4 ms·
In the US, the AR15 used to be (for ten years) an assault weapon. It still is in some states. If you ask combat veterans of OIF/OEF how often they use anything
by RyJones 14y ago
In the US, the AR15 used to be (for ten years) an assault weapon. It still is in some states.
If you ask combat veterans of OIF/OEF how often they use anything other than semi auto on issued M4/M16 rifles, you'll find the frequency is almost zero.
- rdl 14y ago3-round burst was fairly commonly used (less than semi, though). Most issued rifles only had safe/semi/burst, not safe/semi/auto. Mainly from vehicles or in room clearing. SAWs have largely replaced the full auto rifle, though. (actually, I think something like 95% of troops never fired a weapon at all. There were 1% of troops responsible for most of the combat, and then a few more percent who got engaged by IEDs, etc.)
- sarvinc 14y agoI can think of only two situations where I ever used full-auto on an M4; clearing a trench and clearing bunkers; i.e. suppressive fire. I would absolutely not use full-auto to clear a room. Room clearing requires highly disciplined and discrete fire; hostages, non-combatents, POWs etc. My friends and I would rather take a bullet than wound or kill a non-com.
- rdl 14y agoYes, I meant a structure like a bunker/culvert/etc., not a house. i.e. something they would hit with a mk19/at4/grenade/etc. first. Most use was with people who didn't have SAW or heavier, from vehicles, though, which was the only time I saw it actually used myself.
- dfc 14y agoI was under the impression that 3 round burst was a waste and rarely used. The increased fire rate dramatically reduces accuracy compared to firing three rounds quickly. The army's recent RFP got rid of the 3 round burst requirement: http://www.defensereview.com/u-s-army-issues-new-individual-carbine-rfp-request-for-proposal-how-will-the-next-carbine-improve-on-the-colt-m4m4a1-carbine-we-have-some-ideas/ http://www.defensereview.com/u-s-army-issues-new-individual-...
- rdl 14y agoThe big problem with it in the M4 IMO is that it degrades the semi-auto trigger pull. Firing from vehicles was basically suppression, or very close at a large target from a supported firing position. Contractors were limited to rifles under most contracts, generally (although .30 cal machine guns were allowed in some cases, so the RPK was quite popular), so that's the main reason they used rifles that way rather than what the US Army would do (an M249, M240, or better, M2 or mk19). The greater argument here that semi auto is adequate for almost all rifle/carbine use, I fully agree with, but there were both US military people and contractors (and most of the indigenous security forces) who used full auto or 3 round burst.
- hga 14y agoAh ha! I've heard that, but never gotten confirmation. What I've heard is that on semi-auto mode, the weight of the trigger increases with each pull in a three round cycle. If true, it again tells us how little the Army cares about individual rifle marksmanship ... which I suppose is another causality of the McNamara DoD regime.
- rdl 14y agoYeah, I just stuck to my Browning Hi Power, CZ-97B, M14, and various disposable AKMs when possible; M9 when forced. Also, let's just say Brownell's catalogs were pretty popular :)