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JOHN THURSTON
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Latest Ordinance/Small Arms News.

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

HI:

As a reader of several Small Arms Magazines, some odd information comes my way.

You may know that since its adoptions in the 70's, (late 60's actually) the 5.56X45mm Nato (aka ,223 Remington) has always had it's detractors.

The M16 Rifle has, of course, become a western world standard chambered for this round.

The cartridge was originally adopted with a 1 in 12 twist ration allowing it to barely stabilize the originall 55 grain 'ball' ammunition.

Since it was not overly stabilized, it would 'upset' fairly easily and was noted in it earily days as the "little rifle that left big holes". This was due to the fact that the 55 gr bullet would 'keyhole' on imparct and disintergrate causing fearsome exit wounds at short to medium ranges.

When the twist rate was changed to 1 in 9 and later to 1 in 7 the 55 grain bullet would no longer result in such exit wounds.

The faster twist rates would stabilize heavier projectiles and thus is effective out to longer ranges.

(62 , 68 grains generally)

A 6mm round has often since been considered as the best 'balance' in terms of effective range, retained energy and penetration. This was gained to some extent in the SS109 5.56 x 45mm Nato round now in general western use.

The Russians were the next to jump into the "small bore" military cartridge trend by simply necking the 7.62mm X 39 cardige down to about 21 caliber in the 5.45x39 mm catridge which could be handled by AK 47 type rifles (AK74).

Now, however, the Chinese have adopted a 5.8x42mm cartridge for their QBz95 type assualt rifle family which I am not familiar with.

One can view this as a dangerous development and i will write more this later.

The M1 Carbine will become more readily available as it will now be manufactured on new receivers and possibly GI surplus parts by Kahr/Thompson Arms based (to my surprise) in Worcester Mass.

According to reports in SGN (from which the above info was also taken) the Army may be slippinp back to the 7.62 Nato and military M-14's are supposedly being refurbished at a quickened pace.

What configurations the refurbished M14's will be issued in is not clear to me at this time.

If some have futher questions on any of these matters please ask and I will zero in on any matters of interest raised.

JT
"All Enlightenment Gratefully Accepted"
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RACastanet
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Post by RACastanet »

Hello John.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program was until recently a good source of M14 parts. When the military began bringing the M14s out of inventory and refurbishing them they needed parts and asked the CMP to return their inventory to the Army. The result is that the availability of M14 parts for civilians has dried up and parts prices have soared! Bolts, op rods etc, when found, are all in excess of $100. Even M1 rear sight parts, common to the M14, are in short supply.

Rumor has it that new suppliers may be gearing up to produce M14 parts. That would be good for the US military, collectors and shooters alike.

Too bad that under the Clinton administration hundreds of thousands of M14s were sent to Captain Crunch at the Anniston AL armory.

Rich
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JOHN THURSTON
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Paramilitary Weapons

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

Hi Rich:
That piece of information does not, to say the least, make me very happy.

Nonetheles Springfield Armory of Geneseo Illinios did legally purchase the machnery necessecary to manufacture the M14. (sort of)

Of Course the Selective fire option was deleted, and the dismount system on the receiver is closer to that of the M-1. The M1A receiver is made in Geneseo and is not and cannot be indentical to the M14 receiver.

M1A's are fairly pricey at about $1500. Mine were about $600 and one was rebuilt at Fulton Armory.

I noticed that Springfiled Armory has restarted production of the M-1.

Perhaps they see this as a way of solving their parts situation, assuming they bought the right to produce the M-1 as well. (I am relative sure they did)

I sold my SA SAR-48----since the requisite number of parts for this FN/SLR clone made in the USA was, apparently, not sufficient under BATF's frankly, arcane regulations---they are no longer in production. They were 100% manufacured in Brazil.

I Did manage to purchase a Hesse FN/SLR clone, but, they make their own receivers. What other parts they make for this rifle, I do not know. It is a small company and not much advertising or info appears.

Another Military weapon made on new receivers are the M-1 Carbine on IAI receivers and the same weapon made by Kahr Industries (THompson) on their receivers.

Sorry for the delay in answering.

JT
"All Enlightenment Gratefully Accepted"
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