and a 12 gauge BenelliM4 for each driver and alternate-driver and then a 240g MG on the top of each truck for taking visible IED's. Unfortunetly the funds were not available, and the USMC no longer uses a 240g MG. If the funds were available for each vehicle to be up-armored and armed like this, we would probably lose less lives in the war.

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Someone should really start a charity fund to send over better magazines to our troops. Ithink that would be a great non-profit to start. Look how much funding breast cancer research gets with all of that pink junk at the store. It would be nice to have an organization that furnished our troops with better quality magazines, body armor, guns, etc. with voluntary funds from patriotic Americans.



Perhaps a gun shop or two would like to start a magazines for troops program? I'm sure that a lot of people would like to send an HK mag to a soldier at cost, if that option was available.

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You know, thats not a bad idea at all... I wonder what the post office regulations are on sending that kind of gear through the mail. Mags would be the easier, but body armor gets more expensive, especially if they have the plates in them. I think I might ask the Local Military PR to see what kind of things we might be able to do.

On the previous note of carrying personal weapons into war, I am all for it. If your single, active duty, living in barracks and own your own gun you have to store it in the armory. Thats the same place the unit's weapons are stored. Might as well pack that extra weapon on the way out.

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Do you realize how many mags the averageGI carries in hiscombat load?

Have you priced the HK AR mags? :what: Even wholesale they cost a lot. Do you think they're three times as good as all other mags? There are many brands of AR mags that function great that are much less expensive than the HK.



However, I believe some genuine Berettamags (actually made by Mec-Gar)for their M9s would be greatly appreciated. Each soldier that's issued an M9 is also issued two mags, but quite often they"acquire" one or three more. While Checkmate made really great 1911 magazines for years (besides being a primary military contractor they made most of the commercial Colt marked 1911 magazines from the 1950s until the 1970s and still make some today) but sadly it seems their M9 magazines are not of comparable quality. I know of several people who have purchased good pistol magazines and snail-mailed them to familyand/or friends serving over in the sandbox.

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Okay, I see some misconceptions probably propagated by the media.

1. All the soldiers have IBA - Individual Ballistic Armor. In fact, the controversy is having to wear it all the damn time, not lacking it. My size XXL IBA with plates front and back, but with no side plates or side plate carrier, groin protector and throat protector both removed, no shoulder guards, weighs 47 pounds. A size 'small' with the same setup is over 35 pounds. It is also highly restrictive of normal movements, bulky as hell when getting in and out of chairs or vehicles, and chafes. Don't get me wrong, when 'splody shit starts to fall out of the sky, we're happy for it. But it is a pain in the ass the rest of the time, and you'd be surprised how easy it is to **** up a knee with a sharp zig or zag, when your reactions don't take into accountthe extra 50 pounds of body armor (not to mention the rest of your gear!) strapped to your torso. On a lightly geared trip, I had to weigh in for a Sherpa ride and that was 330 pounds, only 230-some of which was me.

2. The problem withdriving and weapons is that too many people still have the M16A2 vs the M4. The longer "musket" is a pain getting in and out of vehicles, but this is steadily changing. Most people who are riding in convoys often have the M4, and it's mostly Air Force and Navy troops I see with the musket. Not that there is anything wrong with the M16, it's perfectly serviceable, it's just that our guys spend more time in and out of vehiceles than walking or in trenches/foxholes.

3. It's not just officers with M9's (Berettas).Enlisted have them too. Yes, there is a general perception that the Berettas are shite. A pistol should not rattle when you shake it. However, you don't take a pistol to a gunfight, it's a last-ditch weapon for surprises and unavoidable conflicts. It should be reliable, but it is definitely not a soldier's first line of defense. Most contractors carry Glocks as their side arm and M4's as their main weapon. That is, provided that they are security contractors. Other contractors are not allowed.

4. Magazines are perfectly legal to send to APO. They are also perfectly legal to send home. However, rules here in Baghdad (not laws)prevent people from sending them home. Cleaning kits are often welcome. On my blog (http://thebastidge.blogspot.com) I have a link to Project Boresnake: http://projectboresnake.org/

5. Every convoy thatI've seen goout has .50s on the turret of at least acouple HUMMV's

6. Pretty much all the convoy vehicles are up-armored and have been for some time. People do occasionally take unarmoured vehicles along reasonably safe routes, like Route Irish.

7. Most people on convoy duty have several magazines for both their M4 and their M9s. Pretty much a bandolier of them.

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BluesBear wrote:

Do you realize how many mags the averageGI carries in hiscombat load?

Have you priced the HK AR mags? :what: Even wholesale they cost a lot. Do you think they're three times as good as all other mags? There are many brands of AR mags that function great that are much less expensive than the HK.



However, I believe some genuine Berettamags (actually made by Mec-Gar)for their M9s would be greatly appreciated. Each soldier that's issued an M9 is also issued two mags, but quite often they"acquire" one or three more. While Checkmate made really great 1911 magazines for years (besides being a primary military contractor they made most of the commercial Colt marked 1911 magazines from the 1950s until the 1970s and still make some today) but sadly it seems their M9 magazines are not of comparable quality. I know of several people who have purchased good pistol magazines and snail-mailed them to familyand/or friends serving over in the sandbox.

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I know there are cheaper and just as reliable magazines. HKs are massively more expencive than others. I meant it just as an example. However, you are right about M9 magazines. From what I've read (which is not the same as actually being there), the main reason that the M9 has reliability problems isn't actually the M9, but the poor quality magazines.

I like how Galco is doing a holsters for troops program, but I think some other companies, or at least gun stores, should take up the same concept. I would support a magazines for troops program.

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thebastidge wrote:

7. Most people on convoy duty have several magazines for both their M4 and their M9s. Pretty much a bandolier of them.

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I understand that they have enough magazines, I was saying that it would be nice to send them over some higher quality, more reliable magazines. I personally would not want to use military issued magazines, because they have a bad reputation as being unreliable. There are several more expencive magazines on the civilian market that have higher reliablity and are less likely to cause failures. This is especially true of the M9.

As a civilian, I would not trust military surplus magazines, and I would like to see a program for our soldiers so that they can have top-of-the-line quality magazines as well. The majority of weapon failures are caused by the magazine (or the user), not the weapon.

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I'm not opposed to that, definitely not.

Even high quality magazines aren't 100% reliable without cleaning and maintenance. The dust and grit here is unbelievable. It's in literally everything. We call it moondust sometimes because it is so fine- actually powdered diatomaceous earth, as a lot of this place was sea bottom at one point, like clay- very fine, but gums up with moisture. Or oil.

It bakes hard as hell, but then grinds fine underfoot or with any movement on it. Then when the rains start (as they have) it gets nasty sticky.

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expvideo wrote:

I personally would not want to use military issued magazines, because they have a bad reputation as being unreliable.

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Not sure where you got this from. If you read any of the boards the military issue are the preferred magazine for most rifles that I shoot. M-14 and M-4, the ones you are likely to have military issue for anyway, the GI mags are by far the most reliable around.

Second, talking to my buddy who got back about a year ago, a lack of magazines was never a problem. They were issued cases of them. They would go into combat with as many as they could carry, drop the empties where they fell, and go get more when they got back to camp. I don't know that this is needed whereas something like the Boresnake, which is not an issue item, is a pretty cool thing to send over to the guys for a quick cleanout.

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heresolong wrote:

expvideo wrote:

I personally would not want to use military issued magazines, because they have a bad reputation as being unreliable.

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Not sure where you got this from. If you read any of the boards the military issue are the preferred magazine for most rifles that I shoot. M-14 and M-4, the ones you are likely to have military issue for anyway, the GI mags are by far the most reliable around.

Second, talking to my buddy who got back about a year ago, a lack of magazines was never a problem. They were issued cases of them. They would go into combat with as many as they could carry, drop the empties where they fell, and go get more when they got back to camp. I don't know that this is needed whereas something like the Boresnake, which is not an issue item, is a pretty cool thing to send over to the guys for a quick cleanout.

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Again, I wasn't addressing a lack of magazines, but a lack of high quality magazines. Perhaps I'm wrong about M4 magazines, but I know the m9 magazines could be a lot better. I still would rather have a MagPul brand magazine than an issue M4 magazine, but I'm not in the combat, so I don't know if I'm right. It sounds like some simple things like better cleaning supplies would be helpful, too.

I like the boresnake idea.

So the question is, would you guys that are actually over there want any gun related supplies, and if so, what would you like? Mags, cleaning kits, boresnakes, etc... Please, any soldiers let those of us that would like to send gear know.

Other things I didn't consider might be different stocks or hogue grips, surefire lights, rail covers, etc...

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BluesBear wrote:

Do you realize how many mags the averageGI carries in hiscombat load?

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When I was there, we had our M-16's only with 6 mags per Marine. M9 Beretta's were two mags. Also, the mags would have to fit in the military pouches on the 782 gear, or sent with new pouches that would fit on the new interceptor body armor the Marines are using. It has all the slots to place mag pouches on the chest wherever you need them. Average Marine will not have the forward handles with rails, just the basic m-16 covers. Don't know how expensive those are. Rarely will you see a Marine with the M4. They are out there... somewhere... but thats mostly army.

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No, you can order or SOCOM a m14 from one of the many builders who manufacture weapons for the USA under a SOCOM contract. I would get one for my boy should he go.



Here are some Photo's. Please not the preponderance of Leupold scopes and Macmillian stocks:



http://www.imageseek.com/m1a/gallery/service

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Wheelgunner wrote:

No, you can order or SOCOM a m14 from one of the many builders who manufacture weapons for the USA under a SOCOM contract. I would get one for my boy should he go.



Here are some Photo's. Please not the preponderance of Leupold scopes and Macmillian stocks:



http://www.imageseek.com/m1a/gallery/service

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Before you go spending $2000+ on a rifle for him you might have him ask his command what the regs are. First of all, from my time in the military you CAN'T just carry any old weapon you want, regardless of what the military is using. They may have good reasons for wanting you to carry a particular rifle. In this case the availability of ammo is one. Unless you are planning on sending ten thousand rounds of milsurp over with him he might have to scrounge 7.62 for the rifle.

My understanding is that most grunts carry the M-4 for a reason. It is more suited to urban fighting. In the Marine Corps the M-14 is carried by what is called the Designated Marksman. His job is to take out targets that are further out and lay down cover fire. In the Army this job is currently held by an M-16/M-4. He may get over there with his high dollar custom job and discover that he can't get ammo and it is a useless very expensive club.

Seems to me that if the army wants him to have an M-14 they'll make sure he gets one. At that point it might be nice to send him some extras like Eotech, magnifier, Macmillan or Sage stock, Vortex flash hider, etc but I'd probably hang onto my cash until that time arrives.

If you already knew all this then disregard my last.